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Region 6: Western Visayas ••• Iloilo Cabatuan San Nicolás de Tolentino Parish A visita as early as 1719, Cabatuan became a parish 1732, under the advocacy San Nicolás. A church and convento was probably built at the foundation of the parish. But the present church traces to the efforts of Fr. Ramón Alquezar who was named prior in 1833. He remained in Cabatuan until 1865. Another author claims that he died on 22 September 1863, at any rate, the church was completed by Fr. Manuel Ruiz in 1866; restored and decorated by Fr. Manuel Gutierrez. Fr. Juan Porras built the convento in 1876.Heritage Features: This capacious single nave church is a good example of Neoclassical architecture in its severest form. Except for rectangular carved plaques, the façade's main decorations are twinned Tuscan pilasters alternating with plain walls pierced by fenestration's or niches. The flanking bell towers are wide, squat and massive. This impression is reinforced by the dome covering the bell tower. Cabatuan Cemetery Built of gray stone, the Cabatuan cemetery was built by Fr. Juan Porras. The cemetery was blessed on 4 February 1894. Heritage Features: Like Janiuay's cemetery completed around the same time as Cabatuan's; this cemetery is also built on a rise and approached through a flight of stairs. Its perimeter is surrounded by a fence of stone and wrought iron; the cemetery also has an octagonal mortuary chapel. The plan may be similar but the style is different. Here Classical and Romanesque elements dominate from the arch entrance of the main gate and its semicircular pediment, the use of arches for windows and door and even the arch shape repeated in the grille work. Baroque touches are evident in the rosettes decorating the gate and the mortuary chapel and the vase finials of the mortuary. Like Janiuay, Cabatuan has lost its dome shaped roof replaced by a flat cement roof. |