Negros Occidental

Inside Negros....

Hacienda Rosalia Chapel,

Manapla, Negros Occidental

As a thanksgiving for the blessings that the Gaston and Azcona families received, the Chapel of Cartwheels was built in 1967 on their hacienda. It is aptly called as such because the cartwheel is a dominant feature. The walling are carabao cartwheels which speak of the hardships and joys of farm life. The chapel’s circular form is that of a modern and stylized salakot (native hat made of palm leaves). At the entrance is the Holy Water container and baptismal font: a wooden mortar known locally as lusong, while the lamp stands are pestles used to pound grains of rice. Truly Filipino, the chapel was the materialization of what Monsignor Gaston imagined to be an expression of “Catholic Faith in the language and context of the sugarcane workers.”

Rosalia Chapel

Church of SaintJoseph the Worker,

Victorias, NegrosOccidental

The heir to a vast fortune built on the sugar mill in Victorias was the Spanish- American Creole named Alfonso Ossorio, who, right after the war, conceptualized a church that would serve the spiritual needs of the employees of the Victorias Milling Company. Upon its completion, it was to be the most criticized church as a conservative society reeling.

Church of SaintJoseph the Worker 

Photo and Article Source: Mabuhay Magazine ( PAL)