Visita Iglesia 2018

We Filipinos have plenty of traditions during the Semana Santa (Holy Week). We have the pabasa, which is the uninterrupted reading of the Pasyon for three days. There is also the senakulo and prusisyon. We also have extreme traditions like self flagellation and crucifixion of some devotees in Pampanga.

Another popular tradition during Semanta Santa is the Visita Iglesia. This tradition was started in the Philippines by Augustinian missionaries in the 1560s. It is believed that this tradition was started by San Felipe Neri and some friends as “Seven Churches Walk” in Rome. It became so popular that many people joined San Felipe in their walks.

In the Philippines, the Visita Iglesia was popular in Intramuros because the churches are quite close with one another. This changed after the Second World War because many churches were destroyed during “Liberation of Manila”.

Nowadays, the Visita Iglesia became an opportunity for parishioners to go to faraway and famous churches. Devotees who do the church visits pray the 14 Stations of the Cross. Two stations of the cross per church. Others do one station per church so they visit 14 churches for their Visita Iglesia.

I also have my own tradition of Visita Iglesia in this blog. I post about 7 churches from Palm Sunday until Holy Saturday.

This is a sort of penance for me and also an opportunity to show to the world the beautiful and interesting Philippine churches. So, I invite you my dear Readers to join me in this virtual Visita Iglesia and learn a lesson or two about our Filipino Catholic heritage.

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Check out my posts about the Philippine Churches to help you in making the list of churches that you will visit for the Visita Iglesia.

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