The Minor Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption, commonly known as Santa Maria Church, Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of the Assumption, and Santa Maria Pro-cathedral, 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 ...

Basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

in Santa Maria,

Ilocos Sur Ilocos Sur (), officially the Province of Ilocos Sur (; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region in Luzon. Located on the mouth of the Mestizo River is the capital of Vigan, while Candon is ...

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 ...

. The church was designated as a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

on December 11, 1993, as part of the Baroque Churches of the Philippines, a collection of four

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

Spanish-era churches.Dacumos, Jane (August 3, 2012)
"The Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion – Ilocos Sur"
Vigattin tourism. Retrieved on January 24, 2014. It is currently the Pro-Cathedral of the

Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia The Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the Philippines. It covers the province of Ilocos Sur, on the island of Luzon. The see of the archdiocese is the city of Vigan. The archdiocese was erected in 1595 in ...

while the

Vigan Cathedral The Metropolitan Cathedral and Parish of the Conversion of Saint Paul, commonly known as Vigan Cathedral, is a Catholic Church in the Philippines, Roman Catholic cathedral in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Philippines. It contains the Archdiocese of Nueva ...

is undergoing repairs. The Santa Maria Church is an attraction to tourists and Catholics in Ilocos Sur. It is a reminder of the four centuries of Spanish domination over the area, and is a unique structure with a diverse architectural design of bricks and mortar. It was built on top of a hill a lookout and a

citadel A citadel is the most fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of ''city'', meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. ...

as well as a religious center during the early administration of the region by friars and soldiers of Spain.

History

The parish of Santa Maria started as a

chapel-of-ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

''(visita)'' of Narvacan, its neighboring town to the north, in 1567. The influx of the settlers after the full conquest of the Ilocos Region by the Spaniards greatly increased the population of Santa Maria. The chapel became an independent ministry in 1769 and was dedicated to the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

under the

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...

of Our Lady of the Assumption.National Historical Institute Besides economic progress, evangelical missions were expanded. The mission at Santa Maria, located on a narrow flat plain between the sea and the central mountain range of

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

, close to the interior settlements, made Santa Maria as the center of both the religious and commercial activities. According to the legend, before the Santa Maria Church was built on its present site, the Virgin Mary was enshrined at a different place called Bulala. The frequent disappearance of the Virgin Mary from her previous place of enthronement only to be found perched on a guava tree that grew where the present church is located, had led the townspeople to move the church to its present location. Father Mariano Dacanay, the Ilocano parish priest from September 1, 1902, to May 27, 1922, has another variation of this legend which he assures, was gathered from reliable sources. He relates that the Blessed Virgin was enthroned in another chapel that was formerly erected below the present church and what is now the Sta. Maria East Central School compound. Father Dacanay adds, that from this chapel, the Virgin Mary made her peregrinations to that guava tree on the knoll. This version of Father Dacanay of the legend gains greater probability if not credence for today, one of the twin structures bearing the features and architectural designs of what could have been a chapel or a church by then obtaining standards remains intact in said school compound and presently used as a classroom for grade school pupils. Numerous and varying legends or stories about the Virgin Mother have long become part of Philippine religious lore. And if any one of them could be accepted as truth, then it is the blessed Virgin herself who manifested in a miraculous way her preference of a site for her permanent home. Construction of the present church was started in 1765."Nuesta Senora de la Asuncion"
World Monuments Fund. Retrieved on February 6, 2014. In 1810, the

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

was built during the renovation of the church and furnished with a bell the following year. During the renovation of church complex in 1863, the protective wall around the sides of the hill was constructed. After the bell tower was remodeled the same year, its foundation must have gradually settled down making the imposing structure slightly leaning or tilting as it appears today. The convent was greatly renovated in 1895. Many foreigners who traveled to the north and saw the church were much impressed by its size and setting calling the church as a

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

. Henry Savage Landor, an English painter, writer and explorer who visited the Philippines in 1900, says:

At Santa Maria a most picturesque church is to be found, reached on an imposing flight of steps. An enormous convent stands beside the church, upon a terrace some 80 feet above the plaza. There are a number of brick buildings, schoolhouses and office, which must have been very handsome but are tumbling down, the streets being in the absolute possession of sheeps ic goats and hogs. A great expanse of level land was now well-cultivated into paddy fields and across it is a road fifteen feet wide, well-metalled and with a sandy surface. Barrios and homes were scattered all around the plain.

