WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE: Inside (Churches)

I like this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge theme – Inside.  It gives me the excuse (hah!)  to upload some of the photos I have of our Philippine vacation.   In this post, I invite you to go inside the Churches that my family and I visited recently:  (A)  Basilica of Saint Martin of Tours in Taal, Batangas; (B)  San Sebastian Cathedral, Lipa City, Batangas; and (C) Our Lady of Victories Church, New Manila, Quezon City.

Basilica of Saint Martin of Tours, Taal, Batangas

San Sebastian Cathedral, Lipa City, Batangas

The Basilica and the Cathedral, respectively, are old Churches, at least by Philippine standards.  Both have been established by Spanish friars of the Augustinian Order during the Spanish colonial time.   The present buildings were not the original structures.  The Basilica, in fact, had to move to its present location (on top of a hill in a different town) after the original church was destroyed by the eruption of Taal Volcano.

The Basilica is reputed to be the biggest in the Philippines and in the Far East.   It was dedicated to the patronage of Saint Martin of Tours who was known to have slashed down his beautiful cloak one bitterly cold winter’s night so that he could give half of it to a nearly naked beggar.  That night, in a dream, he saw Jesus wearing the half of the cloak and telling His angels that it was a gift from St. Martin who was by then still a catechumen, i.e., unbaptized.

The Cathedral, on the other hand, is the seat of the Archdiocese and was dedicated to Saint Sebastian, a martyr.

Should you wish to have more information about these Churches, please visit here and here and here and here.

The other Church we went to is a tiny one compared to the other two.  It is in the middle of a busy neighborhood and one needs to go up a flight of steps to get to the main Church.  I use these little details as excuses for my failure to take a photo of the Church facade. 😉  This is of fairly new construction.  It is being run by the Society of Saint Pius X which currently  has an irregular status in the Catholic Church.   For that reason, this Church will not be found in the roster of Churches of the Diocese to which it should belong under normal circumstances.   The Traditional Latin Mass (a.k.a. Extra-Ordinary Form of the Mass) is celebrated here.  This was were we went to Mass during our trip.

Main Door of Our Lady of Victories Church

I tried to make separate galleries for each Church and failed.  So, for your convenience, I put a caption to tell you which picture belongs to which Church.

Well, I guess, I have talked too much already. 🙂 So,  here are the photos.  I hope you enjoy your ‘tour’. 🙂

Altar of Basilica of Saint Martin of Tours.

Pulpit – Saint Martin of Tours. Located almost in the middle of the Church, this was the place where Priests used to deliver their homilies in days of old.

Choir Loft – Basilica of Saint Martin of Tours

Dome – Basilica of Saint Martin of Tours

One of the many paintings on the ceiling of the Basilica of Saint Martin of Tours

Nave – Basilica of Saint Martin of Tours

St. Luke portrait – Basilica of Saint Martin of Tours. In older churches (at least in the Batangas area), the portraits of the Evangelists on each wall/column supporting the dome seemed to be common.

Window on the right wing of the Basilica of St. Martin of Tours

Basilica of saint Martin of Tours. Workers have been busy replacing/repairing the brick tiles of the Church. There are places where the tiles were not only broken but were missing.

San Sebastian Cathedral, seat of the Archdiocese of Lipa, Batangas

Dome – San Sebastian Cathedral

Altar of San Sebastian Cathedral

Ceiling of San Sebastian Cathedral

Choir Loft- San Sebastian Cathedral

One of the many arcs leading to the side pews of San Sebastian Cathedral

The Crucifixion Grotto – San Sebastian Cathedral

One of my sons lighting a candle inside the San Sebastian Cathedral

Main Door of Our Lady of Victories Church, New Manila, Quezon City

Before Mass at Our Lady of Victories Church

Our Lady of Victories Church – Altar

Our Lady of Victories Church. The Sacristy Door features a bas relief of prophets from the Old Testament.

The wide open windows of Our Lady of Victories Church

Thank you for revisiting these places with me.  I wished I had visited more places and taken more (and hopefully) better photos.   There were too many things to see.  But it was hard to linger when there are  children and other companions who are antsy to go to the next stop.  Still, I am glad to have been there again. 🙂

Head over to the Weekly Photo Challenge page for great responses to the theme. 🙂

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