Q: Why do people visit seven churches on Holy Thursday?

A: The custom goes back to the early Church when Christians would visit the seven great basilicas in Rome for adoration of the blessed sacrament after the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday. The sacramentary, the official altar book of the Church, says that after this Mass, “The faithful should be encouraged to continue adoration before the blessed sacrament for a suitable period of time during the night, according to local circumstances, but there should be no solemn adoration after midnight.”

Visita Iglesia is a practice in cities, where there are many churches, in countries as diverse as Malta, Poland, Ireland and The Philippines. Filipinos have brought it to places in North America that never had it before.

- Source: The Catholic Herald (cited bycatholicwriter.wordpress.com)

 This year I decided to focus on 7 churches in Manila that had special meaning to me or I found I needed to visit to enrich my self spiritually and culturally. My personal experiences can be found in my personal blog here.

1. The San Sebastian Church or Basilica Minore de San Sebastian -  It is a fine example of the revival of Gothic architecture in the Philippines. it is the only-all steel basilica in the Philippines and in Asia. This church is under the care of the “Recoletos” or the Order of the Augustinian Recollects. You can find this church in Legarda St., Quiapo Manila.

2. San Beda Chapel or the Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat – Being a Scholastican hence, a benedictine, I wanted to visit the San Beda Chapel because I heard it had the same structure (look and feel as well) of the St. Scho Chapel in Manila. 

3. St. Jude Church – The most meaningful among the churches I visited this Holy Thursday is of course St. Jude Church inside Malacanang. St. Jude is the patron saint of hopeless causes and has helped me and prayed for me numerous times. I had to go here to thank him and to pray for my friends who took the bar, will take the bar, and for my upcoming finals.

4. Binondo Church or Minor Basilica of St. Lorenzo Ruiz -  was erected in 1596. It is one of the oldest places of Christian worship in the Philippines, but over the centuries the original edifice has sustained considerable damage from earthquakes and other natural disasters. Today the octagonal bell tower is all that remains of the 16th century construction.

5.  Sta. Cruz Church – right smack at the end of the historic Escolta Street. At the far end of Escolta is one of the most beautiful streetscapes in the city with two breathtaking pre-World War II buildings facing each other: the Regina Building and the Perez-Samanillo. The former has a neo-Classical air akin to the government buildings in New Delhi. The latter is a masterpiece of Philippine Art Deco architecture. It was designed by Juan Luna’s son, Andres Luna de San Pedro. One can detect in this splendid edifice touches of Angkor and even Meso-American motifs. (info from: Philippine Heritage Society)

6. San Agustin Church - is one of the oldest churches in the Philippines, and the only building left intact after the destruction of Intramuros during the Battle of Manila (1945). The San Agustín Church lies inside the walled city of Intramuros located in the capital city Manila, Philippines. It is the first European stone church to be built in the Philippines designed in Spanish architectural structure.

7. Manila Cathedral or Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception -  was the seat of the Archbishop of Manila during the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines, and still remains the ecclesisastical seat of the Archdiocese of Manila.