The church was listed as one of the most endangered monuments in the world by

World Monuments Fund World Monuments Fund (WMF) is a private, international, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and training ...

in the 2010 World Monuments Watch, along with the

Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras The Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras are a World Heritage Site consisting of a complex of Terrace (earthworks), rice terraces on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. They were inscribed on the World Heritage Site, UNESCO W ...

and San Sebastian Church, Manila. All of the sites were taken off the list in 2011 after the passage of the National Cultural Heritage Act. The parish church was elevated to an archdiocesan shrine on August 15, 2022. On November 18, 2024, Pope Francis declared the archdiocesan shrine as a

minor basilica Basilicas are Catholic church buildings that have a designation, conferring special privileges, given by the Pope. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectura ...

, making it the second basilica of the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Design

Unlike other town churches in the Philippines, which conform to the Spanish tradition of sitting them on the central

plaza A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Rela ...

, the Church and Convent of Our Lady of the Assumption in Santa Maria are situated on a hill surrounded by a defensive wall on all sides like a fortress. The church can be reached by climbing an 85-step stairway of granite rock. The grand three-flight stairway leads to a courtyard in front of the church doorway where a sweeping view of the lower plains and the town of Santa Maria may be made. A narrow roadway coming from the back of the church also leads up to the courtyard but is only used on special occasions.

Façade

The church brick

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 ...

has one large portal with three windows. The recessed arched entrance is flanked by a pair of rectangular

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

dividing the façade into three well-defined planes. The whole façade is then framed on the sides by heavy circular

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

es topped by urn-like

finial A finial () or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a dome, spire, tower, roo ...

s. An open pediment in the upper façade is topped by a small

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

. The curvilinear shape of the pediment serves as a graceful finish to the upward movement of the

s and the arch entrance. The blind niche, urn-shaped

pinnacle A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was main ...

s and even proportions-overlooking at the top are decorative devices of the upward movement.

Nave

The church follows the standard Philippine layout with the façade fronting a long single

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

rectangular building. The church measures about long and wide.Measured using Google Earth. The thick outer walls have delicately carved side entrances with few openings. The eastern and western side of the outer walls are reinforced by thirteen huge rectangular buttresses each typical of

Earthquake Baroque Earthquake Baroque, or Seismic Baroque, is a style of Baroque architecture found in the Philippines and in Guatemala, which were Spanish-ruled territories that suffered destructive earthquakes during the 17th and the 18th centuries. Large public b ...

architecture. The first buttress from the front is adorned by a huge

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

retelling how the statue of Our Lady of Assumption was found on top of a tree. The relief is visible as one ascends the front stairway. The middle buttress on the eastern wall (back) is built like a staircase for easy maintenance of the roof back when

thatched roof Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge ('' Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

was the norm in Philippine churches, before the advent of

corrugated galvanised iron Corrugated galvanised iron (CGI) or steel, colloquially corrugated iron (near universal), wriggly tin (taken from UK military slang), pailing (in Caribbean English), corrugated sheet metal (in North America), zinc (in Cyprus and Nigeria) or ...

(CGI). The lighter CGI roof is also preferred in earthquake-prone areas than tile roof.

