92 



MANILA DAILY BULLETIN 



The Old Churches of Manila 



While the ancient ecclesiastical struc- 

 tures that abound in the city of Ma- 

 nila and its suburbs cannot be con- 

 hidered to be types of architectural art, when 

 compared with the cathedrals of mediaeval 

 Europe, they stand as monuments to the 

 untold sacrifices made by laborious unskil- 

 led friar craftsmen who were responsible for 

 the creation in the face of difficulties un- 

 known in our times, as well as lack of funds 

 and the proverbial laziness of labor. They 

 are, moreover, masterpieces of solidity that 

 have defied the elements, and some of them 

 even the destructive earthquakes that have 

 so frequently laid low all around them. 



Only one of them, however, the church 

 and convent of San Agustin, passed through 

 the terrible ordeal of the earthquake of 1645, 

 which left the walled city of Manila a mass of 

 ruins. The years previous had been ones of 

 peace and prosperity and Manila had become 

 a city of stone, some of its buildings, as may 

 be seen by the ancient ruins still abounding 

 in many parts of the walled city, being massive 

 structures. The only other church that was 

 repairable was that of the Franciscans. It 

 is said of this earthquake that it levelled 

 mountains, filled valleys, dried up rivers and 

 opened up new ones, caused some to overflow 

 their banks and form lakes; made the Pasig 

 change its course, and continued its work of 

 destruction and terrestial change for over a 

 year. 



THE CHURCH AND CONVENT OF GUADALUPE 



The. church of Guadalupe was in reality a 

 shrine built on an elevation of the left bank 

 of the Pasig river by Antonio Herrera, a lay- 

 brother of the Augustinian Order, a nephew 

 of the builder of the famed Escorial in Spain. 

 It stands today a princely ruin on the heights 

 of a ridge that slopes down majestically to 

 the river near the quaint little village of San 

 Pedro Macati, Rizal Province, but a short 

 distance from the city. It was the shrine of 



I he famous image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, 

 cast in, silver and stolen from the church in 

 1898 and never recovered. 



There is a curious legend regarding Antonio 



I 1 (.Trera. It is said that he joined the Augusti- 



CHIIRCH OF SAN SEBASTIAN (RECOLETOS) SHRINE OF 

 NUKSTRA SENORA DEL CARMEN* 



nian Order as a result of a duel in which he 

 killed his opponent. The legend has it that 

 the King of Spain had, by royal decree, laid 

 a proscription on duelling in his realm. Young 

 Herrera, who was a favorite of the King, 

 fought a duel in violation of the proscription 

 and in punishment the King gave him the 

 alternative of the death penalty as provided 

 by the royal order, or entry into a monastery* 

 and leaving the country. Herrera is said to 

 have taken the latter choice and to have joined 

 the Augustinians. Be that as it may, Antonio 

 Herrera became an Augustinian and came to 

 the Philippine Islands in 1600. He found 

 the church and convento of San Agustin a 

 wreck from the earthquakes and fires that 

 had devastated the city, and set about to plan 

 a permanent stone building. Juan Macias, 

 an architect, had already commenced a plan 

 for a new stone structure, but as the two could 

 not agree, Macias was left to carry out his 

 idea while Herrera was assigned the task of 

 erecting the Guadalupe shrine. The work 

 was commenced in 1601 and completed in 

 seven years. The church and lower part of 

 the convento were constructed of stone quar- 

 ried in the neighborhood, and an approach 

 in the form of a stairway with over 100 steps 

 was hewn out of the solid rock. The ceiling 

 of the church, like that of San Agustin in the 

 walled city of Manila, was of solid stone. 



So well constructed were the buildings that 

 they withstood all the earthquakes until 1880 

 when, owing to the decay of some of the wood- 

 work, serious damage occurred in the violent 

 seismic disturbance of that year. In 1882 P. 

 Jose Corruegedo, O. S. A., repaired the dam- 

 age. The entire structure was destroyed in 1899 

 by American troops as a military measure. 



THE CATHEDRAL 



The archdiocese of Manila was founded 

 in 1595, 14 years after the arrival of Fr. Do- 

 mingo de Salazar, the first bishop of Manila. 

 The first cathedral was dedicated in 1581. 



