bleak!
San Ignacio Church's Pulpit
Designed by Agustin Saez, the beautiful pulpit was executed in Philippine hardwood by master sculptor, Isabelo Tampingco.
Photo from
Interesting Manila.
More about the Church of San Ignacio:
The Philippine Jesuits
On the 6th of February 1945, the Jesuit church of San Ignacio, in Intramuros was put to the torch. There was so much wood in the church that it took all of four days for the conflagration to consume the buffet of tropical hardwoods – narra, tindalo, magcono, molave – cut from the mountain fastness of Surigao and transported to Manila seven decades previous. And, as if this were not humiliation enough, for a church hailed in its time as a masterpiece of art and architecture, on 23 February, bombs and mortars pummeled the smoldering structure, sending it prostrate to the ground.
Now a ruined and empty shell, stripped of its marble and brick, standing derelict along Arsobispado Street in Intramuros, it is hard to believe that this church was hailed by its architect, Felix Roxas as the Jesuits “sueno dorado,” – their golden dream, the fulfillment of many years of planning and work, and bargaining with patrons, the principal patron being Pedro Payo, O.P., Archbishop of Manila. He donated the land for the church by carving out a piece from his own private garden.
A structure 42.40 by 20.00 meters in size, the San Ignacio was a mere chapel by colonial standards where churches measured on the average 80 by 40 meters. Some like Sarrat church in Ilocos to more than 100 meters in length. Despite its small size, the best architects and artists of Manila poured their talent into this church.
Felix Roxas, the church’s principal architect, was a Filipino trained in Europe who spent part of his young career in India and England. There he must have picked up his affection for Revivalist architecture, the vogue of the era. When earthquake ruined the neoclassical Dominican church in 1863, Roxas designed for the friars a new church in the neo-Gothic idiom. With the commission for the Jesuits he opted for a church classical and Renaissance in temper to allude to the times when the Society of Jesus was founded. He planned the church as a single nave flanked by wide aisles, above them run galleries to accommodate a more churchgoers. Roxas did not live to see the church completed. The Jesuit brother, Francisco Riera, took charge of construction and saw the church to completion. Riera was so enamored with the San Ignacio’s design, practical as it was beautiful, that when his superior sent him to assists the Jesuits in Mindanao, he based his own designs for the churches at Tagoloan, Jasaan and Balingasag on the San Ignacio.
Agustin Saez designed the altars and the pulpit. Saez was at one time director of the Academía de Dibujo y Pintura, the art academy sponsored by the crown, and instructor in painting and drawing at the Ateneo Municipaál de Manila. The Philippines’ national hero, José Rizal studied under him at the Ateneo. For the altars, Saez worked with the classical idiom using Corinthian columns, arches, vases and statues of angels as basic design elements. Saez employed Francisco Rodoreda, a Spaniard to complete the carving of the marble altars imported from Italy. For the main altar, Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper was interpreted in white Carara.
As designed by Saez, the pulpit depicted the Descent of the Spirit and Christ’s Great Commission, separated by allegories of Faith, Hope and Charity. To execute this masterpiece in tropical hardwood, the services of the best sculptor in Manila, Isabelo Tampingco and his atelier were employed. Tampingco came from a mestizo Chinese family, had worked on the interior of the Santo Domingo and was a consistent winner of awards in the Philippines and in Spain, where his works were displayed in regional and international expositions. Tampingco worked with his father-in-law, Crispulo Hocson, and the Filipino master carver, Manuel Flores and some 30 artisans. Flores carved the image of San Ignacio, whose eyes are raised to the heavens, following the words of Pedro de Ribadeneyra “aquel Padre que siempre mira al cielo.” Flores also carved the statue of the Sacred Heart and Hocson, the statue of the Immaculate Conception.
But it was the ceiling and the woodwork decorating the church that made it the toast of Manila. Tampingco, following Renaissance design, built an artesonado or coffered ceiling. The ceiling was neatly divided into squares of equal dimensions in which acanthus leaves were enclosed by braid and strap work. At the church crossing, Tampingco depicted a host of Jesuit saints and over the sanctuary, the Holy Spirit in a burst of glory.
The church took eleven years to build and was inaugurated on 31 July 1889, after a weeklong ceremony that must have made staid Manilenos ooh and ah. At night, the Jesuits illumined the church with “luz electrica,” and commissioned the painter, Felix Martínez to paint transparent paintings of Jesuit saints. These were mounted on the windows of the choir loft and illuminated from within. Felix Martinez, known for his genre works and murals, also painted the interior of the San Sebastian church in Quiapo.
After the great fire that destroyed part of Intramuros and the old Ateneo on 13 August 1932, the Jesuits thought of transferring San Ignacio to Ermita. But because this would damage the church, they decided against it. In 1939, two years short of the Second World War, a rector was appointed to the church, making it a quasi parish, to the delight of Manilenos who liked the church for weddings.
The church is no more. Only memories remain of it: a handful of pictures and some architectural plans, including Roxas’s initial design. But for Filipinos of a previous generation, the San Ignacio was a vibrant repository of, by now, legendary and halcyon years. On his way to his execution on 31 December 1896, José Rizal espied the twin towers of the San Ignacio near his alma mater, the Ateneo Municipal. He remarked how he spent the happiest moments of his youth there.
San Ignacio, the website of the Philippine Jesuits has chosen the San Ignacio church as its identifying graphic to speak of the continuity of the Philippine province of today and of yesterday. That continuity has been characterized by a singular affection for the Philippines, an affection that fosters the best the Filipino can be.