Bell tower

The bell tower is freestanding, constructed separate from the church and not parallel to the façade but situated about a third of the wall from the front. The octagonal four-story tower was built wide, with each level narrowing till it reaches the top, typical of earthquake baroque church towers. The top floor is covered by a

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 ...

that is capped by cupola. A cross above the cupola tops the structure. Blank walls are arranged alternately with open windows. Other decorative devices, like single pilasters, finials and

balustrade A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its ...

s indicate that this form is of later vintage. A clock on the third level faces the stairway for the churchgoers to see. Six bells are hung, five are seen from the outside, and a big bell can be found inside. File:Mural Sculpture of Mama Mary, at Sta. Maria Church , Sta. Maria Ilocos Sur.JPG, The relief of Our Lady of Assumption on a tree on the first front buttress File:Pedestal of Sta. Maria Church.jpg, The

pagoda A pagoda is a tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist, but some ...

-like bell tower File:Sta Maria Church - Ilocos Sur.jpg, The elevated walkway connecting the convent to the church File:Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion Church, Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur.jpg, The stairway leading to the church courtyard

Convent

In front of the church is the

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

, partly blocking the frontal view of the façade of Santa Maria Church. The placement of the convent in front of the church and not adjacent is another unusual characteristic of the building, probably dictated by the long narrow hill on which the church is located. It is accessible from the church by an elevated stone walkway. In the early days of the colonization, the convent was the seat of the ecclesiastical administration as well as home of the church clergies. Under the elevated walkway is a gate that leads to the back courtyard with a commanding view of the back countryside.

Cemetery

Another wide stairway, similar to the front, leads down from the courtyard to a brick walkway that leads to an old abandoned cemetery evergreen with brush and weeds.Imagine.asia. (December 13, 2007)
"Santa Maria Church-3"
Panoramio. Retrieved on January 6, 2014. Within the brick fence of the square-shaped cemetery are the ruins of an old brick chapel and old graveyards.

Historical designations

National Historical Landmark

The National Historical Institute (now the

National Historical Commission of the Philippines The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP; ) is a government agency of the Philippines. Its mission is "the promotion of Philippine history and cultural heritage through research, dissemination, conservation, sites management ...

) installed a marker next to the door of Santa Maria Church following Executive Order Nos. 260 on August 1, 1973; 375 on January 14, 1974; and 1515 on June 11, 1978, declaring the Santa Maria Church as a National Historical Landmark.

National Cultural Treasure

With Republic Act No. 10066 - National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009 in place, all structures 50 years or older, structures with historical markers, and all structures designed by National Artists (regardless of age) are now presumed to be declared and cannot be demolished or altered without the permission of the

National Commission for Culture and the Arts The National Commission for Culture and the Arts of the Philippines (NCCA; , ) is the official government agency for culture in the Philippines. It is the overall policy making body, coordinating, and grants giving agency for the preservation, d ...

(NCCA). This is an attempt to compile all lists of formally declared cultural and historical structures and sites in the Philippines and make it available to the public via the Internet since the

National Museum A national museum can be a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In the United States, most nati ...

(NM) and National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), both under the NCCA, maintain their own lists. Santa Maria Church Complex and Cemetery was declared one of the National Cultural Treasure of the Philippines in 2015 by the National Museum.

Miraculous image of Our Lady of the Assumption

The statue of Apo Baket is made of wood in ornate sculptural style with ivory face and hands. It is tall. Her hands are extended wide, and her head is looking upward portraying her assumption into heaven. Her blue cape is decorated with silver floral designs and her white dress is embroidered with gold thread motif. She stands on a pedestal of cloud surrounded by angels’ heads. This image, along with her bejeweled dress, was kept in an elaborate carved wooden chest believed to have been used for cargo in galleon ship. Her feast day is August 15."Ilokos Religious Imagery", pg, 122.

References

External links

* *
Baroque Churches of the Philippines - UNESCO World Heritage Site
{{Philippine Registry of Cultural Property Roman Catholic churches in Ilocos Sur Baroque church buildings in the Philippines National Cultural Treasures of the Philippines Shrines to the Virgin Mary Agustin in Manila, San National Historical Landmarks of the Philippines Brick buildings and structures Churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia Jubilee churches in the Philippines Basilica churches in the Philippines