Saints Peter and Paul Parish Church, commonly known as Siniloan Church, is the only

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 ...

church in the municipality of

Siniloan Siniloan, officially the Municipality of Siniloan (), is a municipality in the province of Laguna, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 39,460 people. Sinilóan is a center of education, commerce and transportation ...

, Laguna,

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 ...

, under the

Diocese of San Pablo The Diocese of San Pablo (Latin language, Latin: ''Dioecesis Sancti Pauli in Insulis Philippinis'', Filipino language, Filipino: ''Diyosesis ng San Pablo'', Spanish language, Spanish: ''Diócesis de San Pablo'') is a Catholic Church, Roman Catholi ...

. Its titular is

Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...

and

Saint Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

, whose feast falls every June 29.

Church history

Church of Siniloan PHC historical marker

was established as a '' reduccion'' by Father Juan de la Plasencia and Father Diego de Oropeza in 1579 and was formalized in 1583 as ''Guilinguiling.'' The first church of Siniloan, based on the records of Felix de Huerta, was dedicated to Our Lady of Purification (). In 1599, the supreme government allowed the establishment of a stone church. In 1604, the church was placed under the advocacy of Saints

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

and

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

. The old church was built from 1733 to 1739 under the term of Father Melchor de San Antonio. At that time, located north of the church was a small chapel dedicated to

Saint Sebastian Sebastian (; ) was an early Christianity, Christian saint and martyr. According to traditional belief, he was killed during the Diocletianic Persecution of Christians. He was initially tied to a post or tree and shot with arrows, though this d ...

, the martyr. It was heavily damaged during the 1880 Luzon earthquakes and was rebuilt from 1890 to 1898. Another earthquake in 1937 damaged the church. Due to its restoration, the church practically has no more traces of its classical and Spanish style. For its 400th anniversary in 2004, the church was reconstructed, modernized and remodeled as twice the size of the previous church under Msgr. Mario Rafael M. Castillo. The inauguration of the newly constructed church was held on November 20, 2004, officiated by the then Bishop of San Pablo,

Leo M. Drona Leo Murphy Drona (born October 18, 1941) is the bishop emeritus of San Pablo in the Philippines. He holds the distinction as one of the first Filipino Salesian priests and the first Filipino Salesian to become a bishop. Biography Drona was bor ...

Gallery

File:IJVSiniloanChurch1.jpg, Church interior in 2013 File:9840Mabitac Siniloan Road 28.jpg, Church facade in 2019

Notes

Bibliography

External links

* * {{Roman Catholic Diocese of San Pablo , state=autocollapse Roman Catholic churches in Laguna (province) Marked Historical Structures of the Philippines Roman Catholic churches completed in 1898 1604 establishments in the Philippines 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the Philippines Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Pablo