Few days from now and it’s already Maundy Thursday. We’re all set for the Visita Iglesia! so let’s have a recap:

Hotspot no.1 Diocesan Parish of Peñafrancia
Hotspot No. 2 San Marcelino Church
Hotspot no. 3 Iglesia de Sta. Ana
Hotspot No. 4 Ermita Church

And lastly, Hotspot No. 5 Malate Church

Declared as a national historical monument by the Philippine Historical Commission, this church houses the Nuesta Señora de los Remedios or Our Lady of Remedies. Flocked by devotees, the church attracts young Filipino mothers praying for swift recovery from childbirth or cure for their sick young children. The practice became customary with the passage of years thus the image came to be known as the Virgin of Remedies and Patroness of Mothers and Children.

This tradition of women-centered devotion is both indigenous and universal as explained by Niko Rio Arevalo in his papers entitled “Origin of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios”

Traditional in the old days was the “churching” of women who had just delivered… [When] a mother rose from the childbed, she was supposed to go to the church to be blessed. The practice recalls the “churching” of Mary after the nativity in Bethehem. But in the Philippines, the favourite church for this ceremony was the Shrine of Malate… for the Remedios was famed as the Virgin of Healing especially for women’s ills and children’s diseases.

Visita Igelesia map illustration by jeprocks