St. James Church and Catholic Rectory

In continuation to my previous post on Dr. Jose P. Rizal's 154th birthday, here's another post dedicated to our national hero.  Just a 5 to 8-minute drive away from Rizal Shrine stands the church where Rizal heard mass every Sunday during his exile in Dapitan, the St. James Church and Catholic Rectory.  It is a simple church of unpainted exterior in Baroque-style just like Jimenez's St. John the Baptist Church.  And it also has a touch of Gothic with the two bell towers by the sides of the crucifix just like the only Catholic church in Vietnam that I just recently visited, the St. Joseph's Cathedral .

   

This is a smaller and humble church compared with the said cathedral that was built by the Jesuits during the Spanish rule in our country in 1871 to honor the town's patron saint, St. James the Greater.

It surprised me to see an image of a saint riding on a horse for it was my first time plus, I'm only accustomed to St. Michael with the devil at his foot and Señor Sto. Niño, my childhood saint.  

The church's interior is even simpler with a fascinating ceiling of pink and white tiles.

Look up and you'll  be mesmerized by the hypnotic design and eventually, you'll get dizzy staring at it.

Simple as it is, there are no great treasures hidden inside the church. 

The only treasure is the word of God being preached during mass to the people of Dapitan who had preserved the conservative culture of Filipinos in maintaining peace and order to the silent town.

By the way, across the church is the relief map of Mindanao that was also one of the many projects of Dr. Jose Rizal in Dapitan.  Nowadays, this serves as a plaza where families get together after mass for the corn, samalamig, and balloons for the kids.

Visit the peaceful town of Dapitan this July 25 for its Kinabayo festival in celebration of St. James the Greater's feast day!

  

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Going Local on Dr. Jose P. Rizal's 154th Birthday

It's our national hero's birthday today so let me take you down memory lane to Jose Rizal's life (as if I was there when he was living).  Hehe..... But I won't feed you with too much facts from history as this may come in boring.  Instead, I'll just give you anything I can remember from my Rizal class way back in college and from the field trip we had some two years ago with our La Salle students in Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte.  As we all know, Rizal was exiled to Dapitan for his revolutionary writing against the Spanish rule in the Philippines where he spent four productive years.

This is the first historical spot you'll see once you arrive in Dapitan.  It is just along the shore of Santa Cruz, Rizal's landing site in 1892 now known as The Punto Del Desembarco de Rizal.  The boulevard is spacious like a park where you can stroll around, enjoying the calming sea breeze.         

Moving further down the street, you'll reach Rizal Shrine.  Entering its gates, you'll be welcomed by the statue of Dr. Rizal which is exactly in his own size.

Before touring around, a lecture was given in the amphitheater so we got our students seated down for more particulars on Rizal's projects, whereabouts, whatabouts, and even love life.

So when we had our sightseeing, we were already filled with enthusiasm to get the feel of the place where Rizal set foot on.

  

This is the elevated nipa hut which is called Casa Residencia, a replica of Rizal's house where he lived with Josephine Bracken, his common-law foreigner wife in Dapitan.

This is also a replica of Rizal's kitchen which is detached from the house.

And this is the replica of Rizal's clinic where he voluntarily attends to his patients with or without pay ('coz paying in kind was also accepted).

Jose Rizal's artworks and other memorabilia are also exhibited in a modern-day building where you can buy keychains and other handmade souvenirs for pasalubong.

The Two Satirical Novels of Dr. Jose P. Rizal

And a field trip would never be complete without goofing around doing pictorial!  Excuse us for being pasaway teachers even for just these snapshots.

Thank you to the kind staff of Rizal Shrine in Dapitan!  'Till our next field trip for our Rizal course! :) #tosomtravels

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