Jaro Cathedral

The National Shrine of Our Lady of the Candles at Jaro has two features people remember. The bell tower stands on the far side of the street, separated from the church by the road and the plaza - a Spanish-era precaution against earthquake collapse, and one of the few belfries in the country left entirely detached in this way. And the image of Our Lady of the Candles, a stone figure believed to date from the seventeenth century, is enshrined not inside but on the facade, reached by a staircase up the front of the church, so devotees climb the exterior to touch it. The cathedral was built from 1869 to 1874, wrecked by the 1948 earthquake and rebuilt; Pope John Paul II crowned the image during his 1981 visit. Jaro's fiesta on 2 February is one of the largest in the Visayas, and the district around the plaza holds the ancestral mansions of Iloilo's sugar families.

History

Jaro began as a visita of Oton on 3 March 1575 and became a parish in April 1587; in 1636 the town moved to its present site and on 31 October took Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria as its patron. The first stone church was built in 1742-1744, the present cathedral was begun on 22 February 1869 under the first Bishop of Jaro, Mariano Cuartero, and consecrated in 1874, and Pope John Paul II crowned the image of Our Lady of the Candles on 21 February 1981 (Wikipedia, Jaro Cathedral).

What to look for

• The detached belfry - the tower across the street from the church.
• The facade staircase - the climb to the Marian image outside.
• The stone image - Our Lady of the Candles above the entrance.
• The Jaro mansions - sugar-era houses around the plaza.

When to go

November to May; 2 February for the Jaro fiesta, when the district fills. Weekday mornings are quiet otherwise.

Good to know

Much of the building is post-1948 reconstruction. It is a working cathedral with services and weddings. The facade stairs can be busy with devotees, and photography there should be discreet.

Nearby

Molo Church is across the city; Miagao is about an hour southwest along the coast.

Key facts