Naga, Churches

BASILICA MINORE

THE PRESENT STONE CHURCH

No definite data is available with regards to the construction of the present church. All references however point to the belief that it was Bishop Isidro Arevalo who built around the year 1750. His coat of arms engraved in the upper part of the western side of the church, justifies this stand, accepted by Msgr. Gainza himself. The old people say that the Chinese community of the locality donated the façade. They were ardent devotees of the Virgin as proven by the fact that they were the ones shouldering the expenses of the pagoda, the nicest seen in Naga, and all their children were usually baptized in the Peñafrancia church. As a consequence, the façade was entirely of Chinese art with pots, plates, jars, and etc. engraved on it. That was the façade previous to the present. THE HISTORY OF PEÑAFRANCIA by Rev. Dr. FLORENCIO C. YLLANA

THE PRESENT FACADE

Perhaps few Bishops among those who governed the Diocese of Nueva Caceres had more devotion in, and demonstrated more interest for the Virgin of Peñafrancia and her church, as did Msgr. Francisco Gainza, an acknowledged luminary of the Dominican order. Not only did he write the history of Peñafrancia, the first one to be ever published, and edited a novena to the Virgin, but he also tried to make the Peñafrancia church a more worthy abode of the Mother of God. He introduced changes in the church, made it around 5 meters longer on the front and finally he constructed the present imposing thou simple façade. Bicolandia will never forget him and his memory will forever be linked with history of the Peñafrancia church. THE HISTORY OF PEÑAFRANCIA by Rev. Dr. FLORENCIO C. YLLANA

Our Lady of Peñafrancia Church 

was built in 1711 by Rev. Miguel Covarrubias. It houses the image of Our Lady of Peñafrancia. He constructed this church in fullfillment of the vow he made during his youth. The second church was built in 1750 by Bishop Isidoro de Arevalo, repaired and improved in 1876-1877 by Bishop Francisco Gainza. The image was solemnly crowned by the Rt. Rev. Guillermo Piano on September 20, 1924.

The concept for the building the Basilica Minore came from Archbishop Pedro P. Santos in 1960. Construction began on April 18, 1976, but was delayed for a number of years due to finance problems and was not completed until September, 1981.

On May 22, 1982 it was dedicated as The Church of Nuestra Señora de Peña de Francia and it wasn't until May 22, 1985 that the church was given the title of "Basilica Minore" from Rome after a request from the third Archbishop of Caceres, Leonardo Z. Legaspi.

The Peñafrancia Basilica Minore houses an image of the virgin Mary that was sculpted in 1710. It was commissioned by Miguel de Cobarrubias who moved to the Philippines from Spain with his family and believed that the virgin Mary had helped him numerous times in his life. By Wikipilipinas

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