"Visita Iglesia" A Lenten Filipino Tradition

Lenten Season is somehow special to the Filipinos or what we call Cuaresma or Semana Santa. It has been a tradition of the faithful Filipino Catholics to do Visita Iglesia each Maundy Thursday during Holy Week, literally visits seven churches to pray for. Visita Iglesia means "Church Visit", it is a Spanish word "Visita" (visit) and "Iglesia" (churches of Christ). Iglesia is from a Greek word "ekklesia" means "called out" and refers to congregation or an assembly. While every congregation is a church, all of the congregations together are also referred to as the church (as in Collossians 1:18).

This practice, brought in by the Spaniards, who colonized the Philippines. Goes back to the time of the early church where Christians would visit the seven great basilicas (The Saint John Lateran, St. Peter, Saint Mary Major, Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Saint Lawrence Outside the Walls, Holy Cross in Jerusalem and Saint Sebastian Outside the Walls) in Rome for the worship of the Blessed Sacrament during Holy Thursday.

For devoted Filipinos, it is not just the Blessed Sacrament but a reflection of the Fourteen Station of the Cross. And, for the churches, they really give time and effort to embellish their church for the visitors to feel the solemn and and eagerly contemplate on what Christ been sacrificed.