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Antipolo Cathedral

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Antipolo Cathedral
International Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage
Immaculate Conception Parish
Pandaigdigang Dambana ng Birhen ng Kapayapaan at Mabuting Paglalakbay (Filipino)
Santuario Internacional de Nuestra Señora de la Paz y Buen Viaje (Spanish)
The cathedral in November 2025
The cathedral in November 2025
14°35′15″N 121°10′36″E / 14.5875°N 121.176757°E
Location Antipolo, Rizal
Country Philippines
Denomination Roman Catholic
Website Antipolo Cathedral
History
Former name Church of Antipolo
Status Cathedral
International shrine
Founded 1591
Founder Juan de Salazar
Dedication Immaculate Conception
Dedicated December 5, 2004
Consecrated 1954 St. Francis of Assisi
Architecture
Functional status Active
Architect José L. de Ocampo
Architectural type Church building
Style Modern
Years built c. 1591–c. 1632 (dst. 1639)
c. 1640s (dst. 1645, 1824, 1863, and 1945)
1948–1954
Groundbreaking 1948
Completed 1954
Specifications
Materials Cement
Administration
Province Manila
Diocese Antipolo
Deanery Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage[1]
Parish Immaculate Conception
Clergy
Bishop Ruperto Cruz Santos
Rector Ruperto Cruz Santos
Vicar(s) Keith Buenaventura
Manjorey Padilla

The International Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, commonly known as Antipolo Cathedral and alternatively known as the Immaculate Conception Parish (Filipino: Parokya ng Kalinis-linisang Paglilihi),[1] is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Antipolo, Philippines. It enshrines a venerated Black Madonna image of the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage (Spanish: Nuestra Señora de la Paz y Buen Viaje), and serves as the seat of the Bishop of Antipolo.[2]

The shrine attracts millions of pilgrims annually, especially during the pilgrimage season from May to July each year.

History

Early churches

The first missionaries of Antipolo were the Franciscans. The first church in Antipolo was built by the Society of Jesus under Juan de Salazar. The Jesuits administered the church from 1591 to 1768. The church was prepared for the image of Nuestra Señora dela Paz y Buen Viaje in 1632. However, the church structure was greatly damaged during the 2nd Sangley Rebellion (1639) and the earthquakes of 1645, 1824 and 1863. The church, meant to house the image of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage brought by then-Governor General Juan Niño de Tabora, was supposed to be built on a different plot of land. The church's present location was the site of the tipolo (Artocarpus blancoi), top which the image was found after mysteriously vanishing several times.[3]

The church was completed in 1632, but suffered severe damage in 1639 when the Sangley (Chinese) set fire to the church in a revolt. It was restored afterwards though it was damaged by the 1645 Luzon earthquake, and other earthquakes in 1824 and 1863. Nevertheless, the church became a popular pilgrimage site as many devotees paid reverence to Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage,[4] including Philippine national hero and polymath José Rizal, who visited the shrine as a boy with his father, Francisco Rizal Mercado, on June 6, 1868. The pair went on pilgrimage to fulfill a vow Rizal's mother, Teodora Alonso Realonda, had made when she and the boy survived his delivery.[5]

World War II

During World War II, the invading Japanese Imperial Army used the church as their garrison and arsenal. The Virgin of Antipolo image was safekept in a nearby kitchen; it was later exhumed and moved to Angono, Pasig, and Quiapo until its transfer on October 15, 1945, to its current location in Antipolo.[6]

Post-war reconstruction

Towards the end of World War II in 1945, the church was destroyed by Allied bombardment meant to liberate the area from the Japanese imperial control.[3]

After the war, a campaign was organized to build a new church, with the fundraising committee headed by former First Lady Aurora Quezon, and Antipolo parish priest Francisco Avendano. Architect Jose L. de Ocampo was commissioned to design the new shrine. Construction began in 1948 and was completed in 1954.[3]

On January 14, 1954, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) declared the church as the National Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, making it the first national shrine in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.[7]

The church was elevated to the status of cathedral on June 25, 1983, upon the canonical erection of the Diocese of Antipolo.[7]

