Many parishioners wept upon seeing the ruins of their century-old church, which was gutted by fire in Oslob town, about 117 km south of Cebu City.

They were, however, thankful that the 19th century image of the Our Lady of Guadalupe that was placed inside a glass case at the center of the altar was spared in the fire that broke out at 1:45 a.m. yesterday.

Firefighters also found 73 other icons below the bell tower and some portions of the Our Lady of Immaculate Conception parish church in barangay Poblacion.

This is a series on the different churches in various areas in the country that can be followed as a guide for the much observed Filipino Catholic Lenten tradition of the Visita Iglesia. Click the image at the right to access the rest of the posts.

This is the second part of my Bulacan Visita Iglesia series. The first can be found at this post.

The province of Bulacan is rich not only in history but it is one of the earliest, about 1572, to be Christianized. Testament to this are the presence of several colonial era churches that can be found in several towns and cities. Two religious orders divided the province: the Augustinians took care of the central and northern part while the Franciscans the south.

The seven major churches of the different religious Orders in Intramuros before WWII.

This is the second part of a feature on Augustinian built churches in Cebu covering six churches all located at the southeastern side of the island province.

I am featuring the Augustinian built colonial era churches in Cebu where the oldest city in the country is found and is considered the cradle of Christianity in Southeast Asia. These churches stretches from the heart of the old district of Cebu City down the southeastern coast ending with the municipality of Oslob.