Our Lady of Manaoag - History

History

The Agustinian Friars built the first chapel of Santa Monica (the original name of the town of Manaoag) which they served from the town of Lingayen. This was turned over to the Dominicans in 1605 and was served from the town of Mangaldan.

The first Dominican priest to work in the Manaoag mission was Fr. Juan de San Jacinto, O.P. the first Curate of Mangaldan. It was only in 1608 that the Mangaldan mission was formally accepted by the provincial chapter of the Dominican Order. In 1610 Fr. Tomas Jimenez, O.P. became the first resident priest as he took over the Manaoag mission.

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. A large church was built starting in 1701 under the sponsorship of Gaspar de Gamboa and his wife Agata Yangta, wealthy residents from Manila who transferred to Lingayen. Expansion of the church in 1882 was frustrated by an earthquake in 1892.

During the tumultuous days of the Philippine Revolution for Independence, on May 10, 1898, the whole church and its treasures, ornaments, and records were burned by the Revolutionaries. The miraculous image narrowly escaped destruction. It was found abandoned at the back of the church. From June to October 1898, it was kept at Dagupan City for safekeeping.

Invited by Fr. Mariano Pacis, diocesan priest of Manaoag, the Dominicans returned in 1901. Under the aegis of the Dominicans, the church commenced in 1882 was finally completed to a large extent in 1911-12. The central retablo (altar of the virgin), incorporating Baroque columns from the 18th century altar, was completed by the famed Tampinco Atelier of Manila. The transept (The Arms of the Church) was completed in 1931-32.

The Dominicans ceded all their Pangasinan missions to the mitre (i.e. the diocesan clergy) except Manaoag. Spiritual administration of the shrine in perpetuity was granted by The Holy See to the Dominican Order in 1925.

The image was canonically crowned in 1926. It means that The Catholic Church, through The Holy See, officially recognized and proclaimed that The Blessed Virgin Mary acclaimed as The Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag had granted favors and blessings to or formidable intercessions for her devotees through the centuries.

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

Since December 8, 1972, the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag has been under the care of the Philippine Dominican Province.

The original ivory image was brought from Spain via Acapulco in the early 17th century to the Philippines by Padre Juan de San Jacinto.

Documents dating back to 1610 attest that a middle-aged farmer walking home heard a mysterious female voice. He looked around and saw on a cloud-veiled treetop an apparition of The Blessed Virgin Mary, holding a Rosary in her right hand and The Child Jesus in her left amidst a Heavenly Glow. Mary told the farmer where she wanted her church to be built. A chapel was built on the spot where Mary appeared to the man and the town quickly grew around it.

A huge crowd attended the canonical coronation of the image on April 21, 1926 by the then-Papal Nuncio, as authorised by Pope Pius XI.

The church was rebuilt after surviving the Japanese bombing during World War II.

It celebrated the Diamond Jubilee of the image's coronation on January 1, 2000.

Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome, with permission of Pope Benedict XVI granted the Shrine of Our Lady of Manaoag a special bond of spiritual affinity through which the visitors of the Marian Shrine are assured of the same blessings of the Lord and the entitlement to a plenary indulgence equal to that received when visiting a papal basilica in Rome. This was confirmed by the prelate (now Archbishop) of the Lingayen-Dagupan Diocese, Socrates B. Villegas, in a circular dated June 13, 2011. The Manaoag Shrine is the first to achieve this status followed by the Shrine of Our Lady of Caysasay in Taal Batangas in June, 2012.

Pope Benedict XVI canonically approved the grant of the plenary indulgence on June 21, 2011. The official document and a shrine official who was among the priests who went to Rome confirmed that the plenary indulgence may be obtained on each visit to the shrine subject to three conditions for each occasion: (1) going to confession immediately before or after the pilgrimage; (2) receiving The Eucharist during the pilgrimage; and (3) praying for the intentions of the Pope; each done in a spirit of detachment from the attraction of sin.

On July 22, 2011, a special Mass was held to affirm the spiritual bond of affinity between the Manaoag Shrine and the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome.

On August 24, 2012, a three-foot copy of the statue was donated and travelled to Guam where it was hosted at Saint Anthony and Victor's Catholic Church.