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VISITA IGLESIA IN 7 BATAAN PILGRIM CHURCHES STARTS

ABUCAY, Bataan: The Visita Iglesia on seven pilgrim churches in Bataan started Saturday with the opening of Lent on Ash Wednesday. On board big passenger buses, vans, and other vehicles, more than 350 members of the Sto. Niño de Taguig parish from Taguig City, Metro Manila visited the Santo Domingo Church in Abucay after visiting other old churches in Bataan. The Abucay Church houses the first Philippine printing press used by the first Filipino printer Tomas Pinpin and is the oldest church in Bataan built by Dominican priests. Visitors paid homage to a portion of the relic of Sto. Domingo de Guzman, patron saint of Abucay, found inside the church. Before Abucay, the pilgrims visited the churches in the towns of Hermosa, Orani, and Samal. After Abucay, the parish proceeded to churches in Balanga City, Pilar, and Orion. Bishop Ruperto Santos of the Diocese of Balanga has declared as pilgrim churches the 434-year-old Sto. Domingo Church in Abucay, 266-year-old Saint Peter de Varona Church in Hermosa; the 312-year-old Virgen Milagrosa del Rosario Church in Orani; the 426-year-old Saint Catherine of Siena Church in Samal; 308-year-old Saint Joseph Cathedral in Balanga City; 222-year-old Virgen Milagrosa del Pilar Church in Pilar; and 355-year-old St. Michael Arcangel Church in Orion.