Saint John the Baptist Church in Camalig

I’m not longer surprised to know that there is an old church here in the town of Camalig. This part of the country was part of the group which was first Christianized. The Spanish started from the Visayas and spread throughout the archipelago. The Bicol region is quite near this area and it is probably logical that it got Christianized early. There was an older church made of non durable material built in 1571 but it was replaced by one which was more durable in 1605. This proved to be not enough to withstand the fury of Mayon Volcano as it was wiped out in the 1800s the same way Cagsawa was wiped out.

The current church is the third one and it is made of volcanic blocks which turned out to be plentiful because of the eruptions. The church was built in 1837 with the large bell tower and adjoining Catholic school completed in 1845. While it isn’t terribly old, it is still almost 200 years old. Fortunately, the church has been very well maintained all this time. It is naturally the center of religious life here in this town. I was quite surprised to see that the town never really grew that big like Legazpi city did. They also chose a good place since the national highway is a short distance away. Having a highway right outside the church doors isn’t really a nice thing.

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