Visita Iglesia on a Good Friday: San Agustin Parish

Wazzup Pilipinas!

It's time again for another Visita Iglesia adventure on a Good Friday. While some spend their long weekend at the beach, devotees seek serenity by doing the Visita Iglesia to contemplate on the Passion of Christ. It is the time of the year when the churches comes alive as Catholics from all over the country flock to their choice of churches.

Visita Iglesia is also known as the visitation of seven churches, but some would go beyond that number if time, and budget, permits. Also a weak knee, a sore feet and a hungry or thirsty stomach, could add to the factors necessary to decide whether to move on, rest for a while, or go back home and sleep.

We would normally start early morning, but a few days before we've already planned where to go and which church to go first. We'll have a list of churches on our schedule and sometimes a map if we are not familiar with the places we have selected for this year's Visita Iglesia.

For some, accomplishing the task of finishing all seven church visitations will reward the doer with a wish granted. Maybe the higher power above will hear our prayers for all the effort. But in my case, as a traveler, it is a pleasure to see the sights especially if we will be there for the very first time. Many of our churches are built with superb architecture worth capturing to share with readers of my blog. Plus, the thought that I was able to accomplish the strenuous task of going from one church to the next in just a day is highly rewarding enough for me.

Visita Iglesia on a Good Friday: Sta. Clara De Montefalco Parish

Wazzup Pilipinas !

Visita Iglesia is an annual tradition that many Filipino Catholics observe come Holy Week. Usually we will read about many travel bloggers who would go on some "church hopping" at different places in the country. Admirable, yet so old ages. Been there, done that, what's new?

We suddenly decided one day that we won't be going back to those far off but popular churches in the Philippines. They are all too over-rated already. Almost everyone has been there and seen it for so many times already.

So since we were actually a tad busy too, we decided to do our Visita Iglesia within our neighborhood only. Yes! We will be visiting just the churches of our beloved city of Pasig.

Visita Iglesia on a Good Friday: San Antonio Abad Parish

Wazzup Pilipinas !

The third church on our Visita Iglesia on a Good Friday was the San Antonio Abad Parish church located at Stella Maris Avenue in barangay Maybunga of Pasig city. It is very near the barangay hall of barangay Maybunga, and not really that big so you might miss it if you are driving too fast.

From what I have researched on, a certain Fr. Alonzo de Alvarado led the Augustinians in sailing down the Pasig River with the encomendero Juan de la Isla in January 1572. They reached Maybunga on January 17, the feast of San Antonio Abad, placing him as its titular. Maybunga was then an independent community with its own group of lakans and maginoos.

It is likely that this community was the settlement established by Dayang Kalangitan and Gat Lontok, centuries before the Spanish arrived. – Three days later, the Spaniards moved on from Maybunga to the center of ancient Pasig at Pinagbuhatan.