Baclaran Church

Baclaran Church
National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help
Redemptorist Church
Pambansáng Dambana ng Ina ng Laging Saklolo

Open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Neo-Romanesque façade of the Baclaran Church.
Baclaran Church
14°31′52″N 120°59′42″E / 14.53111°N 120.99500°ECoordinates: 14°31′52″N 120°59′42″E / 14.53111°N 120.99500°E
Location Roxas Boulevard, Baclaran, Parañaque 1700
Country Philippines
Denomination Catholic
Website http://www.baclaranchurch.org/
History
Founded 1958[1]
Dedication Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Architecture
Status National Shrine
Functional status Active
Architect(s) Cesar Concio[2]
Architectural type Parish church
Style Modern Romanesque
Groundbreaking 1953[1]
Completed 1958[1]
Specifications
Capacity 2,000 sitting;
9,000 standing[3]
Length 350 feet (110 m)[3]
Width 118 feet (36 m)[3]
Height < 71 feet (22 m)[3]
Floor area 54,564 square feet (5,069.2 m2)[3]
Materials adobe stones, steel, cement
Administration
Archdiocese Manila
Diocese Parañaque
Clergy
Bishop(s) Most Rev. Jesse Eugenio Mercado, DD, STL
Priest(s) Rev. Fr. Victorino "Ino" Cueto, C.Ss.R.

The National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help (Filipino: Pambansáng Dambana ng Ina ng Laging Saklolo) also known as Redemptorist Church and colloquially the Baclaran Church, is a prominent Catholic National shrine along Roxas Boulevard in Baclaran, Parañaque, a city within the southern part of Metro Manila, the capital of the Philippines.[3]

The shrine is one of the largest Marian churches in the Philippines and features the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. Devotion to Our Mother of Perpetual Help is popular amongst Filipino Catholics, and gave rise to the throngs of devotees who flood the church every Wednesday to attend Mass and pray the Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help.[2] In Manila, Wednesdays are popularly called "Baclaran Day" due to congested roads brought on by pilgrims to the shrine.

The original icon enshrined above the main altar came from Germany, and passed through Ireland and Australia before priests of the Redemptorist Order brought it to what was then the United States territory of the Philippine Islands in 1906. It bears the Papal arms in the back paneling.

Since the Feast of the Immaculate Conception 1958, the shrine has been authorised by the Holy See to remain open 24 hours a day throughout the entire year. The shrine itself was blessed by Pope John Paul II during his first Apostolic Visit to Metro Manila in 1981. The shrine complex serves as the headquarters of the Manila Vice Province of Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, while the Cebu Province of the Redemptorists is headquartered in Cebu. The shrine's current rector is the Rev. Fr. Victorino "Ino" Cueto, C.Ss.R. The shrine celebrates its annual feast day on 27 June, the liturgical feast day of the icon.

The icon enshrined at the high altar, covered by a ciborium.
Interior

History

According to the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, the Shrine and its attached convent were initially dedicated to Saint Thérèse of Lisieux; a grotto statue of the saint on the shrine grounds memorialises this patronage.

The first Redemptorists came to the Philippines in 1906 and set up a community at Opon, Cebu.[4] Irish and Australian Redemptorists came to Manila in the 1900s. The Redemptorists community went first to a Malate parish in 1913 where they had a small, popular shrine to Our Mother of Perpetual Help.[2]

In 1932, the community transferred to Baclaran.[2] Father Denis Grogan, the builder, was dedicated to St. Thérèse and made her the patroness of the church and parish house.[2] However, the Ynchausti family, long-time supporters and friends, donated a high altar on condition that it enshrine Our Mother of Perpetual Help.[2] When the church opened the shrine became very popular.[2]

The Redemptorist priests replaced the Mother of Perpetual Help icon with a larger version to accommodate the growing number of devotees.

During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during the Second World War, the invading forces took over the church and the congregation was dispersed.[2] Australian and New Zealander priests were interred in the concentration camp at University of the Philippines Los Banos.[2] The icon was removed from the church and given to a family for safe keeping.[2] That family's home was burned and ransacked at the end of the occupation.[2] The icon was lost. It was rediscovered at the Old Bilibid prison by a De La Salle brother among other valuable artifacts that the Japanese had seized.[2]

Contrary to popular belief, the Perpetual Novena did not originate in Baclaran but at the Redemptorist Church of St. Clement's in La Paz, Iloilo City in May 1946.[1][5] After witnessing the devotion of the Ilonggos to the icon, the Irish Redemptorist Rev Gerard O'Donnell introduced the novena to Baclaran. Linguist Rev Leo J. English C.Ss.R. conducted the first Baclaran Novena with 70 participants on Wednesday, June 23, 1948,[1] giving rise Wednesday's local moniker of "Baclaran Day".

The present Modern Romanesque church is the third to be built on the same site. It was designed by architect César Concio.[1] It took six years to build because most of the money came from small donations—the suggestion from the pulpit was 10 Philippine centavos per week—that often ran out requiring construction to stop.[1] The foundation stone was laid on January 11, 1953 and on December 1, 1958 the new church was consecrated.[1] The church opened with a mass on December 5, 1958 and has been open 24 hours ever since, never closing.[1]

The Shrine was notably the refuge of several computer engineers from the Commission on Elections during the controversial 1986 Snap Elections. Thirty technicians who were operating the COMELEC's electronic quick count staged a televised walkout from their headquarters at the Philippine International Convention Center to protest the alleged electoral fraud by supporters of dictator President Ferdinand Marcos.[6] Ironically, Marcos's First Lady, Imelda, was a benefactress of the Shrine, having often brought her children there on Holy Week in the course of the Visita Iglesia. Early in the 70’s Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, Cardinal-Archbishop of Kraków in Poland, said Mass in the Shrine of Baclaran. Later in 1981,then-Cardinal Karol Wojtyla now Pope John Paul II, visited the Shrine again at his own request.

Architecture

The modern, Romanesque Revival building has a full seating capacity of 2,000, but as many as 11,000 people (including standing) can fit inside during Masses.[1] An estimated 120,000 devotees are currently affiliated with the Shrine.

Organization

The shrine is under the territory of the Parish of Sta. Rita de Cascia, located a few blocks away from the Redemptorist Church. Both are part of the Vicariate of Santa Rita de Cascia in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Parañaque. The shrine is situated along Roxas Boulevard in Barangay Baclaran, Pasay City, Metro Manila. It is primarily financed by donations and mass intentions from Filipinos in and outside the country, and in turn funds charitable social programs for the poor.

Rectors

Fr. Patrick Deane, C.Ss.R.?-1985
Fr. Teofilo Vinteres, C.Ss.R.1985–2000
Fr. Pedro Katigbak, C.Ss.R.2000–2004
Fr. Joseph Echano, C.Ss.R.2004-2007
Fr. Victorino Cueto, C.Ss.R.2007–present

Services are simulcast on Radyo Veritas 846 the first Wednesday of every month.

In popular culture

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 "Brief History Of Our Mother Of Perpetual Help in Baclaran". National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 "The Baclaran Phenomenon". National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "Baclaran Church". Arkitekturang Filipino Online. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  4. ↑ "History of Redemptorist in the Philippines". Redemptorist Province of Cebu. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  5. ↑ Bronze plague at the entrance to St. Clement's Church in La Paz.
  6. ↑ "75 YEARS: The Dawn of a New Era". a.baclaranovena.org. Retrieved 2014-01-27.

External links

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