Poro Church
photo by ChaRwiL – Flickr
Established as a parish on December 14th, 1847, Poro took on the advocacy of the Most Holy (Sweet) name of Jesus, the liturgical title for the Santo Niño. Although the town of Carmen, Cebu is physically more proximate to Poro, it was for a long time a visita of Mandaue, probably reflecting the Jesuit arrangement where Mandaue functioned as the cabecera of Cebu. The Jesuits had established a mission at San Francisco. It has been repor that by the year 1886 a stone church, roofed with nipa was already standing. Other sources which attribute the church to the Augustinians state that is was built in 1849. The convento was more modest being made of an upper story of tabique and a lower floor of stone rubble. The cemetery had walls of stone.
Heritage site: Poro’s historic church still stands. It is a simple and sedate structure that follows the commonplace silhouette of colonial churches, a two-part articulation, crowned by a triangular pediment, the divisions between registers delineated by horizontal bands, the vertical marked by pilasters. The vertical pilasters, however, terminate below the superior register, leaving it empty except for the center—just above the lintel and post main entrance—which is decorated with a niche crowned by a pediment. Stylized flowers similar to those found in Naga church, Cebu and Dimiao church, Bohol decorate the horizontal band.
