The parish of San Isidro Labrador in the town of San Fernando was established by diocesan decree on January 19, 1858 with San Isidro Labrador as patron saint. The first parish priest was Father Fernando Sánchez. The parish’s matrices were Naga and Carcar.

The present-day church was designed by Domingo de Escondrillas, a Spanish engineer and architect who also designed the church of Pardo, the plan for the expansion of the Cebu Cathedral, and Carcel de Cebu, among others. Construction of the church began during the term of its first priest Father Miguel del Burgo and was finished by Father Emiliano Diez in 1886. It replaced the provisional one which was made of bamboo and nipa.

Details of the archivolt.

The church, with its fabric of finely-cut coral stones, survived the war unscathed and sits on a vast fenced plain right at the heart of the poblacion. Its design is obviously Gothic as manifested by the spires, the recessed arches with pointed tips, and the flame-like decorations. An archival photo shows the church minus the twin belfries which are both made of concrete. A crude inscription on one of the belfries suggests that they are a later addition, built in 1925. The seal of the Augustinian order is carved in low-relief at the pediment.

The main entrance.

Upon entering the church from the main entrance, a slab at the floor bears a biblical passage in vernacular from Matthew 11:128 which says, Umari kamo kanako, kamong tanan nga gikapuyan pagdala sa inyung mga mabug-at nga palas-onon, ug papahulayon ko kamo (Come to me all of you who are burdened and I will give you rest). At the right side near the main entrance is a baptistery with a marble font. A hollow niche above the font contains a statue of Jesus Christ whose minute size is incongruent to the height of the niche and the space within it.

The interior of the church is modern, a product of the renovation works carried out in the 1970s. Two large windows at the end of the nave however have retained their Gothic character.

The church’s two-storey convent, which retains much of its coral stone fabric on the ground floor, was converted by Msgr. Diosdao Camomot in 1945 as the home of Notre Dame College still extant to this day. (ACFS)