We first stayed in Culasi as I wanted to go to Mararison island. I
concelebrated the mass of the Lord’s Supper in Sebaste as I heard the church
was a famous place for pilgrimage with thousands of people flocking to the
church during the feast day of their patron, St. Blasé. But on that
Holy Thursday the church was not filled, only sitting capacity with still a
number of seats to spare. We moved to the capital town of the province in San
Jose de Buenavista on Good Friday where we stayed at the Bishop’s Residence. I
celebrated Good Friday at the Cathedral and also joined the Easter Vigil there
with Bp. Jose Lazo. During these days we made the Visita Iglesia of the
churches of the province.
Most of the churches are
already of recent construction except that of Hamtic and Anini-y which during
the time of our visit was under renovation by the National Historical
Commission. The Stations of the Cross in Hamtic though not big were
magnificent. Round in shape they were in relief perhaps made of resin and
encased with a Gothic frame.
I concelebrated with the parish priest of Sebaste,
Fr. Segundo (middle) and Fr. Ramon who hails from the town and is a member of
the Eucharistic Healers of Mary, a local religious group. After the mass, the
parish priest invited us to join them for the last supper dinner hosted by the
Antonio family who owned a big house just outside of the town. He was the first
cousin of Bp. Galido. Got interested with their stories about how the Mil Hill
fathers who were the missionaries in Antique, especially Fr. Eugene Daberto, an
Italian priest helped the poor families in the town. He brought several
girls to work in Austria coming from Sebaste and the neighboring towns of
Laua-an and Pandan. All families that had girls especially coming from poor
families had a daughter who was recruited to work in Austria. That is why, Mr
Antonio was saying that almost all the houses in Sebaste were improved and
became concrete because of the money sent by their daughters. This happened
from 1975 up to the 1980's. Most of the girls decided to stay there and married
the locals. They were saying that whenever bishops or priests from
Antique would go to Europe they would always make a side trip to Austria where
they are always welcomed in the houses of the Pinays from Antique. We also
enjoyed the food served as it was really fine dining with several change of
plates.
In Tibiao we passed by the Fish Spa and decided to try it. Got amused when I saw the fishes were just ogling at Mark instead of eating the dead skin.
I could
not help but notice that while the parish church of Patnongon was rather so
ordinary with the belfry being under construction, just near the church was an
antique structure which still had a belfry. It was the St. Augustine Academy
which housed before the old convento of the Spanish friars.
The
renovated church of Anini-y with its new altar when I passed by in April 2019
for the installation of the new bishop of Antique, Most Rev. Marvyn Maceda.
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