Architecture and Buildings…on cathedrals and churches
Due to the earthquakes of the year 1645, the church, when first erected, was poor. Though there were sufficient incomes, the fires and continual earthquakes ruined the church buildings.The church of La Misericordia was used as the cathedral church from November 26, 1652, until June 7, 1662. It was built by the zealous and costly efforts of the holy archbishop, Don Miguel de Poblete. His Excellency (king of Spain) placed the first stone April 20, 1654. It was a square slab, and displayed the following writing: “The Church being under the government of Innocent X; the Españas, under King Phelipe IV the Great; and these islands, under Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, knight of the Order of Calatrava: Don Miguel de Poblete, its metropolitan archbishop, placed this stone, April 20, 1654, for the building of this holy cathedral—its titular being the Conception of our Lady, and its patron, St. Andrew the apostle.” [1]
On August 30, 1671, it was completed as a beautiful stone building with forty brazas long by fifteen wide, and five high. It had three principal doors, corresponding to the three naves of its structure. Along with the two side aisles it had eight chapels on each side with two sacristies (a room in a Christian church in which sacred objects such as vessels and vestments are kept)—one for Spaniards, the other for the natives. It had fifty two choir-capacities with stalls of red wood. The steeple was high and striking, with fourteen bells—a larger number and size than the old bells. The church was under the personal care and watchful management of the archbishop of Manila who was governing.
The Augustinian religious also had their convent and church within the archbishopric. It was made all of stone arches, and was located in Manila. Art was employed all its beauties in its building, and it was of special size and beauty. There lived, as a general thing, fifty religious, all of well-known talents; and they have quarters for novitiates (the part of a monastery or convent where novices live) and study, for those who need them. In the year 1565, the first order conquered these islands through their first prelate (a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy), the venerable Fray Andrès de Urdanèta, a Biscayan, and a son of the convent and province of México.[2]
[1] Blair, Emma Helen, James Alexander Robertson, and Edward Gaylord Bourne. "Volume 16." In The Philippine islands, 1493-1803: explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, c, 140-143. Cleveland, Ohio: A.H. Clark Co., 190309.
[2] Blair, Emma Helen, James Alexander Robertson, and Edward Gaylord Bourne. "Volume 28." In The Philippine islands, 1493-1803: explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, c, 201. Cleveland, Ohio: A.H. Clark Co., 190309.
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