Semana Santa in Tabor Hill

Holy Week starts on Viernes de Dolores or the Friday of Sorrows.

The tradition was inherited from the Spaniards. After the Second Vatican Council,  it  was no longer practiced by the Catholic Church but continued with the Order of the Discalced Augustinians (OAD) Philippine Province.

The Chapel of Holy Relics celebrated  Holy Mass in honor of Our Lady of Sorrows as the Holy Week opening salvo at  Tabor Hill in barangay San Jose,  Cebu City.

More than 750 first-class fragments of saints of the Catholic Church are displayed in the chapel.

Rev. Fr. Dennis Ruiz emphasized the seven sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary in his homily, and encouraged the faithful to imitate Mary’s virtues as the perfect disciple of Jesus Christ.

The “Semana Santa sa Tabor Hill 2013” is open to all.

Ruiz said one does not need to fly to the Holy Land to experience significant places of the Passion of Christ because everyone can see and touch fragments here.

The relics are  open for public exposition in the chapel.

The Silent Testimonies of the Passion are fragments of the Cross, Crown of Thorns, Holy Shroud, Sudarium, Passion Robe, Purple Robe, Table of the Last Supper, Column of the Flagellation, the Wood Column where Jesus was tied in the house of Anna, Rock from Gethsemane, Rock from the Mt. of Olives, slab from the Holy Sepulcher, Rock from the Calvary.

The Witnesses of the Passion are fragments from the bones of St. Salome, St. Mary of Cleophas, St. Mary Jacobi, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Nicodemus, St. Joseph of Arimathea, St. John the Beloved, St. Lazarus, St. Martha, St. Photina the Good Samaritan, the veil of the Blessed Virgin Mary, fragments of the cross of the Good Thief and the altar used by St. Peter the Apostle.

For more information on “Semana Santa sa Tabor Hill 2013,” contact Fr. Ruiz at 3440992 or (0922) 8419245. /SEMINARIAN MARCELINO RAPAYLA JR.