Saturday, June 12, 2010

Naga's Basilica Minore de Penafrancia

This will be a three-post series on the Penafrancia Churches of Naga City. As you may know, every September, thousands of devotees make a pilgrimage to this city for the Penafrancia Festival, in celebration of the Virgin of Penafrancia. I happened to visit Naga City this summer and have decided to visit these churches sans the festival crowd and let me share photos of these churches starting with the Basilica Minore de Penafrancia.

The Peñafrancia Basilica Minore is located in Balatas Road, Naga City. This is where the image of Our Lady of Penafrancia is presently enshrined. That image of the Virgin Mary that was sculpted in 1710 thru the commissioning of Miguel de Cobarrubias who moved to the Philippines from Spain with his family and believed that the virgin Mary had helped him numerous times in his life.

The idea of building this Church came from Archbishop Pedro P. Santos in 1960 when he noticed that the devotees of the Virgin keep increasing in number. Construction began on April 18, 1976, but was delayed for a number of years due to finance problems and was not completed until September, 1981.

On May 22, 1982 it was dedicated as The Church of Nuestra Señora de Peña de Francia and it wasn't until May 22, 1985 that the Church was given the title of "Basilica Minore" from Rome after a request from the third Archbishop of Caceres, Leonardo Z. Legaspi.

There was an activity inside the church when I visited it, so out of respect, I refrain from shooting photos of the main interiors, but nevertheless, here are some snaps I have taken of the church:

Penafrancia Basilica Minore


Shed ala Space Ship


Our Lady of Penafrancia Shrine


Praying to the Nazarene


Colorful Ceiling of the Shed


The Good-Sized Crowd


Gloomy Weathered Basilica


The Church of Nuestra Senora de Penafrancia on my next post.

20 comments:

  1. wow... ang ganda naman dyan... :)

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  2. You should visit Naga in September because everything will look different.

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  3. so this is what the church at daytime.:p we also visited this church last April but it was about 7pm, and it was closed. buti napakiusapan namin ang caretaker to let us in. the altar was under renovation. the famous statue of Penafrancia was in another room and we were allowed to go in. it was dark and the photos i took were not very good.:p

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  4. I've been there and I've seen this church. But I can't remember the details. It was in the '80s at lasing kami ng mga barkada.

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  5. Kakaiba yung shed a la space ship. Parang lilipad na any moment soon, hehe

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  6. Hey, you've been to Bicol? When?

    This church never fails to amaze me everytime I visit this. Sobrang cool ng facade. Simple pero perdy.

    Happy Independence Day!

    I'm back to blogging!

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  7. The church is very beautiful and the spaceship structure looked unique and lovely. Have a nice weekend, Lawstude.

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  8. is this close to the airport? hoping to drop by the church before we head to caramoan..

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  9. Lovely church. Ang daming tao ah. Never been to Bicol area, someday I hope.

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  10. Happy Independence Day to your country !!.

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  11. good for you to share the history of the shrine of Penafrancia in Naga. I've heard so much about this celebrated pilgrimage. Man, I've never been to Bicol !

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  12. I like the spaceship I design, I wonder what brought that about.

    Anyway, I really like when you feature churches here. I was thinking you'd be posting about the Isdaan as I see that on the sidelines as coming soon.

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  13. Ang ganda naman nung shed. nasa ceiling ang rose window!

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  14. I like the second photo most! Ini-imagine ko meron dalawang nilalalng walking towards the church. nakatalikod. Yung lalaki pang gym ang image, yung babae medyo blurred. hindi ko pa maaninag. pakilala mo sa min pag dumating na siya ha.

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  15. dami ngang simbahan diyan ito yata yung pinaka modern.

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  16. Ang ganda! I've been there once and I never had even a single photo (2003 yun). I'm a loser hahaaha!

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  17. I like that last photo with the church against the sky. Beautiful!

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  18. Awesome photos lalo na yung "spaceship" hehe. Siguro mababait tao sa Naga if only dahil sa dami ng Church nila.

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