Church buried by lahar keeps itself alive

BACOLOR, PAMPANGA — Although buried by Mt. Pinatubo’s volcanic sediments (lahar) in 1995, the Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in Barangay Cabetican here continued to draw in thousands of devotees every Feb. 11.

Mass goers crouched as they enter the shrine that was built to replicate Lourdes, the site of several apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Bernadette starting on Feb. 11, 1858.

The sunken shrine is now 39 years old, according to Fr. Manny Sta. Maria, parish priest of Bacolor. One has to crouch or walk on bended knees because the opening between the sidewall and floor is a meter high.

The entire structure was originally seven stories tall before the Mt. Pinatubo eruptions in 1991. The current floor is 14 meters to 20 meters from the original sloping roof, allowing people to sit and stand erect.

But that was after the ground was partially excavated in 2005.

Limited oxygen

There seemed to be limited oxygen in this hollowed ground, as some would faint.

The shrine hosts an old image of the Immaculate Conception that is visited by devotees who troop as early as 4 a.m. for the hourly Masses beginning at 6 a.m.

The image is set amid a garden atop the altar. For local touch, white lanterns are illuminated in the garden.

What is mostly known about the shrine was written by then architecture students Patrick Kasingsing and Judith Torres.

It was said to have been built in the Brutalist style by Julio Macapagal and seven architects whose names were not documented.

This was one of two major churches buried by lahar, aside from chapels (“visitas”) in the villages of Bacolor. The other is  San Guillermo (William the Hermit) Church.

Lahar was carried to the town  —briefly the capital of the Philippines during the British Occupation and capital of Pampanga—via the Pasig-Potrero River that drained straight from the volcano. Lahar almost wiped out Bacolor from the map.

Archbishop Emeritus Paciano Aniceto said the 1991 eruptions, the world’s second worst volcanic blast in the 20th century, had failed to sink the Catholic faith.