The present building was raised to take the 

 place of the magnificent structure ruined by 

 the earthquake of 1863. It was dedicated 

 December 8, 1879. 



The cathedral of 1581 was destroyed in 

 1600, rebuilt in 1604, and again destroyed in 

 1645. The third structure was begun the 

 same year, that building resisting all subse- 

 quent shocks, until that of 1863 which com- 

 pletely ruined it. 



The existing building is noted for its ex- 

 ceptional height. Its roofing timbers, espe- 

 cially those of the dome, were the best to be 

 had in Luzon, more than usual care being 

 taken in their choice and also in their inspec- 

 tion before use. 



The cathedral contains the remains of sev- 

 eral men of note in Philippine history, an- 

 cient, and modern, among them two Apostol- 

 ic Delegates, Mgrs. Guidi and Agius; Arch- 

 bishops Payo, Fernando Montero, Miguel de 

 Benavides, Jose Segui and Jose Aranguren. 

 There is also the tomb of Anda y Salazar. 

 One chapel contains the remains of many men 

 of note in the army and navy. 



SAN AGUSTIN CHURCH 



The present church and convent, the most 

 solid structure in the Islands, is 329 years old, 

 its foundations having been laid in 1599. It 

 stands on the site of an earlier light mate- 

 rial structure built in 1571 and burned down 

 in 1574. The plans drawn by Juan Macias, 

 an architect noted in his day, did not meet 

 with the approval of Fr. Antonio Herrera who 

 as a proof of his theory as to anti-earthquake 

 construction, raised the majestic Guadalupe 

 shrine as a model. His argument was con- 



CHURCH OF SANTO DOMINGO (DOMINICAN) BUILDING 

 TO THE LEFT IS THE SANTA ROSA CONVENT 



vincing long before he finished his structure, 

 and on an improvement of Macias' founda- 

 tions he built the present pile, completing the 

 work in 1617. 



San Agustin's is the only church in the Phil- 

 ippine Islands known to be built with a crypt. 

 Owing to the softness of the subsoil, Herrera 

 realized that Macias' foundations would sink 

 out of sight under such a heavy building as 

 it was intended to construct, so he performed 

 the feat of "piling" with solid masonry. An- 

 cient records give only a bare hint as to the 

 true nature of these foundations, but it is 

 generally believed that they go to a depth of 

 from 10 to 12 meters, and consist of pilars of 

 masonry joined by heavy stone arches form- 

 ing an immense crypt long since filled up 

 with silt that has found its way by seepage 

 through the outer retaining walls. 



A notable feature in the construction of 

 this edifice is the massive stone ceiling over 

 a meter thick. The terrific earthquake of 

 1645 opened a crack in the ceiling into which 

 a hand could be inserted, but subsequent 

 shocks so closed it that today it is almost 

 impossible to insert a sheet of paper. This 

 building has successfully resisted the seismic 

 disturbances of 1645, 1754, 1852, 1863 and 1880, 

 all of which were particularly destructive. 



The church and convent cover an area of 

 21,212 square meters. 



In 1635 a Spanish artilleryman, who had 

 murdered his paramour on the street, fled to the 

 high altar of this church for "sanctuary." 

 The military authorities, however, violated 

 this ancient right and the hapless man was 

 dragged from his refuge into the square in 

 front of the church and there publicly hanged. 

 This church contains the tombs of Miguel de 

 Legaspi and Juan Salcedo, his grandson. 



FRANCISCAN CHURCH 



The second substantial stone structure rais- 

 ed in the city, it stands on the site of a light 

 material church built in 1577 and destroyed 

 by the fire of 1583, and covers an area of 28,- 

 590 square yards. In 1584 it was rebuilt in 

 wood and tile and in the convent adjoining 

 was installed the first drugstore in the Philip- 

 pine Islands from which all the Archipelago 

 was supplied for many years. In 1602 it was 

 rebuilt in stone throughout, but while it 

 escaped serious damage from the earth- 

 quake of 1645, it was almost ruined by 

 that of 1739. Reconstruction began jn 1740, 

 since which time the building has withstood 

 almost al! seismic shocks. During the earth- 

 quake of 1824 the tower fell, and during that 

 of 1863 a part of the roof caved in. Among 

 the famous images on its altars is that of San 

 Francisco, the patron of the church. This 

 image had a remarkable history. According 



