Manila Cathedral (Basilica of The Immaculate Conception)

Location: Intramuros, Manila

          On February 6, 1578, Pope Gregory XIII signed a Papal Bull creating the Diocese of Manila and decreeing the construction of a cathedral dedicated to the

Immaculate Conception. The Papal edict made Manila Independent from Archdiocese of Mexico.

          With missionary zeal, the first Bishop of the new diocese journeyed on the foot across the hills of the Bicol Peninsula and paddled down the Pasig River from Laguna de Bay.

          Such enthusiastic beginnings did not augur the foibles of men and nature that were to throw the history of the cathedral in the ring of disasters and confusions. After the original nipa church was burned down in 1574, at least four different cathedrals were erected - this achieved in the thick of clerical intrigue and squabbles over funds. The first three cathedrals were ravaged by fire or earthquake. The fourth, completed in 1879, was destroyed by the World War II bombings. The present cathedral, popularly known as Manila Cathedral was built  in the postwar years between 1954 and 1958 under the Archbishop Rufino J. Santos.