"Visit St. Michael Parish Church" Top 5 Page for this destination Caramoan Things to Do Tip by cyndymc

After getting settled in Centro, we visited the St. Michael Parish Church to thank God for our safe trip. I felt odd as I prayed inside the church. It was so hot outside, but it was strangely cool inside. As a whiff of breeze kissed my cheeks, I thought that perhaps the big windows and red clay bricks kept the interiors comfortably cool.

When I went outside to the courtyard, I saw a familiar face. It was a woman who rode the same van we took from Naga, and the same boat we rode from Sabang. She smiled and said she guessed that we were tourists. It turned out, she is a volunteer worker at the church, so I asked her a lot of questions, and I learned a lot from her.

Most of the people in Caramoan are Roman Catholics. They are proud and honored to have a historic old church in their town, built in the 15th century. The church's history goes as far back as when Franciscan Missionary Fray Francisco dela Cruz y Oropesa dared to penetrate the dense forests of Caramoan Peninsula in 1867. He then founded a Christian settlement in a place called Balwarte. Upon turnover of this settlement to the Sagrada Mitra for administration in 1696, a chapel was built out of indigenous materials like nipa, bamboos and wood. Thereafter, the chapel underwent several repairs/renovations and a permanent structure was finally constructed only after almost 200 years. The building was constructed by slave labor out of adobe, local stones and clay under the supervision of well-known artisans and masons. The same building still stands, having withstood natural calamities like typhoons and earthquakes, and also the ravages of World War II.

Address: Caramoan, Camarines Sur
Directions: From Guijalo, just after the bridge to Centro, watch for the Blessed Virgin Mary's Statue, turn left to church gate. It is walking distance to Rex Tourist Inn.