San Ignacio Church's Pulpit
Designed by Agustin Saez, the beautiful pulpit was executed in Philippine hardwood by master sculptor, Isabelo Tampingco.
Photo from
Interesting Manila.
More about the Church of San Ignacio:
The Philippine Jesuits
On the 6th of February 1945, the Jesuit church of San Ignacio, in Intramuros was put to the torch. There was so much wood in the church that it took all of four days for the conflagration to consume the buffet of tropical hardwoods – narra, tindalo, magcono, molave – cut from the mountain fastness of Surigao and transported to Manila seven decades previous. And, as if this were not humiliation enough, for a church hailed in its time as a masterpiece of art and architecture, on 23 February, bombs and mortars pummeled the smoldering structure, sending it prostrate to the ground.
Now a ruined and empty shell, stripped of its marble and brick, standing derelict along Arsobispado Street in Intramuros, it is hard to believe that this church was hailed by its architect, Felix Roxas as the Jesuits “sueno dorado,” – their golden dream, the fulfillment of many years of planning and work, and bargaining with patrons, the principal patron being Pedro Payo, O.P., Archbishop of Manila. He donated the land for the church by carving out a piece from his own private garden.
A structure 42.40 by 20.00 meters in size, the San Ignacio was a mere chapel by colonial standards where churches measured on the average 80 by 40 meters. Some like Sarrat church in Ilocos to more than 100 meters in length. Despite its small size, the best architects and artists of Manila poured their talent into this church.
Felix Roxas, the church’s principal architect, was a Filipino trained in Europe who spent part of his young career in India and England. There he must have picked up his affection for Revivalist architecture, the vogue of the era. When earthquake ruined the neoclassical Dominican church in 1863, Roxas designed for the friars a new church in the neo-Gothic idiom. With the commission for the Jesuits he opted for a church classical and Renaissance in temper to allude to the times when the Society of Jesus was founded. He planned the church as a single nave flanked by wide aisles, above them run galleries to accommodate a more churchgoers. Roxas did not live to see the church completed. The Jesuit brother, Francisco Riera, took charge of construction and saw the church to completion. Riera was so enamored with the San Ignacio’s design, practical as it was beautiful, that when his superior sent him to assists the Jesuits in Mindanao, he based his own designs for the churches at Tagoloan, Jasaan and Balingasag on the San Ignacio.
Agustin Saez designed the altars and the pulpit. Saez was at one time director of the Academía de Dibujo y Pintura, the art academy sponsored by the crown, and instructor in painting and drawing at the Ateneo Municipaál de Manila. The Philippines’ national hero, José Rizal studied under him at the Ateneo. For the altars, Saez worked with the classical idiom using Corinthian columns, arches, vases and statues of angels as basic design elements. Saez employed Francisco Rodoreda, a Spaniard to complete the carving of the marble altars imported from Italy. For the main altar, Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper was interpreted in white Carara.
As designed by Saez, the pulpit depicted the Descent of the Spirit and Christ’s Great Commission, separated by allegories of Faith, Hope and Charity. To execute this masterpiece in tropical hardwood, the services of the best sculptor in Manila, Isabelo Tampingco and his atelier were employed. Tampingco came from a mestizo Chinese family, had worked on the interior of the Santo Domingo and was a consistent winner of awards in the Philippines and in Spain, where his works were displayed in regional and international expositions. Tampingco worked with his father-in-law, Crispulo Hocson, and the Filipino master carver, Manuel Flores and some 30 artisans. Flores carved the image of San Ignacio, whose eyes are raised to the heavens, following the words of Pedro de Ribadeneyra “aquel Padre que siempre mira al cielo.” Flores also carved the statue of the Sacred Heart and Hocson, the statue of the Immaculate Conception.
But it was the ceiling and the woodwork decorating the church that made it the toast of Manila. Tampingco, following Renaissance design, built an artesonado or coffered ceiling. The ceiling was neatly divided into squares of equal dimensions in which acanthus leaves were enclosed by braid and strap work. At the church crossing, Tampingco depicted a host of Jesuit saints and over the sanctuary, the Holy Spirit in a burst of glory.
The church took eleven years to build and was inaugurated on 31 July 1889, after a weeklong ceremony that must have made staid Manilenos ooh and ah. At night, the Jesuits illumined the church with “luz electrica,” and commissioned the painter, Felix Martínez to paint transparent paintings of Jesuit saints. These were mounted on the windows of the choir loft and illuminated from within. Felix Martinez, known for his genre works and murals, also painted the interior of the San Sebastian church in Quiapo.
After the great fire that destroyed part of Intramuros and the old Ateneo on 13 August 1932, the Jesuits thought of transferring San Ignacio to Ermita. But because this would damage the church, they decided against it. In 1939, two years short of the Second World War, a rector was appointed to the church, making it a quasi parish, to the delight of Manilenos who liked the church for weddings.
The church is no more. Only memories remain of it: a handful of pictures and some architectural plans, including Roxas’s initial design. But for Filipinos of a previous generation, the San Ignacio was a vibrant repository of, by now, legendary and halcyon years. On his way to his execution on 31 December 1896, José Rizal espied the twin towers of the San Ignacio near his alma mater, the Ateneo Municipal. He remarked how he spent the happiest moments of his youth there.
San Ignacio, the website of the Philippine Jesuits has chosen the San Ignacio church as its identifying graphic to speak of the continuity of the Philippine province of today and of yesterday. That continuity has been characterized by a singular affection for the Philippines, an affection that fosters the best the Filipino can be.