CEBU Archbishop Jose Palma is set to celebrate traditional dawn masses in different parts of Cebu.
Palma told reporters he will kick off the Misa de Gallo on Dec. 16 at the San Isidro Parish in Barangay Garing, Consolacion.
After his trip to Iloilo City on the next day, Palma will celebrate his second Misa de Gallo on Dec. 18 at the Carbon Public Market. It will be his third time to celebrate dawn mass at Cebu City’s main public market.
On Dec. 19, Palma will celebrate mass at the Pedro Calungsod Parish in Barangay Pulangbato in Cebu City followed by a mass at the San Pedro Calungsod quasi-parish in Barangay Mohon in Sogod on Dec. 20.
The 64-year-old prelate will take a break from Dec. 21 to 23 to visit his relatives in Iloilo City and for an event in Bacolod City.
On Dec. 24, Palma will hold his last dawn mass at the Cebu Catholic Television Network chapel before the Christmas Eve mass at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral at 9 p.m.
Palma told reporters that this year’s venues are either communities or quasi-parishes he rarely visits.
Palma said he wants to celebrate mass in these areas because he wants to promote faith among the people there. “I consider the importance of the presence of the bishop,” he said.
The Misa de Gallo, or Spanish for “rooster’s mass,” is a series of dawn masses nine days before Christmas Eve.
Aside from the Philippines, it is also celebrated in Spain and in its former colonies in South America.