Namacpacan Church
| Santa Catalina de Alejandria
|
|
|---|---|
| Denomination : | Roman Catholic |
| Patronage : | Catherine of Alexandria |
| Consecration year : | 1690 |
| Rank: | Parish church |
| Address: | Brgy. Victoria, Luna |
Coordinates: 16 ° 51 ′ 12 ″ N , 120 ° 22 ′ 35 ″ E
The Namacpacan Church , also known as Santa Catalina de Alejandria is a Roman Catholic parish church in Luna (formerly Namacpacan), La Union in the Philippines under the administration of the diocese of San Fernando de La Union . Also known as Luna Church , the church was consecrated to Saint Catherine of Alexandria in 1690 and is known for the devotion to Our Lady of Namacpacan.
The church has been declared a National Cultural Treasure by the National Museum of the Philippines .
Church history
Since 1587 the church was a branch church of the parish church of Purao (now known as Balaoan ). The city was founded on November 25, 1690 and a parish was canonically established under the invocation of St. Catherine. The church was originally located in Darigayos, a district of Namacpacan, until it was built in its current location in 1741. The image of Our Lady of Namacpacan was placed in the church in 1871.
Building
Like other churches that were built in earthquake-prone areas of the Philippines, the Namacpacan Church is an Earthquake Baroque structure with thick walls and buttresses , some of which are connected with an external brick staircase . The white and yellow facade from 1872 is designed in the Baroque style, the gable fields are rounded. Three pairs of double half-columns or two pairs of simple half-columns on top of each other structure the facade of the church, which is closed by a pair of bell towers on both sides. Inside the church there is a high altar made of wood, a pulpit made of stone from the Spanish era and a relief made of wood showing the baptism of Jesus , which was probably originally polychrome.
The Augustinian convent is now used as a school.
Adoration of Our Lady of Namacpacan
history
The wooden image of the Virgin Mary is venerated as Our Lady of Namacpacan and is known locally as Apo Baket among the Iloko . It was ordered at the Immaculate Conception Seminary in Vigan , Spain in 1871 at the instigation of the Augustinian P. Camilo Naves . On the way to Vigan, the Spanish galleon with the portrait got caught in a storm, from which the captain took shelter in Darigayos. The Galleon continued on its way after the sea had calmed down, but strong winds forced the ship back into the port of Darigayos. The ship's captain decided that the image should be sent overland to Vigan and it was temporarily housed in the convent . However, the picture then turned out to be too heavy to be transported by land. Fr. Naves interpreted the incident as a sign to leave the image of Our Lady in Namacpacan Church. Father Marcelino Ceballos, the parish priest at the time, then asked Father Naves to give the city the portrait of Mary. Following the consent of the city's citizens to cover all costs incurred in transporting the image from Spain, the rightful owner gave the image to the city. The citizens celebrated the arrival of the image with a festival and set it up on an altar in the northern part of the church. The image was made due to a special decree of Pope John XXIII. Canonically crowned by the Papal Nuncio Salvatore Siino on November 24, 1959 . The image of Our Lady of Namacpacan is 1.92 m high; it is the largest known image of Mary in the Philippines. Our Lady of Namacpacan is considered the patron saint of travelers by the Ilocano .
Attributed miracles
Several miracles ascribed to Our Lady of Namacpacan are known, including the healing of a young girl named Rosal Roldan who was unable to walk from birth. Before Pope Pius XII. died, he allegedly saw the Virgin Mary in Namacpacan. The Pope asked where Namacpacan was, but nobody knew the place, and it was only after the Pope's death that the question was answered.
literature
- Mary Anne Barcelona, Consuelo B. Estepa: Ynang Maria: A Celebration of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Philippines . Anvil Publishing, Manila 2004, ISBN 971-27-1392-X ( book in Google book search).
- Benita Legarda: Colonial Churches of Ilocos . In: Philippine Studies . tape 8 , no. 1 . Ateneo de Manila University, 1960, ISSN 2244-1093 , pp. 121–158 ( online [PDF]).
- Benjamin Locsin Layug: A Tourist Guide to Notable Philippine Churches . New Day Publishers, Quezon City 2007, ISBN 978-971-10-1168-0 , pp. 26 ( book in Google Book Search).
- Scott Rutherford: Southeast Asia (= Insight Guides - Asia series ). APA Publications & Co, Singapore 1998, ISBN 0-88729-151-1 , pp. 319 ( book in Google Book Search).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f History of Luna. (No longer available online.) In: Official Website of the Province of La Union. Archived from the original on October 14, 2014 ; accessed on December 1, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Legarda: Colonial Churches of Ilocos. 1960, p. 131.
- ↑ a b c Legarda: Colonial Churches of Ilocos. 1960, p. 151.
- ↑ Legarda: Colonial Churches of Ilocos. 1960, p. 138.
- ↑ Reinerio Alba: The Restoration of 26 Philippine Churches. National Commission for Culture and the Arts, September 29, 2013, accessed November 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Miracle water in Luna? Yahoo News Philippines, April 15, 2014, accessed December 1, 2014 .
- ↑ a b c d e f dyerry: The Shrine of the Miraculous Image of Our Lady of Namacpacan. (No longer available online.) Province of La Union, archived from the original on October 14, 2014 ; accessed on December 1, 2014 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c Barcelona, Estepa: Ynang Maria: A Celebration of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Philippines. 2004.
- ↑ Layug: A Tourist Guide to Notable Philippine Churches. 2007, p. 26.
- ^ Rutherford: Southeast Asia. 1998, p. 319.
