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Jerome Church in Duenas

WHO IS ST JEROME

He was a “Croatian” by birth and lived from 347 to 420. He became one of the Church’s best known
historian and translators. His greatest work is the Vulgate – a translation of the Hebrew Bible from the
original Hebrew into Latin. He was fluent in most of the languages of the time: Greek, Latin, Hebrew,
Aramaic and others. He travelled extensively throughout the then known world and was a prolific writer of
commentaries and translations. He lived a monastic life and spent his last 35 years in the environs of
Bethlehem working on his bible translations.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CHURCH

The original church built of stone was completely destroyed by the earthquake of 1787 in an area called
Laglag. In 1845 the village was relocated from Laglag about 4 kilometres east to what is now called
Dueñas. The new village was named Dueñas in memory of the home town of the then Parish Priest Friar
Florencio Martin, who later worked on the church in Alimodian.

All in all this is a very memorable and interesting church. Unfortunately, it was heavily damaged during
World War 2 when it was burned and the Dome and western bell towers were badly damaged by the Lady
CayCay Earthquake of 1948.

Restoration work has been on-going over the years since then until just recently when work was being
doing to restore the façade and other exterior areas. One should always keep in mind that with treasures
such as this one that restoration work is never ending and the church depends greatly on the support of
parishioners and friends of the parish both at home and abroad.
Finally, the convento, church offices and activity centres are on either side of the main walkway leading to
the church entrance. They form a sort of plaza, which itself faces to town plaza, just outside the gate.
 ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS

FAÇADE

The heavy Doric columns are mounted on a rectangular section divided into three equal
segments. Semi-circular arched blind fenestrations flanked both sides of the semi-circular
arched entrance. Each one crowned with rose windows that indicates the second story and choir
loft. Furthermore, Inspecting the Facade, the overpowering proportion of its octagon belfries is
very evident and gives the church an extraordinary beauty that is quite different from the other
churches in Iloilo.The Church was influence by a Spaniards. The roundness of the front columns
contrasts with the flat rectangular pilasters on the side wall. In addition, there is a five oculi in
the central on being on the balcony above the main entry. Each of these oculi has a simple
stained glass window in it depicting a plain flower.

NICHES

St. Paul, Augustinian Seal

Saint Peter, Augustinian Seal
Flanking the massive main doors are niches with statues of
Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and the Augustinian Seal
appears just above each niche. In a central position above
the main door is a further niche with the Statue of Saint
Jerome. Above St. Jerome’s niche is the marker stone noting
the year in which construction of the church was
undertaken: “1878”.

INTERIOR

Upon entering the church itself people are struck by its majesty a
view up the nave towards the chancel show the Tuscan influence
in the design, especially the dome and the arches supporting it.
The chancel is particularly bright because of the clerestory which
allows in the brilliant sunshine. The base of the eastern belfry is
occupied by a small chapel in which we find a most attractive
statue of the Pieta.

ALTAR

From the marble altar rail of old we ascend four marble

steps to the altar and three more to the chancel. The
pilasters are surmounted with urns and remind of more of
the IonicSchool in which the columns feature flutes,
lines carved into the shaft from top to bottom, and
scroll capitals.
A statue of St. Jerome takes up the central location behind the tabernacle and above
him is a statue of Nuestra Señora de la O.

Similarly the base of the western belfry is occupied by the Church

Baptistery. Containing what appears to be a pure marble baptismal
font and overseen by a carved wooden statue of St. Jon the Baptist.
The stairway in the background, obviously leads to the actual bell
tower – which for security reasons is closed to the public. As you can
see from the above photo there is a small statue of Sto Nino, awaiting
its turn to be placed in his new location in the church after the
refurbishment currently underway.

STATUES

There is in the baptistery a statue of the Archangel

Gabriel ‘fighting’ the devil

ST MATTHEW ST LUKE ST MARK ST JOHN

 While the altar and chapel on the west side is dedicated to: The Sacred
Heart of Jesus.

The stone work and detail in both of these chapels is something to behold when you consider
that they were built in the late 1870’s – those people were extremely talented individuals.

There are two other small ‘prayer areas’ available to the

faithful on in honour of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the
other to “The Black Madonna”.

http://historicphilippines.com/
our-churches/historic-
churches-v/saint-jerome-
church-duenas/

https://iamproudfilipino.wordpress.com/category/view-all-blog-
post/page/2/