SAN AUGUSTIN CHURCH

With nothing better to do yesterday morning, I decided to drive out to San Augustin at Intramuros. I’ve been to this church a couple of times during Carlos Celdran’s walking tour, but haven’t really seen the interior of this church during a mass with all its chandeliers lit. It was incredible. This has got to be Manila’s most ornate and garish church. No wonder many weddings are held here; it’s quite colorful and photogenic.

Touted as the oldest church in the Philippines, its very first structure was made of nipa and bamboo built in 1571 by the Augustinians who arrived in the Philippines with the Legazpi expedition in 1565. It was originally named the Church and Convent of Saint Paul. It was destroyed when Limahong invaded Manila in 1574, but was rebuilt in 1581 to become the venue of the First Diocesan Synod.

Unfortunately, one of the candles at the funeral of Governor-General Gonzalo Ronquillo de Penalosa set the drapes of the funeral bier on fire, which burnt the entire church down. The fire raged uncontrollably and soon the entire Intramuros was in flames. The structure that replaced it was also razed to the ground by another fire in 1586. It was only after then that Juan Macias was commissioned in 1604 to design a stone church. It proved formidable; sustaining only minor damages from earthquakes; that is, until in 1880 when a tremor severely cracked one of the belltowers, which was later torn down.

When the British invaded and occupied Manila in 1762, San Augustin was looted; the altar ornaments were stripped of their gold and precious gems, while the graves of the conquistadores were desecrated. The Augustinians were driven out of the convent; several were arrested and shipped off to England only to return two years later after the occupation.

During the Spanish-American conflict in 1898, then Governor-General Jaudenes prepared the terms of the surrender of Manila to the victorious American forces in the chapel of the Nuestra Senora de las Augustias. And during the last days of the Battle of Manila in 1945, the Japanese soldiers used the church as a massive holding cell for hostages, but the Americans shelled the church anyway. San Augustin went through a series of repairs and renovations since then. Architect Angel Nakpil conceived and built a museum within the premises in 1965; construction of which lasted until 1969.

San Augustin Church is across the street from Casa Manila Museum making it an interesting place to visit on a lazy Sunday afternoon.