Manaoag Church

The Augustinians built the first Chapel of Santa Monica (the original name of Manaoag) in 1600, at the site of the present graveyard. It was served by the friars from the town of Lingayen, who were succeeded by the Dominicans in 1605 and served from the town of Mangaldan.[5]

The first Dominican priest to work in the Manaoag mission was Juan de San Jacinto, O.P., who was the first curate of Mangaldan. It was only in 1608 that the Mangaldan mission was formally accepted by the provincial chapter of the Dominicans. In 1610, Tomás Jiménez, O.P. became the Manaoag mission's first resident priest.

Numerous threats from the Igorot tribes of the surrounding mountains led to the transfer of the entire community to the present site on a hill. The Dominicans started to build a large church on its present site in 1701 under the sponsorship of Gaspar de Gamboa and his wife, Agata Yangta, who were wealthy residents from Manila who moved to Lingayen. Later expansion of the church from 1882 was frustrated by an earthquake in 1892.

During the tumult of the Philippine Revolution for independence from Spain, revolutionaries set fire to the church, its treasures, ornaments, and records on May 10, 1898. The image narrowly escaped destruction; it was found abandoned at the back of the church. It was spirited away to Dagupan, where it was kept from June to October 1898.

The Dominicans returned in 1901 upon the invitation of Rev. Mariano Pacis, the diocesan priest of Manaoag. Under the aegis of the Dominicans, the church that was started in 1882 was finally completed to a large extent in 1911-12. The central retablo, incorporating Baroque columns from the 18th-century altar, was completed by the famed Tampinco Atelier of Manila. The transepts were completed in 1931-32.

The Dominicans ceded all their Pangasinan missions to the diocesan clergy except Manaoag. Spiritual administration of the shrine in perpetuity was granted by the Holy See to the Order of Preachers in 1925.

A huge crowd attended the canonical coronation of the image on April 21, 1926, by then-Apostolic Delegate to the Philippines Guglielmo Piani, S.D.B., as authorized by Pope Pius XI. This meant that the Catholic Church officially recognized and proclaimed that the Virgin Mary acclaimed as Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag had granted favors and blessings to or formidable intercessions for her devotees through the centuries.

The church was rebuilt after surviving Japanese bombardment during the Second World War.

The old convento is now the Our Lady of Manaoag College, founded as Holy Rosary Academy in 1946 by the last Spanish Dominican in Manaoag, Rev. Teodulo Cajigal, O.P.

Since December 8, 1972, the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag has been under the Philippine Dominican Province. It celebrated the Diamond Jubilee of the image's canonical coronation on January 1, 2000.

The Minor Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag is located approximately 200 kilometers (120 mi) north of Manila.

From Metro Manila, Manaoag is accessible via North Luzon Expressway, MacArthur Highway and Tarlac–Pangasinan–La Union Expressway via the Binalonan Exit and westward to nearby Manaoag; or through Urdaneta City, Pangasinan, then heading northwest via the Urdaneta-Manaoag Road, or through Binalonan via the Binalonan-Manaoag-Mangaldan Road. The basilica is four to five hours by bus from Cubao, Quezon City.

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  The reredos of the shrine's main altar.
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  The conopaeum, a common feature among minor basilicas
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  Museum and Parish Offices
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  Rosary Garden
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  Our Lady of Manaoag at the Virgin's Wishing Well in the candle-lighting pavilion.
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  A lithograph of Our Lady at the museum, c. 1870.

• Our Lady of Manaoag

• Media related to Manaoag Church at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website