Thanksgiving gesture burns 91-yr-old chapel

SAN FERNANDO, Cebu—A couple lit close to 5,000 candles in thanksgiving that their son has been cured of brain cancer.

They ended up accidentally burning the 91-year-old chapel where they lit the candles.

No one was hurt.

The fire before 5 p.m. on Tuesday not only gutted the chapel of San Vicente Ferrer but also destroyed 16 houses in Barangay Pitalo in this southern town.

Chapel workers were able to save all 16 images and sacred vessels inside the church.

The roadside chapel, built in 1925, is visited by many devotees asking to be healed of different ailments.

Among the answered prayers were those of the couple whose teenage son had brain cancer.

In gratitude, the couple bought 4,900 candles from the chapel office and lit them at the dagkutanan (candle rack) at the back of the main altar past 4 p.m.

Borgonio Sabal, 67, a massage therapist at the chapel, said he warned the couple not to light all the candles as it could start a fire.

Couple could not be found

But the couple, he said, rebuked him instead. The woman, he said, told him not to interfere. She said, “We have to light all these candles.”

Sabal said in Cebuano there was nothing she could do.

A few minutes after the candles were lit, flames started burning the painted wooden altar and quickly got out of control, spreading to the entire chapel.

The affected houses are located near the chapel.

Chief Insp. Richard Gadingan, San Fernando police chief, said the couple could not be found.

The devotion to San Vicente Ferrer in Pitalo started in the late 1800s. Barangay residents believed they were saved from an epidemic because of the intercession of the saint.

San Vicente Ferrer was a Valencian Dominican friar who was a missionary and a logician.

The chapel in his honor, made of cement, was built in 1925 by Antonio Delgado, a devotee of the saint.

Angelita Papas, chapel custodian for 12 years, said Delgado, whose wife was a native of Pitalo, used to travel to Toledo City in the western part of Cebu just to pay homage to San Vicente Ferrer.

Later in his life, Delgado built the chapel in Pitalo to propagate devotion to the saint in the barangay.

The chapel and the land where it stands are owned by Delgado under the name of San Vicente Ferrer Chapel.

Miraculous

Locals believe the wooden image of San Vicente Ferrer, enthroned in the altar’s retablo, is miraculous.

People, who have visited the place, claim their prayers were answered after praying to the saint, lighting candles and attending Masses.

“People were healed of their illnesses, some found jobs, passed licensure examinations and obtained good health,” Papas said.

Episcopal Vicar Msgr. Esteban Binghay said, while people called the structure church, it was actually a chapel under the jurisdiction of San Isidro Labrador Parish in Barangay Poblacion, San Fernando.

Binghay said a priest from the main parish held Mass in the chapel every Sunday on the request of residents.

After the fire, residents of Pitalo worked together to clear the site of debris and salvage whatever they can.

“We are deeply sad. What happened was very painful to us because the chapel has been entrusted to us by our forefathers and it has become a part of our lives,” Papas said.

She takes care of the sacred images that were saved from the fire.