last week, my ma invited me to join her and my father to visit monasterio de tarlac, a monastic community of the servants of the risen christ which houses a relic of a fragment of the holy cross of jesus. the relic itself is inside an arqueta (an ornate box) found in the chapel of the monastery. i have read that twice a year, this relic is open for public viewing.
queen helena, mother of emperor constantine, in her journey to the holy land in 312 ad, had the temple dedicated to venus destroyed. uncovered was christ’s sepulcher and three crosses. to discern which of the crosses was christ’s, they were brought to a gravely ill woman. when she touched the third cross, she got healed—a sign that this was the true cross of jesus. following the fall of constantinople, fragments of the cross were divided among the knights as booty and were distributed to churches and monasteries in europe. sixteen centuries later, a relic of the true Cross, now encased in a silver arqueta engraved with christian symbols associated with the crucifixion, lies in the chapel of the holy cross in the peaceful and quiet monasterio de tarlac.
from hacienda luisita in tarlac, it took us an hour drive to reach lubigan, san jose and the place itself is located in the mountaintop, offering a scenic view of the towns of tarlac. the monastery also has a 30 foot statue of the risen christ.
more pictures of the monastery can be found on my other post, ‘revisiting the monastery’.
sensory replays 
oh my! that is a beautiful place! 🙂
andito ka pala! 🙂
.. in fact, very serene, grace. oo dito ako pinas, days off for a few weeks.
yan ang mas feel ko, risen christ statues, more than suffering christs.. 🙂
.. mas okay nga ano chyng, walang pressure. hehe.
i didn’t know we have that here.. that’s a good info! thanks a lot! maybe i should go visit that someday!
.. it’s worth visiting mordsith.
oh wow! great place. i saw one blogger featured this but shots were quite small. great feature of the place.
i knew about this blog through chyng.
.. you should visit the monastery dong when you get a chance.
you could have invited us to join you in your trip to tarlac, rob.
payag tyak parents mo, it could have been more fun.
the place is serene, really gorgeous!
your pictures are awesome.
bili ka na dslr.
.. di ko na naisip mag-aya! haha. being on top of a hill, it was a very peaceful place. planning to get a slr, a dslr is too bulky for me.
wow! i should find this place once i visit tarlac again! thanks for sharing!
.. hi gael! i do recommend for you to visit it when you’re in tarlac.
that is an impressive statue!
.. it is, sidney. most likely it was built on spot.
hanggang ngaun ba wla pa rin bang public transpo papunta jan sa monasterio???
.. nung huling punta ko po sinasadya pa rin yung lugar. ewan ko lang kung meron pong pwede maarkilang sasakyan mula sa tarlac city.