VIA CRUCIS TAKES THE ROUTE OF THE BATAAN DEATH MARCH. Historic Philippine Churches Pope Francis might have loved to see in His recent Papal Visit to the Philippines.

On March 14, 2015, our parish of San Andres Apostol of the Diocese of Antipolo went on a local pilgrimage to the northern province of Bataan in the Philippines.  It was part of the parish's Lenten celebration, dubbed VISITA IGLESIA, a Catholic practise which involves visits to as many churches as possible, usually done on the eve of Maundy Thursday.

Bus 5, Visita Iglesia 2015 of San Andres Apostol Parish

On such Visita Iglesias,  the faithful does the Via Crucis or the Stations of the Cross, praying at each of the 14 stations depicting Jesus Christ's suffering, and crucifixion. The object of the Stations is to help the faithful to make a spiritual pilgrimage of prayer, through meditating upon the chief scenes of Christ's sufferings and death

The province of choice for the Visita Iglesia 2015,  Bataan, is the site of the historic Bataan Death March.

In barely less than a month, the Philippines will commemorate this historic event which took place  some 63 years ago, on April 9, 1942 to be exact.

On this date, some 72,000 Filipino and American soldiers surrendered to the Japanese military, which brought to end the three-month Battle of Bataan that started on December 21, 1941. The Allied forces retreated to the Bataan Peninsula when the Japanese forces headed towards Manila after several deadly surprise air attacks that commenced in the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in December 8th.

Bataan Death March

The goal of the march was to get the 72,000 captured Filipino and American POWs from Mariveles in the southern end of the Bataan Peninsula to Camp O'Donnell in the north. To do this, the prisoners were to be marched 65 miles from Mariveles to San Fernando, then travel by train to Capas. From Capas, the prisoners were again to march for the last eight miles to Camp O'Donnell.

The POWs were soon forced to make the 65 mile trek – with no food or water – to the confinement camp in O'Donnell.   Thirsty and exhausted, those soldiers who attempted to steal a sip of water from roadside streams or collapsed along the way – were shot or bayoneted on the spot by their Japanese captors. In total, 10,000 men – 1,000 American and 9,000 Filipino – died during the Bataan Death March.

The Visita Iglesia 2015 became not just a religious exercise for me, but allowed me to dwell on the significance of the province of Bataan to the overall Philippine modern history.

THE ROUTE OF THE BATAAN DEATH MARCH

The Death March started in the town of Mariveles, passed through Limay, on to Orion, Balanga City, Orani, Hermosa, and Dinalupihan, Bataan, and on to Lubao, Guagua and San Fernando, in the province of Pampanga.

From the chronicles of www.batch2006.com/visit_bataan_death-march.htm:

"The Death March started from two points in Bataan: on April 10 from Mariveles, on April 11 from Bagac. The Filipino and American troops were marched day and nighrt, under blistering sun or cold night sky, staggering through Cabcaben, Limay, Oion, Pilar, and Balanga, where they were given a brief rest and some water, From Balanga the Prisoners of were organized into groups of 100 to 200 and under guard marched on through were segregated from the Filipino Prisoners of war and marched separately, The march continued northward through Hermosa to Layac Junctio, then Eastward into Pampanga through Lubao, Guagua, Where the Prisoners were rested and given a little food at the National Development Company Compound.

 

Already suffering from Battle fatigue, The Filipino and Americans troops were strained to utter exhaustation by this long march on foot, many were ill, most were feverish, but none high rest, for the enemy was brutal with those who lagged behind. Thousands fell along the way, Townspeople on the roadside risked their lives by slipping food and drink to the Death Marches as they stumbled by.

In San Fernanco, The Death March became a death ride by cargo train when the prisoners were pack so densely into boxcars that many of them perished from suffocation, Those who arrived alive in Capas had still to walk the last and most agonized miles of the Death March: The 6 Kilometers to Camp O'Donnel, Which was become one of the most hellish concentration camps of World War II."

Death March Marker, Km. 65, Hermosa, Bataan

 

Death March Marker, Km. 60, Orani, Bataan

 

Death March Marker, Km.  44 in Balanga City, Bataan

The San Andres Apostol Visita Iglesia 2015 took the reverse route and passed through San Fernando, Lubao and Guagua in Pampanga and proceeded to Hermosa, Bataan for its first pilgrim stop at the old Church of St. Peter of Verona.

           St. Peter of Verona in Hermosa, Bataan

The Parish of Saint Peter of Verona belongs to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Balanga. Its Feast day is May 3. It is untheder Vicariate of Saint Peter Verona. 

Historically, the town was established in 1756 by Dominican priests. It became an independent missionary center in 1756 with St. Peter de Verona as its patron saint.

The church features a baroque-style façade with marvelous stained-glasses windows amid the splendor of the ornaments inside the church which illuminates the whole of Hermosa.
 

The major retablo of Hermosa is made more attractive by the variations of saints placed in it amid its majestic dome. The church brings remembrance of the colonial past.

Next, our Visita Iglesia proceeded to Orani, and visited the Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Church.

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary

The Church of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary in Orani

The Roman Catholic church of Orani was  declared an independent parish on April 21, 1714, and also known as Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish Church ("Our Lady of the Rosary of Orani Church", "Nuestra Señora del Rosario Parish Church", "Simbahan ng Orani" or "Virgen Milagrosa Del Rosario del Pueblo de Orani Shrine"). It is a Neoclassical  (heritage) Diocesan Marian Shrine and Pilgrimage church located in the center of Orani, Bataan in the Philippines.

Museum within the church complex

 

Our pilgrimage visited St. Catherine of Sienna, located in Samal, Bataan for our 5th and 6th Stations of the Cross.

St. Catherine of Siena in Samal

The 1596 Parish Church of St. Catherine of Siena belongs to the Romn Catholic Diocese of Balanga. (Dioecesis Balangensis - Suffragan of San Fernando, Pampanga Created: March 17, 1975. Canonically Erected: November 7, 1975).

It has a Catholic population of 11,581 under the Titular of St. Catherine of Siena whose Feast day falls on April 30.

In 1596, the Dominicans directed the spirituality of Samal.  Attacked by Dutch invaders in April 1647, the local garrison of Pampanga under Alejo Aguas ousted the Dutch forces. 

Rev. Jeromino Belen, O.P. rebuilt the ruined church and the convent. In 1896 the Katipuneros burmed the church and the convent which were rebuilt by Rev. Justo Quesada in 1903.

For the 7th and 8th Via Crucis, we went to the Bahay Puso Home for the Aged and on to  the Cathedral of St. Joseph,  both of these located in the capital city of Balanga.

Below right, one of the structures in the Bahay Puso property where abandoned elderly are being taken cared of.

At the height of the afternoon sun, our  Visita Iglesia disembarked at the St. Joseph Cathedral, also known as Balanga Cathedral.  St. Joseph Cathedral stands massively amid the town center of Balanga, itself a showcase of early 18th century architecture.

Balanga City Hall

Town Plaza in Balanga

St. Joseph Cathedralin Balanga

 The Cathedral is the seat of the Diocese of Balanga which comprises the entire civil province of Bataan.

Staircase leading to choir loft

An angel as Holy Water and Confessional Box guardian

According to historical records,  St. Joseph Cathedral during the Japanese invasion was used as an artillery emplacement to bombard Mt. Samat, where the Filipino-American troops made their last stand. It was later renovated by the first bishop of the Diocese, Celso Guevarra DD and made Saint Joseph as its patron saint.

There were other parishes also doing their own pilgrimage on the same day as our Parish that's why the roads leading to the churches were extra ordinarily jammed. We walked quite a distance to the churches themselves.

For the 11the and 12th Stations, we went next to the Church of Our Lady of Pillar which has a quaint archway leading to the main ground. 

The 7th town and parish founded by the Dominican Fathers after Abucay (1588), Samal (1596), Orion (1667), Orani (1714), Balanga (1739) and Hermosa (1757), Pilar was made an independent vicariate on March 10, 1801. The Secular clergy replaced all regular Spanish religious missionaries including Bataan.

On April 10, 1801, Pilar was declared an independent municipality. Fr. Damaso Salvador Lintag, the first Filipino secular assigned in Pilar proclaimed Our Lady of the Pilar its Patroness, hence the town’s name Pilar.

The first chapel in the poblacion was made of wood and nipa roofing. In 1834, the Dominican priests built the stone church but local revolutionaries burned down the church, including the rectory on May 28, 1898 but the image of Nuestra Senora del Pilar survived.

A temporary church was built. Fr. Fermin de San Julian, the last Dominican priest in 1901 stayed as the parish priest until 1931, building a new stone church.

Our Lady of Pillar  Church in Pilar

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St. Michael the Archangel Church in Orion

As the summer sun continued its blaze un-abated, we climbed back to our air conditioned buses and proceeded to another beautiful Church, the St. Michael the Archangel in Orion for the remaining Stations of the Cross.

Our Visita Iglesia would have ended as planned at the Dambana ng Kagitingan in Mt. Samat, Bataan, where the Fil-Am soldiers made their last stand against the Japanese forces.  But due to delays caused by traffic and other circumstances, the trip to the Shrine was cancelled, and our Pilgrimage headed back to Manila. 

The main altar at St. Michael the Archangel 

In his final blessing at the St. Michael the Archangel Church, the priest, Fr. Vic Flores referred back to the Gospel reading of the day, Lk 18: 9 -14, and asked the pilgrims who they were like, " Are you like the Pharisee, who thanked God that he was not like the thieves, rogues, adulterers and tax collector," or "Are you like the tax collector or publican, who would not even look up to heaven, instead beat his breast and said, God be merciful to me, a sinner."

Dambana ng Kagitingan in Mt. Samat