Founded
by two Spanish Jesuit Priest, Fr. Juan de Torres and Fr. Gabriel Sanchez in
November 17, 1596, and considered as the oldest Catholic Church in the
Philippines and perhaps in the whole continent of Asia, and known to be the
bastion of Catholic faith in the Eastern world. For a cheap entrance fee of
Fifty pesos, one can view inside the Baclayon Ecclesiastical Museum and have a
glimpse of those old brass religious relics used by the early churches that dates
back more than five centuries ago.
Taking of pictures and videos inside the museum is strictly prohibited. However, I observe that there are some unruly visitors who cannot obey the simple rule of keeping their digital cameras temporarily tamed while inside the Museum.
I was amazed to see these polished slabs of hardwood flooring inside the museum. I surmised that these are ironwoods riveted on the floor joist below.
At the extreme left corner of the primary chamber of the museum, there is a wooden box, towering 9 ft high, and with a two-door closet. Inscribed on its header panel are Spanish words: “Archivo de Certifico”. It contains records of baptismal certificates, and death certificates that dates back as early as 1600s! They were using parchments and Chinese scribbling materials.
In early Spanish time, the community life of our countrymen always revolved around on their religious duties in the church. Their yearly activities were always centered on church activities such as festivities in honor of the patron Saints, observance of the holy week, and other holidays that were all sanctioned by the Catholic church.
At the middle of the main chamber of the museum are two Latin Bibles being opened and placed on rostrums with a note on top: “Please do not touch”. These objects were considered as sacred and the common parishioners were not allowed to read these writings not even to look inside on these. In the past, the Spanish friars have kept these writings away from ordinary parishioners since nobody could understand Latin writings except they themselves who were thoroughly schooled in two dominant languages then-Latin and Greek-which were used in all their religious writings. Although in England, an English martyr by the name of William Tyndale was executed for his daring act of translating the Greek New Testament bible into the common English language then. Although seven years after Tyndale’s death King Henry VIII had commissioned the British Empire to translate the remaining un-translated Latin and Greek bibles into what was known as Matthew Bible, which was used as the base translation of our modern King James Version bible.
At the last chamber before one could exit from the Museum building, there were old monochrome photographs displayed, the theme of these pictures centered on various church activities on different times in this old Baclayon church. The oldest photo was taken for the summer activity of Flores de Mayo dated May 1939, and with a two beautiful debutantes leaning against their Karosa. These are priceless documents and historical objects that one could see inside the Baclayon Ecclesiastical Museum in Bohol.
Our National History can also be appreciated not just on the written documents being encrypted in our college textbooks, but also on these tangible objects which are mute witnesses of the past events that have shaped our nation into its present condition.