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The Our Lady of the Pillar Parish Church, commonly known as the Santa Cruz Church and also designated as the Archdiocesan Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament, is a
baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
parish church in the district of Santa Cruz,
Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated ...
, Philippines. It was built when the ''arrabal'' (suburb) of Santa Cruz was established by the
Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...
in the early 17th century. The church had undergone many repairs and reconstruction, with the last reconstruction done in the 1950s. It is the first Mission and Mother house of Filipino Sacramentinos, making it as the center of Congregation Activities and events The church façade is topped with a statue of
Our Lady of the Pillar Our Lady of the Pillar ( es, Nuestra Señora del Pilar) is the name given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the context of the traditional belief that Mary, while living in Jerusalem, supernaturally appeared to the Apostle James the Greater in AD ...
, the patroness of the church, whose feast is held every 3rd Sunday of October. On December 7, 2017,
Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013 ...
granted the
Canonical coronation A canonical coronation ( la, Coronatio Canonica) is a pious institutional act of the pope, duly expressed in a bull, in which the pope bestows the right to impose an ornamental crown, a diadem or an aureole to an image of Christ, Mary or J ...
of the venerated image. The current parish priest is Fr. Rudsend P. Paragas, SSS. On June 3, 2018, as part of the Church-wide celebrations of Corpus Christi, it was officially raised to an Archdiocesan Shrine by the decree of the then-Archbishop of Manila,
Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle ( ; ; born June 21, 1957) is a Filipino prelate of the Catholic Church currently serving as the Pro-Prefect for the Section of Evangelization of Dicastery for Evangelization (formerly the Congregation for the Evangel ...
, in the Archdiocese-wide holiday mass held in the church.


Architecture

The Jesuits built the first
Catholic church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
in the area where the present Santa Cruz Parish stands on June 20, 1619. The original church design was made of
stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...
and
wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...
. The Jesuits enshrined the image of Our Lady of Pilar in 1643 to serve the predominantly Chinese residents in the area. The first church was made of stone and wood was built in the 17th century. On June 3, 1863, an earthquake destroyed the church. Fr. Agustin de Mendoza began reconstruction work on the church in 1868. The church facade is characteristically
Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...
with Ionic piers vertically dividing the first two levels in three parts. Three semicircular arch doorways form as main entrance to the church. A Celtic-like window flanked by small semicircular windows is found at the center of the second level. Forming as the pediment, the topmost level has its raking
cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
in undulating liens emanating from the broken pediment found above the statued niche. The domed belfry rises on the right in six levels. The original structure of the church was twice damaged by earthquakes and then completely destroyed during the Battle of Manila. The present building of the church, reconstructed in 1957, was designed to reflect the Spanish baroque style that Resembles, Architectural style of
Spanish missions in California The Spanish missions in California ( es, Misiones españolas en California) comprise a series of 21 religious outposts or missions established between 1769 and 1833 in what is now the U.S. state of California. Founded by Catholic priests of ...
.
Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...
and Romanesque influences the Interior of the Church. =Notable priest(s)= Saint * St. Ezequiél Moreno, O.A.R. He served as a Parish Priest when the
Augustinian Recollects The Order of Augustinian Recollects (OAR) is a mendicant Catholic religious order of friars and nuns. It is a reformist offshoot from the Augustinian hermit friars and follows the same Rule of St. Augustine. History The Order was founded in 16t ...
administered the parish. Blessed *Blessed Julian Moreno, O.A.R. Brother of St. Ezequeil Moreno, O.A.R.


Gallery

File:Santa Cruz Church Main Facade.jpg, View of Santa Cruz Church from parking in front. File:Santa Cruz Church Facade.jpg, The facade relief surrounding the center window of Santa Cruz Church. File:Side of Santa Cruz Church.jpg, The right side of the Santa Cruz Church where another entrance to the church is located. File:Santa Cruz Church Statued Pediment.jpg, The pediment of the Santa Cruz Church located on the topmost portion of the entrance. File:Santa Cruz Church Entrance.jpg, Three semicircular arch doorways found on the entrance of Santa Cruz Church. File:Santa Cruz Church Heritage Marker.jpg, Heritage marker of the Santa Cruz Church located on the right side facade. File:Santa Cruz Church Domed Belfry.jpg, Domed beflry of the Santa Cruz Church located on the right side of the entrance. File:Santa Cruz Church Nave.jpg, Well-lit nave of the Santa Cruz Church. File:Santa Cruz Church Altar.jpg, Altar of the Santa Cruz Church. File:Santa Cruz Church Dome.jpg, Interior of the Santa Cruz Church dome located on top of the crossing. File:Santa Cruz Church Buttresses.jpg, Huge buttresses located on the sides of the Santa Cruz Church. File:Santa Cruz Church Windows.jpg, Window mouldings inside the Santa Cruz Church. File:Santa Cruz Church Marker.jpg, Marker of Leon Asuncion at Santa Cruz Church. File:Santa Cruz Church Dome Exterior.jpg, Dome of the Santa Cruz Church viewed from Escolta Street. File:Bull of Canonical Coronation.jpg, bull of Canonical Coronation File:Decree of erection.jpg, Decree of Erection as Archdiocesan Shrine File:Nuestra Senora Del Pilar de Manila.jpg, The Canonically crowned image of Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Manila


See also

*
List of Jesuit sites This list includes past and present buildings, facilities and institutions associated with the Society of Jesus. In each country, sites are listed in chronological order of start of Jesuit association. Nearly all these sites have bee ...


References

Notes Bibliography * {{Authority control Roman Catholic churches in Manila Buildings and structures in Santa Cruz, Manila Cultural Properties of the Philippines in Metro Manila Spanish Colonial architecture in the Philippines Baroque architecture in the Philippines Roman Catholic shrines in the Philippines Churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila