01 October 2012, 7:07 p.m. – SANTO DOMINGO Church and its liturgical objects will be declared collectively as a National Culture Treasure on Oct. 4, the beginning of annual festivities for Our Lady of the Rosary of La Naval.
The public declaration will be on Oct. 4, while the blessing and unveiling of the official marker will be held on Dec. 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, said Fr. Gaspar Sigaya, O.P. archivist of the Filipino Dominicans.
Santo Domingo, the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary, is the first National Cultural Treasure in Quezon City and the 72nd place in the country to be declared as such.
“Isa [ang National Cultural Treasure] sa mga pinakamahahalagang lugar, in the national scope … A certain institution signifies Filipino identity,” said Sigaya in a press conference at the Philippine Dominican Center for Institutional Studies-Institute of Preaching.
The Dominicans wrote to the National Museum last year to seek the declaration. Sigaya said the government will perform a crucial role in the maintenance and restoration of the whole compound of Santo Domingo Church.
National Artist Carlos “Botong” Francisco’s eight murals can be found at the dome of the Santo Domingo Church. Artifacts from the old Santo Domingo Church in Intramuros, Manila were preserved, like old banners that are now part of the altar décor. Relics of various saints and other religious items can be found in Museo de Sto. Domingo.
The architecture of Santo Domingo and its convent is a combination of modern and Spanish colonial styles, designed by Jose Zaragoza.
Fr. Gerard Francisco Timoner, O.P., vice chancellor of the University and head of the Dominican Province of the Philippines, said the Church serves is an “heirloom of the Filipino people.”
“It means therefore, that this treasure is not just a treasure of the Catholic faithful, but of the entire nation,” Timoner said. “This place is where the heart of the nation belongs.”
La Naval festivities start on Oct. 4 and will continue for nine days with Eucharistic celebrations, novena prayers, and the rosary. A grand procession of Our Lady of La Naval will be held on Oct. 14.
New initiatives were also announced. The Dominicans are building Santuario de Santo Domingo, a columbarium that will have 4,745 niches. Denise Pauline Purugganan
