Before departing for Manila, we passed by the Majayjay town center to visit the town’s imposing Spanish-era Church of Pope St. Gregory the Great. A wedding was in progress when we arrived. Named after the town’s patron saint (whose feast is held on 12 March), the church suffered successive destruction by fires (1576, 1606, 1660 and 1711) before it was strengthened and enlarged, to its massive and present form, from 1711 to 1734 by Fr. Jose de Puertollano through the forced labor of its 4,000 townspeople.
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| Church of Pope St. Gregory the Great |
The church was again repaired in 1839, 1842 and 1848, because of typhoon damage, and further improved in 1892 when its roof was replaced with galvanized iron by Fr. Gregorio Platero. During the Philippine-American War, the church became the headquarters of American forces. The church was repaired again in 1912.
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| The church interior |
This unusually tall, stone and brick colonial Baroque church, with its commanding view of the town and Laguna de Bay, has 6-m. thick adobe walls covered with vines and moss, vaulted halls and enormous and unusual 16.5-m. high solid buttresses supporting a bell tower (with 5 century-old bells) at the rear. Of equally huge proportions, the tower is topped by a pointed roof and is accessed by concrete steps that also lead to a catwalk above the ceiling (called langit-langitan) that, in turn, leads to the crossing above the transept. The 60-m. long and 17-m. wide nave has balconies on both sides, 3 impressive altars, antique relief statues of saints, azulejo-tiled floor and 5 elaborate retablos (altar backdrops) constructed on the wide pilasters supporting the lateral bays of the capiz window-lined transept. The adjacent convent, one of the earliest surviving examples in the country, houses a small museum of old parish documents and ecclesiastical silver. It was slightly defaced when part of it was converted into St. Gregory Academy (later to be renamed Liceo de Majayjay).
After our church visit, we again passed by Mr. Flory Rosales’ home to thank him personally for the assistance he gave us. The ladies and Robert also went to the nearby market to buy the fruit of the month of October – lanzones. As I would say, “Never leave Majayjay without it!” (a pun of the American Express commercial). I stayed behind to do some people-watching. One thing noticeable is the unusual number of horse-riding men I saw passing me by. Majayjay certainly is not your one-horse town. After a while, my companions returned, all toting 5 kgs. each (at PhP37 per kilo) of the luscious fruit. These, plus the extra pasalubong of lanzones Mr. Rosales gave us, made us look more like visiting fruit dealers. Thus fully laden, we all happily went our way back to Manila.