In walking the streets of Malate, one realizes how easy it is to get afflicted with nostalgia and romanticize the place. It is not difficult to see why Malate, along with certain areas that belong to the Old Manila, figures much in the consciousness of the people. What used to be an impoverished barrio in the late 16th century turned, a century later, into “the most aristocratic barrio of Manila where Spaniards and mestizos dwelt.” (Fray Gaspar de San Agustin, quoted in Malate of Yesteryears by Carlos Quirino)
Four centuries later, Malate has evolved into an amalgam of sorts – it is partly an impoverished barrio, considering that around half of its population belongs to the urban poor. However, it still remains its reputation for being an aristocratic town because it is where one can find Manila’s classy restaurants and hip nightlife. There was even a time in the 2oth century when Malate, along with Ermita, was frequented by artists, writers, and those belonging to the cultural thereby making it a cradle of Bohemia.
In spite of being continually molded by the dynamism of time, Malate still holds one thing which is, perhaps, the closest it can get to an image of permanence – the Parish of Our Lady of Remedies.
Established in 1588, the church not only went through the usual cycle of being built, destroyed and rebuilt, it also underwent the process of being passed on from the administration of one religious order to another. From 1581 until 1898, it was administered by the Augustinian until it was passed on the secular clergy of Manila which assumed administration of the church until 1912. The Redemptorist Fathers took over in 1913 and 1929 and from then on the parish has been under the direction of the Columban Fathers.
The reputedly miraculous image of the Virgen de los Remedios was brought to Malate from Andalucia Spain in 1624, and according to the article by Carlos Quirino, “this made Malate a famous sanctuary where mothers presented their babies to the Virgin for cure of infantile ailments.” The parish is still widely known for this, and masses with the special blessing for children are conducted every Saturday morning.
According to the Augustinian church historian, Fr. Pedro Galende, the façade of Malte church is “a good blending of Muslim and Baroque architecture… A beautiful symmetrical contrast is achieved by the use of the Romanasque columns, Solominic in the second level, and fluted attached pilasters of the niche in the pediment section. The trefoil arches, hexagonal side buttresses, are of Muslim influence.” In addition to this, Alice Coseteng (Spanish Churches in the Philippines, quoted in Malate of Yesteryears by Carlo Quirino) asserts that “the happy mixture of quasi-medieval and Muslim baroque has resulted in a most interesting colonial style, a unique mudejarismo Filipino.”
On the side of the church, one will notice a sculpture, which was erected in memory of the four columban fathers who were martyred while serving in Malate Church during the Japanese Occupation. As the inscription on the stone says, it is in honor of the memory of the four Columban fathers and the thousands of Malate parishioners who suffered the “atrocities of the Japanese Imperial Forces and American Shelling during the battle for Manila from February 3-17, 1945.”
For the ast centuries the people of Malate as well as those from different parts of Manila have sought the help and consolation of the Virgin, and she has continually come to their aid. May the Malate Church and its people continue to thrive as the Virgen de los Remedios constantly turns her merciful eyes toward her faithful children.
