Santa Catalina de Alejandria (Carcar)
Details of the bell towers.
The present church of Santa Catalina de Alejandria (Saint Catherine of Alexandria) in the southern city of Carcar, probably the third or second, was built by the Augustinians between 1860-1875. Construction was started by Father Antonio Manglano and was finished during the time of Father Fernandez Rubio. Carcar is known as the heritage city of Cebu because of its well-preserved Spanish and American colonial period houses and edifices.
The main facade of the church.
The architecture of the church features various influences particularly Islamic and Graeco-Roman. Islamic traces can be seen in the window openings of the bell towers and the recessed arch of the facade which, according to the Jesuit historian Father Rene Javellana, resembles the iwan of some Middle-Eastern mosques. On the other hand, the onion-type domes that cap the bell towers resemble those of Orthodox churches in Europe while the main altar retablo inside the church is Graeco-Roman as described by Father Pedro Galende, an Augustinian historian.
The interior.
The church is one of the few well-built stone churches in Cebu judging from the harmony in design and the careful layout. Made of finely-cut coral stones, it is perhaps the only Spanish colonial church in the island built with a main nave that is flanked on both sides with a side-aisle. It follows a rectangular plan instead of the typical cruciform layout common to most churches. Making it more unique among other churches in Cebu are the various tombstones dotted on certain parts of the walls, the flooring, and the piers.
The walls and the flooring are dotted with tombstones.
Details of the spiraling staircase of the pulpit.
October 3rd, 2010 at 10:46 am
Was that church a cemetery? I noticed that when I visited the church, I saw many tombstones on the pillars and walls. And are there bodies inside the tombstones?
October 4th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
Not really a cemetery. It’s a practice for some to have their remains interred on “holy grounds.” Nope, there aren’t any bodies inside but just bones. I guess they were really buried in the cemeteries after which the remains were transferred there.
You can also observe this practice in some Buddhist temples. I saw one Buddhist temple here in Cebu where a large statue of the Lord Buddha is surrounded by urns containing the ashes of the dead.
In some modern Catholic churches today there are ossuaries or bone chambers where people can deposit the remains of their departed loved ones. I’m not sure if those bone chambers are being leased or sold.
There are some churches though where the priest or an important member of the clergy such as a bishop is actually buried in the church such as in Argao Church or the Cebu Cathedral.
February 12th, 2012 at 6:50 pm
[...] of its slender belfry broke off. In Carcar, a portion of the archivolt of the main entrance of the Santa Catalina de Alejandria church has sheered and it could collapse anytime if not remedied. Although the sheering happened [...]
March 30th, 2012 at 5:49 pm
[...] Latin mass will again be celebrated tomorrow and this time it will be in the 152-year old church of Santa Catalina de Alejandria in Carcar, a charming small city in the southern part of [...]
April 1st, 2012 at 7:04 pm
[...] main altar retablo of the Santa Catalina de Alejandria Church in Carcar will soon be restored, a source mentioned after yesterday’s historical Traditional [...]