San Fernando de Dilao Parish, commonly known as Paco Church, is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

located in the district of

Paco Paco is a Spanish nickname for Francisco. According to folk etymology, the nickname has its origins in Saint Francis of Assisi, who was the father of the Franciscan order; his name was written in Latin by the order as (father of the community); ...

in the city of

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, honoring the Castillian

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Saint

Ferdinand III of Castile Ferdinand III (; 1199/120130 May 1252), called the Saint (''el Santo''), was King of Castile from 1217 and King of León from 1230 as well as King of Galicia from 1231. He was the son of Alfonso IX of León and Berengaria of Castile. Through his ...

. The parish is under the jurisdiction 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 ...

, of which it served as

pro-cathedral A pro-cathedral or procathedral is a parish Church (building), 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 prefect ...

from February 7, 2012, to April 9, 2014, during the structural renovations of the

Manila Cathedral The Minor Basilica and Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, commonly known as the Manila Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic basilica and cathedral church of the Archdiocese of Manila. It is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary of ...

. The church inside is notable for its Romanesque-

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

interior with recently

Italian Baroque Italian Baroque (or ''Barocco'') is a stylistic period in Italian history and art that spanned from the late 16th century to the early 18th century. History The early 17th century marked a time of change for those of the Roman Catholic religion ...

styled altar, most notably the Latin inscriptions similar in style to

Saint Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (), or simply St. Peter's Basilica (; ), is a church of the Italian Renaissance architecture, Italian High Renaissance located in Vatican City, an independent microstate enclaved within the cit ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. The church is currently administered by its parish priest, Rev. Fr. Sanny C. de Claro. In addition, the church provides active medical, dental, and

ENT Ents are giant humanoids in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth who closely resemble trees; their leader is Treebeard of Fangorn forest. Their name is derived from an Old English word for "giant". The Ents appear in ''The Lord ...

charitable services for its poor parishioners within the community.

History

In 1580, the first church built was made of

nipa NIPA, Nipa or nipah may refer to: * Shamim Ara Nipa, Bangladeshi dancer and choreographer * Nipah~, an onomatopoeia frequently used by Furude Rika, a character in the Japanese visual novel Higurashi When They Cry * Nipa hut, a type of stilt house ...

and bamboo and was originally dedicated to Our Lady of Purification. ''Fray'' Juan de Garrovillas of the

Franciscan order The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

rebuilt the church using stone materials from 1599 to 1601. The neighbourhood's name ''Dilao'' refers to a local shrub once used to dye textiles yellow (current Filipino orthography: , "yellow"). On October 3, 1603, the church was attacked and burned by Chinese persons during riots. It was repaired in 1606 and rebuilt with stone materials by ''

Don Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name * Don, Benin, a town in Benin * Don, Dang, a village and hill station in Dang district, Gu ...

'' Francisco Gómez de Arellano. Invading troops from the

Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain, also known as the Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in Western Europe from 1707 to the end of 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, which united the Kingd ...

burnt down the church in 1762 during their occupation of Manila as part of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

. In 1791, a temporary church made of bamboo and nipa was erected. ''Fray'' Joaquín Segui constructed the stone '' convento'' from 1793 to 1794, which was repaired in 1854. In 1880, this convent was ruined by an earthquake. Fr. Bernardo de la Concepción began the construction of a new church in 1809, which was completed in 1814. It was called ("Old Paco Church"), while Fr. Miguel Richar built the

belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

from 1839 to 1841. Earthquakes again destroyed the church in 1852 and 1880. ''Fray'' Gilberto Martín began the reconstruction of the church in 1881. When this was about to be completed, a typhoon in 1892 partly destroyed the church. In 1896, ''Fray'' Gilberto completed the reconstruction work. On February 5, 1899, the church was bombed and completely burned during the

Philippine–American War The Philippine–American War, known alternatively as the Philippine Insurrection, Filipino–American War, or Tagalog Insurgency, emerged following the conclusion of the Spanish–American War in December 1898 when the United States annexed th ...

. Belgian priests of the

Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae The CICM Missionaries, officially known as the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary () and often abbreviated as C.I.C.M, is a Catholic Church, Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men established in 1862 by th ...

took possession of the burnt church in 1909, and in the following year, Fr. Raymundo Esquinet worked for the construction of a temporary concrete church at a site near the old church's ruins. In 1924, Fr. José Billie proposed a newer and much larger church, and the cornerstone of the present church was laid in August 1931. It was completed in 1933 and was consecrated in April the following year. On February 7, 2012, the church was designated as

of the

until structural renovations on the

were completed on April 9, 2014. A notable longstanding custom of the church today is the

devotion Devotion or Devotions may refer to: Religion * Anglican devotions, private prayers and practices used by Anglican Christians * Buddhist devotion, commitment to religious observance * Catholic devotions, customs, rituals, and practices of worship ...

to . Also known as , the image is a statue of the dead

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

encased in a special wood and glass casket, and is a common icon in Filipino churches.

Architecture

The church

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

, flanked by tall, twin belfries, possess a neoclassical style of architecture. The

terrace Terrace may refer to: Landforms and construction * Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river * Terrace, a street suffix * Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk a ...

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

provides a transitional entrance to the church. The

Corinthian columns The Corinthian order (, ''Korinthiakós rythmós''; ) is the last developed and most ornate of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order, which was the earliest, ...

on the first and second levels of the church plus the triangular

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

give the façade the classic character.

Vicariate of San Fernando de Dilao

The church is under the jurisdiction of the

under the

vicariate forane A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of a ...

of San Fernando de Dilao. Aside from the parish church, the vicariate covers the following churches: * Peñafrancia de Manila Shrine -

* Sta. Maria Goretti Parish - Paco * Saint Peter the Apostle Parish - Paco *

Pandacan Church Santo Niño de Pandacan Parish, commonly known as Pandacan Church, is a Roman Catholic parish church in the district of Pandacan in Manila, Philippines. The church was established as an independent parish church in 1712 from the parish of Samp ...

Gallery

File:Paco-DilaoChurchjf9983 05.JPG, Church side view showing the

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

File:Paco-DilaoChurchjf9983 10.JPG, Church main door showing the nave. The inscription above it reads ("Here is the House of God and the Door to Heaven"). File:NConsecrationImmaculateHeartMaryjf0166 02.JPG,

Retablo A retablo is a devotional painting, especially a small popular or folk art one using iconography derived from traditional Catholic church art. More generally ''retablo'' is also the Spanish term for a retable or reredos above an altar, whether ...

of the main altar File:NationalConsecrationtotheImmaculateHeartofMaryjf0001 02.JPG, ''

Cathedra A ''cathedra'' is the throne of a bishop in the early Christian basilica. When used with this meaning, it may also be called the bishop's throne. With time, the related term ''cathedral'' became synonymous with the "seat", or principa ...

'' of the Archbishop of Manila, when the church was used as a pro-cathedral File:SanFernandodeDilaoChurchjf0729 04.JPG, image enshrined inside the church File:NConsecrationImmaculateHeartMaryjf0166 13.JPG, Image of the church's titular, Saint Ferdinand III of Castile File:Nuestra Señora de la Purificación y Candelaria Coronada.jpg, The image Our Lady of Candelaria venerated inside the church which was episcopally crowned on February 2, 2025

References

External links