Mount Carmel Shrine (Quezon City)

The devotion of the Filipinos to Our Lady of Mount Carmel started in the 1600s when the Augustinian Recollects received an image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel from the Carmelites in New Spain (present-day Mexico).[4]

In 1923, a group of four Carmelite nuns arrived in the Philippines, and they set up a convent in Jaro, Iloilo City. The Carmelite fathers followed in 1947, focusing their missionary work in a part of Quezon province (present-day Aurora). In 1952, during a meeting with Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines Archbishop Egidio Vagnozzi and the Prior General of the Carmelite Order, the former asked for more Carmelites to be sent to the country to establish a monastery and church in Manila.[4]

In response to Vagnozzi's request, a group of Irish Carmelite friars sent to the Philippines initially considered building at either Horseshoe Drive or Gregorio Araneta Avenue, both in Quezon City. However, in 1954, the Carmelites decided to build it at a lot along Broadway Avenue. The land where the basilica stands today was a cogon field that was part of the original estate owned by Magdalena Hemady, the balae or in-law of then-senator Claro M. Recto.[4]

During the 1950s, residents of New Manila would eagerly walk to attend Mass at the nearby Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Cubao, which served as the parish church of New Manila. Other residents would also attend mass at the Christ the King Mission Seminary along E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue or at the Carmelite Convent along Gilmore Avenue. But other residents would also walk or drive as far as the Santa Mesa Parish (now Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish) in Santa Mesa, Manila or the Santo Domingo Church further north.[4]

The cornerstone of the Mount Carmel Parish was blessed on December 30, 1954. It took a decade for the church to be completed, with the inauguration taking place on July 16, 1964, the feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, with Cardinal-Archbishop of Manila Rufino Santos leading the inauguration.[4]

The church later became a popular location for wedding scenes in the movies. It also became a popular church for actual wedding ceremonies; this is attributed to the lower fees charged at the shrine compared to other churches and the long aisle walk favored by many brides.[4]

On February 17, 1975, the church was established as a parish by Cardinal-Archbishop of Manila Jaime Sin.[6]

From 2015 to 2016, the altar was renovated. Its interior has also been coated with paint for the first time since it was built in 1954.[4] On December 14, 2015, the parish was solemnly declared a national shrine.[6]

On February 20, 2017, the shrine was granted a special bond of spiritual affinity with the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome, along with plenary indulgences for pilgrims in perpetuity.[7] On November 30, 2018, the Holy See approved the petition from the Diocese of Cubao to elevate the shrine to a minor basilica; it was officially declared a basilica on March 25, 2019 (coinciding with the Solemnity of the Annunciation), making it the first church in the Diocese of Cubao to be granted such status.[8]