Saint John the Baptist Parish Church, commonly known as Calamba Church, is the oldest

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church in Calamba, Laguna,

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

under the Diocese of San Pablo. It is located adjacent to Rizal Shrine and is known as the christening site of

José Rizal José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (, ; June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896) was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is popularly considered a na ...

History

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

Missionaries in 1757 purchased a big portion of land called for their missions but the parish was only established in 1779 by the Franciscan friars upon gaining independence from the parochial church of

Cabuyao Cabuyao (), officially the City of Cabuyao (), is a component city in the province of Laguna, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 355,330 people. It used to be known as the "richest municipality in the Philipp ...

(formerly known as Tabuco). The stone church was originally built in 1859 but destroyed on February 12, 1945, during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The reconstruction of the church of Calamba was headed by Eliseo Dimaculangan. The original altar was burned in 1862 but immediately rebuilt by Leoncio Lopez. The first Filipino priest, Angel Villaruz, served the longest in this church for 43 years since 1901.

Features

The church of Calamba is a stone church built under the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

style. It has several

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

es, two of which are in the church entrance depicting

Saint Dominic Saint Dominic, (; 8 August 1170 – 6 August 1221), also known as Dominic de Guzmán (), was a Castilians, Castilian Catholic priest and the founder of the Dominican Order. He is the patron saint of astronomers and natural scientists, and he a ...

and San Lorenzo Ruiz. Other stained windows depicts the seven holy sacraments of the church such as baptism, reconciliation, confirmation and among others.

Baptistery

Jose Rizal historical marker at Calamba Church

The church

baptistery In Church architecture, Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek language, Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned ...

, where

Rizal Rizal most commonly refers to: * Rizal (province), a province of the Philippines * José Rizal, Filipino national hero whom the province is named after Rizal may also refer to: People * Akmal Rizal Ahmad Rakhli, Malaysian footballer * Atep Ri ...

was baptized on June 22, 1861, by the then parish priest of Calamba Rufino Collantes and his godfather Pedro Casanas, is a recognized National Historical Landmark (Level 1). The declaration was made by virtue of Resolution No. 2 of the Philippine Historical Commission (now

National Historical Commission of the Philippines The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP; ) is a government agency of the Philippines. Its mission is "the promotion of Philippine history and cultural heritage through research, dissemination, conservation, sites management ...

) on August 19, 1976, under Section 4 of the Executive Order No. 260 dated August 1, 1973, and amended by Executive Order No. 375 dated January 14, 1974. The original

baptismal font A baptismal font is an Church architecture, ecclesiastical architectural element, which serves as a receptacle for baptismal water used for baptism, as a part of Christian initiation for both rites of Infant baptism, infant and Believer's bapti ...

was restored including original church items and

reliquaries A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', ''chasse'', or ''phylactery'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary, or the room in which one is stored, may also be called a ''feretory''. Relics may be the purported or actual physic ...

during Rizal's time. A transcript of Rizal's existing baptismal record is displayed on the left side of the baptistery entrance. The original baptismal records including the canonical books were lost on September 28, 1862, when Calamba Church was burned. The transcript of Rizal's baptismal certificate issued by Leoncio Lopez originally written in Spanish is shown below:

Garden of Gethsemane

A small garden, named the "Garden of Gethsemane", was located at the right side facing the church entrance and was designed for devotees who want to meditate or pray. It contained 14 life-size bas-relief of the

Stations of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Via Dolorosa, Way of Sorrows or the , are a series of fourteen images depicting Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and acc ...

, a "Well of Repentance" or , and a statue of John the Baptist. These were demolished in 2019 to make way for the restoration of the church patio.

Other church sections

The church also includes an adoration chapel at the right side of the main church entrance and an adjacent mini-museum. Upon entering the church complex, there is a

columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria), also called a cinerarium, is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns holding cremated remains of the dead. The term comes from the Latin ''columba'' (dove) and originally solel ...

on the right side facing the church entrance.

Notes

Bibliography

External links

* * {{Roman Catholic Diocese of San Pablo

Calamba, Laguna Calamba, officially the City of Calamba (), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city in the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Laguna (province), Laguna, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a popu ...

Buildings and structures in Calamba, Laguna

Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Pablo Jubilee churches in the Philippines Calamba, St John the Baptist Parish Church Churches dedicated to John the Baptist in the Philippines