Place: St. William the Hermit Cathedral (City of San Fernando, La Union)
Date: 27 May 2008

This day being my last day in La Union, I told myself I will just walk around the place to take pictures of anything that fancies me so that my photo blog will also have some content. I was so immersed with my trips that I kind of neglected taking pictures to be shared in my Shutter Happenings blog.

After taking my lunch, I went to the Internet Hub to check emails. I hoped to take pictures by 3PM so that the sun wasn’t so hot. However, by 2PM, I received a message from my brother asking me to meet him at 4PM by the bus stop. He said he will be having a meeting with his co-Singles for Christ members, and we will pass by the grocery, too, so he was hoping I could come with him.

Even if I was wearing house clothes, I went up to meet him. Their meeting was held in an office near the Cathedral, so after the meeting, I asked brother if I could take some pictures of the cathedral. After all, my macro shooting day was cancelled because I came with him. He waited outside of the church while I did my thing.

The facade of the cathedral. Actually, this was the last picture I shot (I typically take pictures inside first before I take pictures of the facade). The last time we were here was summer of 2006, and the church was under renovation — one part of the ceiling fell — so now that everything was okay, the pictures were nicer than before.

The look inside the cathedral. I was lucky that the mass just ended, because if the mass was just starting, I might not have the chance to take pictures because it was getting late and no one was looking after the house. I did say my thank you prayers for all the blessings coming our way.

The altar. Part of the renovation was creating a dome by the altar, and not only did it make the cathedral more beautiful, it made it a lot brighter, too! Our pictures from before were a lot darker as the cathedral’s lights were only open during masses. Right after the mass, the lights will be turned off to save some electricity. There were some lights on, but not enough to illuminate the whole cathedral. With the dome, even if some of the lights were off, the pictures still look nice (at least for me).

More pictures:

Based on what’s written by the entrance of the cathedral, the history of this church went: The chapel was made in 1764 by Fr. Francisco Romero and Santiago Holarte at Barrio San Vicente, formerly known as Pindangan, after which San Fernando was first called. It was moved to Tanque then to Cabaroan, and afterwards to its present site where it was built out of stone and brick. The church was damaged by earthquake in 1892 and was occupied by the Revolutionists. The church was destroyed during the Liberation in 1945, and through Bishop Santiago Sancho and the townspeople, they reconstructed the church and was rededicated in 1949.

I found most churches here in the Philippines fascinating because of its very rich culture. I am not sure when will I set foot inside the cathedral again, but at least I have something to remember it by.

*** Jenn ***