Manaoag Church

Manaoag Church's Garden

The church is one of the Philippines' most widely visited Roman Catholic Pilgrimage sites. Many people from across the Philippine archipelago come and visit the town of Manaoag, where the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary is enshrined in a church dedicated to this name. The church is administered by the Dominican Order in the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan.Tradition holds the town's name itself was born from The Virgin Mary’s call or "taoag" to the young man. The term manaoag was derived from Pangasinan Language word "mantaoag" which means "to Call".

The Art of Manaog Church by kaypzkie

The title Our Lady of The Rosary of Manaoag is the same title of used universally just like the other titles of Mary or labels of reverence. All of these names really refer to the same polyonymous Mary, The Mother of Christ. The “of Manaoag” epithet is an appendage to that title to merely associate her to the host town and to the parish.The Agustinians ansbuilt the first Chapel of Santa Monica (the original name of the town of Manaoag) in 1600 where the cemetery is now located. It was served by the friars from the town of Lingayen. This was turned over to the Dominicans in 1605 and was served from the town of Mangaldan.The first Dominican priest to work in the Manaoag mission was Fr. Juan De San Jacinto, O.P the first Curateof Mangaldan. It was only in 1608 that the Mangaldan mission was formally accepted by the provincial chapter of the Dominican Order.

Manaog Church's Altar (source: Panoramio)

In 1610 Fr. Tomas Jimenez, O.P. became the first resident priest as he took over the Manaoag mission. Later expansion of the church from 1882 was frustrated by an earthquake in 1892.

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Manaoag

http://ourladyofmanaoag.webs.com/history.htm