286. THE SANTOS IN THE RETABLO OF STA. ANA CHURCH, MANILA

THE ADOBE CHURCH OF STA. ANA, MANILA

The town of Sta. Ana is home to an ancient church that was first erected of wood and bamboo in 1578. A more permanent structure of adobe was built for a period of 5 years, beginning in 1720, in the distinctive baroque style.  The centerpiece of the centuries-old church is the magnificent retablo mayor (main altar) which features the patroness, Our Lady of the Abandoned. (Ntra. Sra. De los Desamparados).

The altarpiece sports an elaborate Spanish Baroque architectural style, characterized by ornate sculptural decorations, with elaborate gilded detailing, commonly referred to as “churrigueresque”. The retablo was carved with 13 nichos, flanked with solomonic and baroque columns.

Franciscan santos dominate the lower rung: San Buenaventura, St. Pedro de Alcantara, San Bernardino de Siena and Santa Clara de Asis. A tabernacle (sagrario) is in the center.

The principal level has the patroness, Our Lady of the Abandoned, in the middle. She is shown alongside several founders of Catholic religious orders, Santo Domingo and San Francis de Asis, and San Juan Bautista and San Juan Evangelista.

Topmost, we have the santo figures of Santa Ana, the patroness of the church, with San Pedro and San Pablo at her side.  The retablo is topped with the image of San Miguel Arcangel and  painted oval medallion portraits of San Didacus and San Pascual Baylon.

PHOTOS (ca. 1994)  COURTESY OF: Dr. Raymond Feliciano,

48. RETRO-SANTO: Nstra. Sñra. de Los Desamparados of Sta. Ana

The other image of Our Lady of the Abandoned rests in a shrine along Pedro Gil in Sta. Ana, Manila. It is an ivory image, browned with antiquity, brought to our Islands in 1719 by R. P. Vicente Ingles O.F.M, who touched it to the original in Valencia, Spain.

This image was reputedly the miraculous handiwork of 3 men who mysteriously disappeared after finishing the statuary in 1410. She became the patroness of the mentally ill and the abandoned after Fr. Juan Jofre said his homily in the La Merced Cathedral in Spain, calling people’s attention to the plight of the deranged and feeble-minded. A hospital was thus erected and dedicated to Mary, Our Lady of the Innocents.


The image in Sta. Ana holds a Child Jesus and a golden scepter of authority in her other hand, a donation of the Archbishop of Manila, Most Rev. Francisco de la Cuesta, also the Governor-General of the colonized islands. The Virgin is depicted ina protecting attitude, shielding two children under her embroidered mantle.

Her Divine head, with gems encrusting her long hair, is circumscribed with a golden aureole and a fabulous bejeweled crown. The image is kept in the ancient beautifully preserved Sta. Ana Church, where devotees can climb a short flight of stairs to touch the Virgin’s vestments at the back.

Her shrine, at the Sta. Ana Church within Plaza Calderon is visited on her feast day, on May 12.