Pinoys may visit 7 churches for traditional Visita Iglesia

The tradition of visiting churches on Maundy Thursday or the Visita Iglesia is a practice that was started by a saint in the 1500s, according to a priest.

"The tradition started during the time of Philip Neri in the year 1553," Fr. Mhar Balili, the parish priest of the Archdiocesan Shrine of San Roque in Cebu City, told GMA News Online.

He added that the saint and his friends would start the pilgrim early morning to visit seven churches.

These seven churches are the four major basilicas: St. Peter's Basilica, Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, Basilica of St. John Lateran, and Basilica of St. Mary Major.

The other basilicas are the Basilica of St. Lawrence, Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, and the Basilica of St. Sebastian.

"Our local Visita Iglesia is patterned after the Pilgrim Route in Rome, since we Filipinos cannot got to Rome," Balili explained.

"If we ask then how many churches? Well, historically it would then be seven," he said. — BAP, GMA News