San Miguel Church (Manila)
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The Royal Parish and National Shrine of Saint Michael and the Archangels ( es, Parroquia Real y Santuario Nacional de San Miguel y los Arcángeles), also known as San Miguel Church, is a
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
church of the
Latin Rite Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, are Catholic rites of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church '' sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language once ...
dedicated to the
archangels Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the hierarchy of angels. The word ''archangel'' itself is usually associated with the Abrahamic religions, but beings that are very similar to archangels are found in a number of other relig ...
, namely,
Saint Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...
, Saint Gabriel, Saint Raphael . Its current location on the corner of Jose Laurel Street and General Solano Street in the San Miguel district was once the site of La Fábrica de Cerveza de San Miguel (now
San Miguel Brewery San Miguel Brewery Inc. is a subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation and jointly owned with Kirin Holdings Co. Ltd. The company is the Philippines’ largest brewery with a market share of over 95% as of 2008. The company also operates in China a ...
). The shrine is also known as Malacañang Church as it is within the
Malacañang Palace Malacañang Palace ( fil, Palasyo ng Malakanyang, ; es, Palacio de Malacañán), officially known as Malacañan Palace, is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the Philippines. It is located in the Manila distric ...
complex, the official residence of the President of the Republic of the Philippines. Presidents that have heard
Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...
at the shrine include Carlos P. García,
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal Arroyo (, born April 5, 1947), often referred to by her initials GMA, is a Filipino academic and politician serving as one of the House Deputy Speakers since 2022, and previously from 2016 to 2017. She previously ...
, and Fidel V. Ramos (who was
Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
). San Miguel Church has around 1,500 regular parishioners, some of whom are descended from old, rich families in the district. It is also notably the only Catholic church in the country where priests (instead of bishops) have canonical dispensation to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation twice a week.


History

San Miguel Church was first built in stone in 1603 by the
Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...
in
Paco, Manila Paco, formerly known as Dilao, is a district of Manila, Philippines located south of the Pasig River, and San Miguel, west of Santa Ana, southwest of Pandacan, north of Malate, northwest of San Andres Bukid, and east of Ermita. According ...
(formerly known as Dilao). In the 17th and early 18th centuries, there was an increase in the number of Japanese expatriates in that area, where they established a community. In 1611, the Jesuits and Filipino Catholics accommodated the Japanese Christians who were persecuted by the
Tokugawa Shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
. It was Blessed
Dom Justo Takayama , born and also known as Dom Justo Takayama (c. 1552 – 3 or 5 February 1615) was a Japanese Catholic Kirishitan daimyō and samurai who lived during the Sengoku period that witnessed anti-Catholic sentiment. Takayama had been baptized int ...
(高山右近), a ''
daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominal ...
'' or feudal lord, who led a group of approximately 300 Japanese Christians to the Philippines in 1614. According to some sources, the parish was named after Saint Michael, because most of the Japanese who arrived were of the ''
samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...
'' or warrior class. The church was damaged in the 1645 Luzon earthquake, and during the
British occupation of Manila The British occupation of Manila was an episode in colonial history of the Philippines when the Kingdom of Great Britain occupied the Spanish colonial capital of Manila and the nearby port of Cavite for twenty months from 1762 to 1764. The ...
that was part of the
Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (175 ...
. The church was rebuilt in 1913 on its present site through the generous assistance of ''
Doña Don (; ; pt, Dom, links=no ; all from Latin ', roughly 'Lord'), abbreviated as D., is an honorific prefix primarily used in Spain and Hispanic America, and with different connotations also in Italy, Portugal and its former colonies, and Croatia ...
'' Margarita Róxas de Ayala. The church served as the
pro-cathedral A pro-cathedral or procathedral is a parish church that temporarily serves as the cathedral or co-cathedral of a diocese, or a church that has the same function in a Catholic missionary jurisdiction (such as an apostolic prefecture or apostoli ...
of the
Archdiocese of Manila In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...
while Manila Cathedral was being rebuilt from 1946 to 1958 following the city's destruction in
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. It was elevated to the rank of a national shrine in 1986. The church follows European Baroque architecture and features symmetrical bell towers.


Notable events

On May 1, 1954,
Ilocos Norte Ilocos Norte, officially the Province of Ilocos Norte ( ilo, Probinsia ti Ilocos Norte; tl, Lalawigan ng Ilocos Norte), is a province of the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region. Its capital is Laoag City, located in the northwest corner ...
representative Representative may refer to: Politics * Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people * House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities * Legislator, som ...
and later president
Ferdinand E. Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martial ...
married beauty queen Imelda Romuáldez in the shrine (at the time still the pro-cathedral). Their wedding, which followed almost two weeks of courtship, was tagged as the ''Wedding of the Year'', with President
Ramon Magsaysay Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay Sr. (August 31, 1907 – March 17, 1957) was a Filipino statesman who served as the seventh president of the Philippines, from December 30, 1953, until his death in an aircraft disaster on March 17, 1957. An automo ...
standing as principal sponsor. Archbishop Gabriel M. Reyes, the archdiocese's first Filipino ordinary who served from 1949 to 1952, was initially buried in the shrine before his remains were transferred to the crypt of Manila Cathedral. Also buried in the church are the remains of ''Don'' Domingo Róxas, patriarch of the Zóbel-de Ayala-Róxas-Soriano clans.


References


External links

{{Roman Catholic churches in Manila Roman Catholic churches in Manila Buildings and structures in San Miguel, Manila Malacañang Palace 1603 establishments in the Spanish Empire Cultural Properties of the Philippines in Metro Manila Roman Catholic national shrines in the Philippines Churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila