The Manila Metropolitan Cathedral – Basilica

Somehow, my feet are often on the way to cathedral or some religious palaces. I sometimes wonder myself if it is an accident or a destiny.

I admit that I was affected by the “Thorn Birds” novel. The beautiful love between priest Ralph and lady Maggie keeps making me harassing. This is one of reasons that I want to study about the church. Is it really hard for priest to get married?

For some other special reasons, I decide to study a little bit about the church. For what?

May be I become a nun some day. A nun loves lavender crazily, that must be a nice image! haha ;-)

Well, under hot weather of Manila, all of a sudden I felt so cool since I walked into the Manila Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica.

This is the mother of all the churches and cathedrals in the Philippines.

Portals was made from eights bronze panels by Italian sculptors Alessandro Monte Leone and Francesco Nagni.

Each panel measures 1.80 meters wide by 4.24 meters. The cast-bronze central door displays artistic relief representations of the important episodes in the history of the Manila Cathedral.

Two smaller doors, on the left and right side of the main door, are also divided into eight panels depicting the liturgical invocations to Mary.

The choir loft is located behind the façade above the main entrance of the Cathedral. The area is illuminated dramatically by two round stained glass windows bearing ornamental motifs of angelic musicians and musical instruments. Each window is dominated by figures of King David at the harp and St. Cecilia at the organ, exemplars of sacred music of the Old and New Testament, respectively.

The choir loft contains, as has every cathedral building since 1581, a pipe organ. The magnificent four-manual organ by Pels Organ Makers of Holland, one of the largest in the Far East, provides liturgical music for the services of the cathedral. In addition, world-renowned organists such as Maestro Flor Peeters and Madame Odile Pierre have performed organ recitals in the Basilica.

Main Alta

Six chapels are found alongside the right lateral nave of the Manila Cathedral. These are:

1. The Chapel of St. Peter.

2. The Chapel of Mary Help of Christians and Our Lady of the Pillar.

3. The Chapel of Blessed Souls.

4. The Chapel of St. Jude.

5. The Chapel of Sta. Potenciana and Sto. Niño.

6. The Chapel of St. Pius X and Ina Poon Bato

Confession house

(I guess I must come here to meet Priest everyday if I am a Christian believer)

I special like the Stained Glass Window.

There are around 134 stained glass windows in Manila Cathedral.

Manila Cathedral’s stained glass windows are not only lovely decorative features of the edifice but truly symbolic media that set religious fervor and a deep understanding of the Faith. They fill the Cathedral with light and beauty, symbolically like Jesus, our Lord and Savior, the Divine Light born of Mary, who has come into the world to fill and heal our souls with His light and love.

Stained Glass Window also complies with formal modernity, which the most remote Christian art tradition demands. The fineness of the stained glass windows of the Manila Cathedral is entrusted particularly to the magic of their colors. While they are so well matched according to the graduated exposure to the sunlight, their brilliant colors pour in the dim interior to give a dramatic lighting effect.

All the stained glass windows prove profoundly meaningful. They give a pictorial history of Christianity and help accomplish the duty of educating the faithful, favoring devotion and pity, that is, in accordance with the teaching of Pope Urban VIII the Great.

The artistic designs of the stained glass windows of the Manila Cathedral are mostly products of the creative genius of Galo Ocampo, one of the most versatile contemporary Filipino artists during his time and a recipient of the 1964 Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award from the city government of Manila.

Rich in story and symbolism, the stained glass windows represent varied sights and scenes that broaden one’s appreciation of faith, its victories and vicissitudes.

Lucky me, I was the only foreigner could attend the wedding ceremony inside the cathedral while others foreigners must stay outside. The guards of the ceremony looked very strict, so that I must tried to talk to him in soft voice. Finally he let me go inside the cathedral but he kept following me. Haha

Couples in white custom are principal sponsor. Young girls in red skirt are flowergirls.

Since the bride came into the main altar, I tiptoe to approach the bride to take picture, that guard immediately grabbed me and pushed me out. I asked him for a reason why other people can take picture but not me. He just stormed at me and said that other people were officially invited to this ceremony, not me. Wow!!! Really don’t know which word is the best one to describe about him!!