Jesuits in Makati

EASTER THANKSGIVING. A couple of Jesuits priests, brothers and scholastics were on hand to celebrate my first mass in Makati. A true celebration indeed more so as everyone remembered the great miracle of the resurrection.

A CLOSER LOOK. Old folks of Makati would talk about a unique reliquary containing a strand of hair from the Blessed Mother that is hidden beneath the image's most opulent wardrobe. This claim was supported by Jesuit historian Fr. Pedro Murillo in his Historia de la Provincia de Filipinas de la Compania de Jesus: “Your most holy image of the Nuestra Señora de la Rosa has on her breast a most precious treasure, greater than those which Tharsis had in its opulence, or Ophir with his most valuable metals can offer. This is the strand of hair of her most holy head, whose authenticity I read with great admiration. In the vast extent of the Indies that I know of, there exists no similar reliquary.” Reportedly, the reliquary together with the ivory hands and head of the image were collateral damages of the Revolution of 1899. An oval cavity in the breast remains empty where the reliquary must have been placed while the hand and head have been replaced with wooden replicas.

EASTER THANKSGIVING. "Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!Exult, all creation around God's throne!Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!Sound the trumpet of salvation!"

Easter 2009. The church is home as well to the image of the Nuestra Senora de la Rosa (seen here above the tabernacle). As a child, I would sit at the pew nearest the left exit and simply admire the beauty of this magnificent baroque retablo. Ang ganda!

Easter 2009. I had my "thanksgiving mass" in this old church, the Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Poblacion, Makati. The church, built by the Spanish Jesuits in the mid-17th century, was also home to the old Jesuit Novitiate during the Spanish time. I spent my grade school years in the adjacent school ... at St. Paul's School Makati run by the SPC sisters.