Basilica Minore de San Pedro Bautista

The Basílica Menor de San Pedro Bautista (Minor Basilica of Saint Pedro Bautista), also known as the San Francisco del Monte Church and alternatively as Santuario de San Pedro Bautista, is a minor basilica and parish church in the San Francisco del Monte district of Quezon City, Philippines. It is one of the oldest churches in the country and the oldest in the city, having been built in 1590. The church is dedicated to its founder, Pedro Bautista, a Spanish missionary from Ávila, Spain, who was one of 26 Christians martyred in Japan in 1597 and venerated as saints by the Church. The shrine is in the Diocese of Cubao under the Vicariate of Saint Pedro Bautista. It is also under the administration of the Franciscans or the Order of Friars Minor (OFM), from the Franciscan Province of Saint Pedro Bautista. The parish covers six barangays: Damayan, Del Monte, Mariblo, Paraiso, Santa Cruz, and Talayan. It is bounded by Pat Senador Street to the west, Quezon Avenue to the east, Araneta Avenue to the south, and Judge Juan Luna Street to the north.

When Pedro Bautista was elected custos, an official of the Franciscans, he saw the need for a secluded place where the missionaries could recharge physically, mentally and spiritually. He found a hilly area he deemed suitable, and on February 17, 1590, then Governor-General Santiago de Vera granted the land to the Franciscan Order. The town of San Francisco del Monte was an elevated area of 250 hectares (620 acres) with thick woods, surrounded by a creek and eight springs. On the site, Bautista built a little convent and a chapel made of bamboo and thatched nipa palm. He dedicated the chapel to Our Lady of Montecelli and the place was opened as a retreat house for missionaries, a novitiate, and as a relaxation place for colonial officials. The chapel was replaced by a wooden structure in 1591, and in 1593 was fortified by clay and natural just as the convent was also constructed. The chapel was rebuilt with adobe in 1599 as designed by the architect Domingo Ortigas. The reconstruction was funded by Don Pedro Salazar, whereas the expansion of the convent was made possible by donations from Captain Domingo Ortíz

Church data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).