ALCANTARA, Spain, August 14, 2011—The local parish priest of this town gathered the World Youth Day (WYD) delegates from the Dioceses of Bulacan and Pampanga and brought them to the various historical and religious sites of their town.
Fr. Emilio of Alcantara accompanied the seven delegates from Malolos and 15 others from San Fernando to the Convento de San Benito, a centuries-old structure that housed a military-religious order based in Alcantara.
Alcantara and three other regions were home to the four official military-religious order organized to protect Spain from the invaders.
From the convent, Emilio and two local tourist guides brought the Filipino WYD delegates to the different ancestral houses that used to be home of important personalities in the Order of Alcantara.
The delegates also visited the chapel of San Pedro de Alcantara, an important religious personality who was from this town. The site of the chapel is where San Pedro’s house once stood. And adjacent to it are his parent’s house and the parish church of the Our Lady of Almocovar, where he was baptized.
They also went to a hill where a bird’s eye view of the centuries-old bridge of Alcantara is best seen. The famous stone bridge of Alcantara was built over the Tagus River through an edict of Roman Emperor Trajan in 98.
After the morning tour, the Filipinos were treated with Spanish paella and a song number from Fr. Emilio and some parishioners. (YouthPinoy)
