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Antipolo Cathedral
Antipolo Cathedral
International Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage
Immaculate Conception Parish
Pandaigdigang Dambana ng Birhen ng Kapayapaan at Mabuting Paglalakbay (Filipino); Santuario Internacional de Nuestra Señora de la Paz y Buen Viaje (Spanish);
	The cathedral in February 2024
	Antipolo Cathedral Location in Luzon Antipolo Cathedral Location in the Philippines
	14°35′15″N 121°10′36″E / 14.5875°N 121.176757°E
Location	Antipolo, Rizal
Country	Philippines
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Website	Antipolo Cathedral
History
Former name(s)	Church of Antipolo
Authorising papal bull	June 25, 1983; 41 years ago
Status	Cathedral; International shrine;
Founded	1591; 434 years ago
Founder(s)	Juan de Salazar
Dedication	Immaculate Conception
Dedicated	December 5, 2004; 20 years ago
Consecrated	1954; 71 years ago
Cult(s) present	Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage
Relics held	St. Ezequiél Moreno; Bl. Vicente Soler;
Past bishop(s)	Protacio G. Gungon; Crisostomo Yalung; Gabriel V. Reyes; Francisco Mendoza de Leon;
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Architect(s)	José L. de Ocampo
Architectural type	Church building
Style	Modern
Years built	c. 1591–c. 1632 (dst. 1639); c. 1640s (dst. 1645, 1824, 1863, and 1945); 1948–1954;
Groundbreaking	1948; 77 years ago
Completed	1954; 71 years ago
Specifications
Number of domes	1
Number of spires	1
Materials	Cement
Administration
Province	Manila
Diocese	Antipolo
Deanery	Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage
Parish	Immaculate Conception
Clergy
Bishop(s)	Ruperto Cruz Santos
Auxiliary Bishop(s)	Nolly Camingue Buco
Rector	Ruperto Cruz Santos
Vicar(s)	Robert Andrew Soco; Keith Buenaventura

The International Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, commonly known as Antipolo Cathedral and alternatively known as the Immaculate Conception Parish (Filipino: Parokya ng Kalinis-linisang Paglilihi),^[2] is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Antipolo, Philippines. It enshrines a venerated Black Madonna image of the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage (Spanish: Nuestra Señora de la Paz y Buen Viaje), and serves as the seat of the Bishop of Antipolo.^[3]

The shrine attracts millions of pilgrims annually, especially during the pilgrimage season from May to July each year.

History

Early churches

The first missionaries of Antipolo were the Franciscans. The first church in Antipolo was built by the Society of Jesus under Juan de Salazar. The Jesuits administered the church from 1591 to 1768. The church was prepared for the image of Nuestra Señora dela Paz y Buen Viaje in 1632. However, the church structure was greatly damaged during the 2nd Sangley Rebellion (1639) and the earthquakes of 1645, 1824 and 1863. The church, meant to house the image of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage brought by then-Governor General Juan Niño de Tabora, was supposed to be built on a different plot of land. The church's present location was the site of the tipolo (Artocarpus blancoi), top which the image was found after mysteriously vanishing several times.^[4]

The church was completed in 1632, but suffered severe damage in 1639 when the Sangley (Chinese) set fire to the church in a revolt. It was restored afterwards though it was damaged by the 1645 Luzon earthquake, and other earthquakes in 1824 and 1863. Nevertheless, the church became a popular pilgrimage site as many devotees paid reverence to Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage,^[5] including Philippine national hero and polymath José Rizal, who visited the shrine as a boy with his father, Francisco Mercado, on June 6, 1868. The pair went on pilgrimage to fulfill a vow Rizal's mother, Teodora Alonso, had made when she and the boy survived his delivery.^[6]

World War II

During World War II, the invading Japanese Imperial Army used the church as their garrison and arsenal. The Virgin of Antipolo image was safekept in a nearby kitchen; it was later exhumed and moved to Angono, Pasig, and Quiapo until its transfer on October 15, 1945, to its current location in Antipolo.^[7]

Post-war reconstruction

Towards the end of World War II in 1945, the church was destroyed by Allied bombardment meant to liberate the area from the Japanese imperial control.^[4]

After the war, a campaign was organized to build a new church, with the fundraising committee headed by former First Lady Aurora Quezon, and Antipolo parish priest Francisco Avendano. Architect José L. de Ocampo was commissioned to design the new shrine. Construction began in 1948 and was completed in 1954.^[4]

On January 14, 1954, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) declared the church as the National Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, making it the first national shrine in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.^[8]

The church was elevated to the status of cathedral on June 25, 1983, upon the canonical erection of the Diocese of Antipolo.^[8]

Elevation to an international shrine

On July 26, 2021, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) endorsed a petition to elevate the cathedral as an international shrine,^[9] which was approved by the Holy See's Dicastery for Evangelization on June 18, 2022.^[10] The papal decree elevating the cathedral as an international shrine was received on March 13, 2023, and took effect on March 25 (coinciding with the Feast of the Annunciation).^[11]

The decree makes it the first international shrine in the Philippines and the Southeast Asian region, the eleventh in the world, and the third in Asia after the St. Thomas Church Malayattoor in India, and the Haemi Martyrdom Holy Ground together with the Seoul Pilgrimage Routes in South Korea.^[10] It is also the first Marian international shrine in Asia.^[12]

The solemn declaration of the shrine was held on January 26, 2024,^[13] six months behind its original plan by July 2023.^[14] In preparation for this event, a novena was held from January 17 to 25, led by the nine vicariates forane under the Diocese of Antipolo.^[15] On the day of the solemn declaration, the image of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage was first symbolically crowned by the Bishop of Antipolo, Ruperto Santos, beside Archbishop Charles John Brown, the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines. The coronation rites symbolized the cathedral's "new journey as an international shrine." A Mass was then held inside the shrine, presided by Archbishop Brown and concelebrated by eighty bishops comprising the CBCP, with the attendance of top government officials including First Lady Liza Marcos, wife of President Bongbong Marcos.^[13]

A Thanksgiving Mass (Misa de Gracia) was held on February 26, 2024, exactly a month after the solemn declaration, presided by the pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, Archbishop Salvatore "Rino" Fisichella. On the same day, the shrine received the Golden Rose from Pope Francis, making it the first Marian church in the Philippines and Asia to receive it.^[16]

Currently, the former Parish Priest-Rector of the Shrine is Fr. Reynante "Nante" U.Tolentino, the President of The Association of Catholic Shrines and Pilgrimages of the Philippines (ACSP).^[17]

Gallery

Bas-relief in painted wood depicting the first arrival of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage to the Philippines
Krus by Bin Samonte
Dome interior, and clerestory windows
Cathedra of the Bishop of Antipolo
Pipe organ
Diorama showing the original sanctuary before its destruction by bombing in 1945. It depicts the thanksgiving pilgrimage of a young José Rizal and his father Francisco Rizal Mercado, holding lit candles, on 6 June 1868.
The plainer sanctuary with its many columns in 1994, before subsequent renovations.