Elevation to an international shrine

On July 26, 2021, the CBCP endorsed a petition to elevate the cathedral as an international shrine,[8] which was approved by the Holy See's Dicastery for Evangelization on June 18, 2022.[9] The papal decree elevating the cathedral as an international shrine was received on March 13, 2023, and took effect on March 25 (coinciding with the Feast of the Annunciation).[10]

The decree made the church the first international shrine in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, the eleventh in the world, and the third in Asia after the St. Thomas Church Malayattoor in India, and the Haemi Martyrdom Holy Ground together with the Seoul Pilgrimage Routes in South Korea.[9] It is also the first Marian international shrine in Asia.[11]

The solemn declaration of the shrine took place on January 26, 2024,[12] six months behind its original plan by July 2023.[13] In preparation for this event, a novena was held from January 17 to 25, led by the nine vicariates forane under the Diocese of Antipolo.[14] On the day of the solemn declaration, the image of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage was first symbolically crowned by the Bishop of Antipolo, Ruperto Santos, beside Archbishop Charles John Brown, the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines. The coronation rites symbolized the cathedral's "new journey as an international shrine." A Mass was then held inside the shrine, presided by Archbishop Brown and concelebrated by 80 bishops comprising the CBCP, with the attendance of top government officials including First Lady Liza Marcos, wife of President Bongbong Marcos.[12]

A Thanksgiving Mass (Misa de Gracia) was held on February 26, 2024, exactly a month after the solemn declaration, presided by the pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, Archbishop Rino Fisichella. On the same day, the shrine received the Golden Rose from Pope Francis, making it the first Marian church in the Philippines and Asia to receive it.[15]

References

  1. Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 "Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Antipolo, Rizal, Philippines". GCatholic.org. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
  2. Back to citation "Diocese of Antipolo". CBCP Online.
  3. Back to citation occurrence 3.0 Back to citation occurrence 3.1 Back to citation occurrence 3.2 "History". Antipolo: The City of Pilgrimage. December 4, 2011.
  4. Back to citation Mercado, Monina (1980). Antipolo: A Shrine To Our Lady. Makati: Craftnotes for Aletheia Foundation.
  5. Back to citation Jose Rizal University (2004). "In Calamba, Laguna". JoseRizal.ph. Retrieved May 1, 2015. “6 June 1868 With his father, Rizal made a pilgrimage to Antipolo to fulfill the vow made by his mother to take the child to the Shrine of the Virgin of Antipolo should she and her child survive the ordeal of delivery which nearly caused his mother's life.”
  6. Back to citation "The Patroness". Antipolo Cathedral. Archived from the original on July 23, 2021. Retrieved September 3, 2024.
  7. Back to citation occurrence 7.0 Back to citation occurrence 7.1 Ocampo, Joel V. (June 26, 2022). "Antipolo Church, The First Marian International Shrine in Asia". Retrieved January 26, 2024.
  8. Back to citation "Philippine bishops endorse petition to elevate Antipolo church as 'international shrine'". LiCAS News. July 28, 2021. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  9. Back to citation occurrence 9.0 Back to citation occurrence 9.1 "Antipolo Church declared 'international shrine'". Manila Bulletin. June 26, 2022. Archived from the original on June 26, 2022.
  10. Back to citation "Antipolo Cathedral now an international shrine as declared by Vatican". GMA Integrated News. March 25, 2023. Retrieved March 25, 2023.
  11. Back to citation "Vatican declares Antipolo Cathedral 'international shrine'; first in PH". Philippine Daily Inquirer. June 26, 2022.
  12. Back to citation occurrence 12.0 Back to citation occurrence 12.1 Santos, Jamil (January 26, 2024). "Bishops, devotees mark declaration of Antipolo Cathedral as international shrine". GMA Integrated News. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
  13. Back to citation Andrade, Nel (March 14, 2023). "Papal decree elevates Antipolo Cathedral into Southeast Asia's 1st International Shrine". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  14. Back to citation Arevada, Lance (January 23, 2024). "'Ahon sa Antipolo': Faithful prepare for pilgrimage site's historic event". Rappler. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
  15. Back to citation Hermoso, Christina (February 26, 2024). "Pope Francis gifts Antipolo Cathedral with Golden Rose". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
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