Visita Iglesia: A journey of every Catholic faithful
Posted by on April 3, 2007
This coming Maundy Thursday until noon of Good Friday, thousands of Filipinos will once again perform a ritual that is very unique to us. What Iam referring to is the ritual called the visita iglesia. Visita Iglesia is actually a Spanish term which roughly means “church visit.”
Right after the Holy Thursday mass in the afternoon, families and friends would visit seven churches as part of this tradition. Thereis no actual or definite thing to do during the visita iglesia. Many visit these church to see how they have adorned their altar of repose, where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed. Others opt to pray and meditate.
And as a guide to the Catholic faithful, some dioceses prepare short prayers and reflections to be recited in every church visited. Some would even add christians songs for meditation.
Although by tradition, visita iglesia is performed on the night of Maundy Thursday, the church has not forbidden anybody from doing it outside of this holy day. For this reason, I will be doing my visita iglesia tomorrow, Holy Wednesday. You might ask, why. Holy Wednesday is my restday and is the only day I have to perform this age-old tradition. I will be reporting for work from Maundy Thursday until the Easter Monday.
And where I will perform my visita iglesia? It’s going to be in the province of Laguna. Details of my trip will be posted after the Holy Week.
Hi there! I’d be looking forward to read some details of your Laguna trip. Have fun!
i think that would be fun, i haven’t tried doing that
it ain’t fun. i’ve done it 4 times when i was a teenager with my friends. walked the whole stretch of ortigas ave. all the way to antipolo… felt like my legs were amputated afterwards.
i miss doing Visita Iglesia during Maundy Thursday for some time now, this past two or three years already. Churches in the provinces are far apart and its not safe to commute. While my kids were still small and we were in Manila I bring them both along with yaya. . .