San Sebastian Church

I. Brief History

The Basilica of San Sebastian is one of the 4 minor basilicas in the Archdiocese of Manila. San Sebastian Church designed by Genaro Palacios. The structural metal of which this church is uniquely built was manufactured in Belgium and erected here by Belgian engineers. The church was solemnly blesses August 16, 1891. Earlier churches built on this site by recollect friars since 1611 were destroyed by earthquake in 1859, 1863, and 1880.

Among the churches, San Sebastian Church is the most expensive church because it was made of purely steel metal that comes from Belgium. It takes three years to construct this church. Only this church has communion rails in front, one in the right and another one in the left. Now, this church is already 108 years old.

The basilica contains the National Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Every year the feast of Our Lady is celebrated twice a year. The biggest feast is celebrated on January 31 with a traditional novena ending with a procession all along the parish streets. Her feast on July 16 is also celebrated with a novena but with a shorter religious procession.

II. Style of Architecture

San Sebastian Church architectural style is a gothic style. Inside the church, there are eleven mosaic of Papa Jesus. All mosaic is made up of pieces of stained glass. This stained glass symbolizes the faith of the Catholic. The right part of mosaic in the church is the joyful and in the left part is the sorrow. On the upper part, there are four evangelist gospels. Each of these drawings represents the saints. The first gospel, is the lion, the lion represents Saint John. Second gospel, is the cow, the cow represents Saint Anna and Saint Simon. They used the cow for offerings. Third gospel, is the eagle, the eagle represents Saint John. And the last gospel, is the man, the man represents Saint Luke.

There are fourteen chandelier lights in the hallway which makes the church look elegant. There is also fourteen station of the cross. These fourteen Stations of the Cross symbolize the sufferings of Jesus. Each of the stations has corresponding meaning and why it is put there. There are seven altars in all. One in the middle, two in the right, two in the left, and two at the main door. The one in the middle is Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The one in the right is Saint Joseph. He has two more saints beside namely Saint Rita and Our Lady of Consolation. The other one in right corner is the altar of Saint Monica. The left altar is Saint Nicolas; this altar is also called Altar Privilegiado. Beside Saint Nicolas is Brother Vicente, Oar and Brother Francisco, Oar. The left corner altar is Saint Augustine, son of Saint Monica. Beside the main door, there are also two altars. The one in the right Immaculate Heart of Mary and the one in the left is Sacred Heart of Jesus. In the priest platform, there were two big chairs. What I shocked about is that beside the prayer wood chairs the whole right and left lanes are the tombs of the dead people.

III. Critique

I learned so many things when I went to San Sebastian Church especially about Jesus. I'm not a Catholic so I don't know things like this. But when I went there, facts about Him are true. The fourteen Station of the Cross shows how Jesus suffers from the hands of the friars. He swallowed all the pain and He died just to save all the people in the world. Jesus