This photo from the Cebuano Studies Center shows the old Opon Church in 1910.
Oponganons revere the Virgen de Regla or our Lady Of the Rule.
Lucy Urgello Miller, in “Glimpses of Old Cebu: Images of the Colonial Era,” wrote that this church’s first parish priest way back in 1735 brought with him an original painting of the Nuestra Señora Virgen de Regla from Africa.
The priest – Augustinian friar Francis Avalle – used this painting to teach people about her and as basis for the religious icon of the Patroness of the Rule that he commissioned also in 1735.
The Virgen was housed in the church in Opon (present day Lapu-Lapu City) that was, according to Miller, built between 1735 and 1744. It had a pathway of coral blocks that led to the sea during the early days. The structure is near Muelle Osmeña, a Spanish structure that now serves as docking area for passenger ferries plying the cities of Lapu-Lapu and Cebu.
Originally built from coral blocks, Miller said, this church was damaged but not badly during World War II and repairs brought it back to its original condition. It would have been among the oldest churches in the country if Dutch priests assigned there in 1960 had not decided to tear it down and build a new one in its place. They spared the nearby convent built in 1885 that is connected to the church to an arched gateway. (Photo used with permission from the Cebuano Studies Center)