The Immaculate Conception Parish Church (

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

: ''Simbahan ng Parokya ng Immaculada Concepcion'') is the oldest

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 letter ...

church in the municipality of Los Baños, Laguna,

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. Its titular is the ''Nuestra Señora del Aguas Santas'' (also

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth wh ...

) and its feast is celebrated every December 8.

History

The town of Los Baños started as a visita of

Bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

under the Augustinian order with St. Nicolas de Tolentino as titular. In 1590, Franciscans replaced the Augustinians in their missions with Fray Pedro Bautista, later canonized as San Pedro Bautista. He discovered numerous hot springs in the area which locals called ''Maynit''. He created a public bath he called the “Los Baños". After twenty years, the Franciscans established a temporary convent to administer the hot springs that were popular for healing illnesses. A small hospital chapel was built in 1613 in the absence of a church until 1727 dedicated to the Our Lady of Immaculate Conception, with the title ''Aguas Santas''. It was brought down by fire in 1727. A temporary chapel was built out of nipa and

cane Cane or caning may refer to: *Walking stick or walking cane, a device used primarily to aid walking *Assistive cane, a walking stick used as a mobility aid for better balance *White cane, a mobility or safety device used by many people who are b ...

which was later destroyed again by fire. A big stone church was built in 1790 by Father Domingo Mateo, OFM in its present site. The belfry, sacristy and tile roofing were supervised by Father Manuel Amat in 1851 and the convent in 1852. The

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...

and bell tower were destroyed during the 1863 earthquake but repairs were made during the administration of Fathers Manuel Rodriguez and Gilberto Martin in 1880. It was also used 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

as headquarters for the Japanese forces where it was used as a garrison by the Japanese during World War II.

Devotion

The local image of the Virgin Mary under the titular of the Immaculate Conception is known as the ''Nuestra Señora del Aguas Santas'' (also Virgin of the Holy Waters). The image of Immaculate Concepcion was said to be miraculous. Some of the miracles includes the wetting of the Virgin’s robes up to the shoulders, amor seco growing from the hems of her garments and mysterious footprints all over the church leading to her altar. Due to the popular devotion to the Virgin and miracles attributed to her, the church is currently petitioning to become a diocesan shrine.

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Immaculate Conception Parish Church, Los Banos, Laguna

Los Baños, Laguna Los Baños, officially the Municipality of Los Baños ( tgl, Bayan ng Los Baños), colloquialy 'elbi' or simply LB, is a 1st class municipality in the province of Laguna, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 115,353 ...

Los Baños, Laguna Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Pablo