Vicente Sotto Lecture 2024 March
“Balay sa Dios ug Ganghaan sa Langit: Spanish-era Church Construction in Cebu (1565-1898)”
Mr. Trizer Dale Mansueto
ABSTRACT
The ancient Cebuanos didn’t have churches. They worshiped and built shrines wherever, especially in forests and close to bodies of water. When Miguel Lopez de Legazpi arrived in 1565, they eventually built the first Christian church made of nipa and bamboo to enshrine the image of the Santo Nino, the representation of the Child Jesus supposedly brought by the Magellan expedition in 1521. When many Cebuanos had been converted, some villages were eventually raised into parishes requiring the construction of bigger places of worship. From wooden structures, these churches soon turned into permanent stone structures that we often see today at the heart of most towns in Cebu. In this lecture, we will know the following:
1. What were Cebu’s first parishes? 2. What was the visita and how were these elevated into parishes? 3. How were churches built and whether these were built using forced labor? And finally, 4. What materials were used in construction during the Spanish-era?
Date: March 27, 2024
Category: Vicente Sotto Lecture Series