It has long been a venue for high-profile weddings and it has appeared in a number of Filipino films because of its greatness both in structure and in name.
It has long been a venue for high-profile weddings and it has appeared in a number of Filipino films because of its greatness both in structure and in name. but unknown to many, the Manila Cathedral or the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Concepcion occupies one of the top spots on the list of churches which have undergone the seemingly endless cycle of construction, deconstruction and reconstruction. The grandiose structure, which is aptly described, to be “Neo-Romanesque-Byzantine” that stands today is actually the eighth of a long series of cathedrals built on that remarkable spot in Intramuros. The present structure is described to have risen “phoenix-like” from the ruins of the previous one, which suffered heavily along with most of Intramuros from the bombings of World War II.
Manila Cathedral traces its roots to a church made of nipa, which was constructed the year Miguel Lopez de, Legaspi took claim f Manila in 1571. Ten years later, and roughly three years after Manila became a suffragan diocese of Acapulco, Mexico, the nipa church rose to become the first Episcopal seat in the country by virtue of Papal Bull by Gregory XIII.
Four centuries later, Manila Cathedral was elevated to the statue of a minor basilica – thus becoming the Basiiica of Immaculate Conception, by virtue of another Papal bull, this time issued by John Paul II after his first visit to the country in 1981. Since then, the Manila Cathedral has taken pride in being the only church in the country to be elevated to the level of a minor basilica through the Pope’s own motion, or what it is termed as motu propio – “a personal decision that came without prompting from any other source.
Indeed, Manila Cathedra has come a long, long way. After seven painstaking construction and two Papa Bulls, it remains to be the center of many religious activities. Standing in all its glorious majesty, the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception is an attestation of the resilient faith of the people, which cannot be conquered by either physical or spiritual tumult.
