Benedictine monks and the faithful gathered in Manila on Jan. 13 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the dedication of the Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat.
The solemn Mass marked a century since the neo-Gothic church along Mendiola was dedicated in January 1926.
“For a century, this sacred place has served as a house of prayer, a refuge of peace,” said Abbot Austin Cadiz, head of the Benedictine community in Manila.
“It has been a source of quiet strength in the midst of the city of Manila,” he said.
He said generations have come to the abbey “to seek God, to find solace and to rest in his presence.”
Addressing the monastic community, he urged the monks to continue offering the church as a place of refuge and prayer.
“We entrust the future of this Abbey Church to God’s loving providence,” Cadiz said, as he also invoked “the intercession of our mother, Our Lady of Montserrat,” for the church and its mission.
The Mass also marked the first celebration at the abbey church by Abbot president Ignasi Fossas of the Subiaco Cassinese Congregation.
“Christian churches have both a practical and a symbolic dimension,” Fossas said in his homily.
From a practical standpoint, he said, churches gather communities to celebrate liturgy, pray, hear Scripture and receive God’s Word.
“Symbolically, Christian churches remind us that the foundation of the disciples’ lives is Christ, Jesus Christ, and only Christ,” he said.
Fossas said believers are part of “a long chain” of disciples, neither the first nor the last.
“For this reason, today we thank the Lord for those who 100 years ago preceded us in faith,” he said.
The Abbey Church was built by Spanish Benedictine monks who arrived in the Philippines in the late 19th century and founded San Beda College in 1901.
Designed in a neo-Gothic style by Swedish architect George Asp, the church has undergone several renovations while remaining a center of worship.
The monks said the centennial underscores the church’s enduring role as a place of prayer, memory and communion across generations.
