//
Built to honor and commemorate the Lady of Lourdes. What was used to be the old children's park just below the church, became this beautiful park designed for everybody but more so for the children, the future of Iriga.
Formerly Mount Asog
An extinct volcano, its last recorded eruption was January 4, 1614 which formed Lake Buhi. It has an elevation of 1196 m with Ilian Hill sits toward the bottom a few kilometers above barrio San Nicolas. After the 1614 eruption, a 500 ft deep gully from the summit was formed. Wild berries and local pine trees (agoho, pronounced ah-goo-HAW) grow abundantly due to the rather cold environment.
Once the supposed home of a witch (aswang) later became the place where the reenactment of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in the hill of Calvary hence the name Calvario. During World War II, the Japanese Imperial Army took advantage of its strategic location of having a good view of the town proper, used it as a garrison. It is here where countless Irigueños who opposed their presence suffered imprisonment, torture and death.; The grotto provides a panoramic view of downtown Iriga and the surrounding barrios. In the early 1970s the hill was slowly developed, using the stone bricks from blasted boulders to build the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes to its present grandeur.
The chapel was built by a local philanthropist to commemorate the miraculous escape from the death and destruction by inhabitants during Mount Sumagang's eruption in 1614. The miracle is attributed to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary whose image as Our Lady of Angustia was said to have been found at the present chapel site by Agta hunters.