IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CATHEDRAL

The Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan (Photo by LDocena)

The Puerto Princesa Immaculate Conception Cathedral along Rizal Avenue is among the first stops that visitors come to see within the city. It stands on top of a hill overlooking the city pier, the same spot where the first mass in the city was celebrated on March 10, 1872 by a priest who was a member of the Order of the Augustinian Recollects, then Rev. Fr. Exequiel Moreno six days after the Spanish Expedition arrived in Puerto Princesa. Fr. Exequiel Moreno is now a venerated Saint in the Catholic Church. Constructed in 1961 under the leadership of then Bishop Gregorio Espiga, D.D.,  the cathedral has pointed spires and arches and the main altar features wooden panels with sculptures of angels and saints, reportedly done by inmates coming from the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm, itself a tourist destination,  outside the city proper. The cathedral has stood all these years as a beacon of Catholicism in Palawan. Every 8th of December the cathedral comes alive with all sorts of adornment as the city celebrates its fiesta in honor of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The cathedral interior showing its wooden roof frames. (Photo by LDocena)

The cathedral altar with its wooden panelings. (Photo by LDocena)

Stained glass window details. (Photo by LDocena)

An angel stands at the entrance of the cathedral. (Photo by LDocena)