Our Lady of Candles Church, San Enrique
San Enrique, Negros Occidental · about 39 km from 3ACs Apartment, Talisay City
A Recollect parish from 1867 in a small rice-and-sugar town between Valladolid and Pontevedra.
About
San Enrique's parish of Our Lady of Candles (Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria) is the heart of a quiet town on the coastal highway. It makes a peaceful short stop together with the much larger Valladolid church just to the north. Visit on February 2, the feast of the Candelaria, when candles are blessed and the town holds its fiesta.
History
The parish was founded in 1867 by the Augustinian Recollects, who built most of the old churches of Negros.
Why visit
A short heritage stop on a south-Negros church trail.
How to get there
San Enrique town proper on the national highway, about 50 minutes south of Bacolod.
- Bus or jeepney south from Bacolod
Prices (estimates)
- EntranceFree
Hours / best time: Open daily; fiesta February 2
Nearby places
- Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, Valladolid — One of the largest Spanish-era stone churches on Negros, with twin bell towers on the highway.
- Pontevedra — Food Basket & Handurayo Festival — A coastal farm town nicknamed the 'Food Growth Center' of the province, with a May festival.
- Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage Church — Massive Romanesque church of brick and coral stone in the heart of La Carlota.
- Pulupandan Seaside & WWII Liberation Landing — Negros's closest point to Guimaras — where the liberators landed in 1945, now a sunset and seafood town.
- Balay ni Tan Juan (Gen. Juan Araneta Museum) — Ancestral home of the 1898 revolution hero Gen. Juan Araneta, now a museum.