History of Manaoag Church.

The original image was brought to the area by Augustinian friars who spiritually administered Manaoag from 1590-1613 in accordance with Royal Spanish decree. In 1614, the Dominicans assumed spiritual leadership under the patronage of Saint Monica.^[2]

In the early 17th century, the ivory image was brought to the Philippines by Padre Juan de San Jacinto from Spain via Acapulco.^[2] Documents dating back to 1610 attest that a native man walking home heard a mysterious female voice. He looked around and saw on a cloud-veiled treetop an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, holding a Rosary in her right hand and the Child Jesus in her left. The man fell on his knees and later told others of the miracle. On the spot where St Mary appeared to the man, a chapel was built, and the present-day town quickly grew around it.^[2]

A huge crowd attended the canonical coronation of the image on 21 April 1926 by the then-Papal Nuncio, as authorised by Pope Pius XI. After surviving Japanese bombing during World War II, the church was rebuilt, and it celebrated the Diamond Jubilee of the image's coronation on 1 January 2000.

Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome, with permission of Pope Benedict XVI granted a plenary indulgence^[3] to visitors equal to that received when visiting a papal basilica in Rome. This was confirmed by the prelate (now Archbishop) of the Lingayen-Dagupan Diocese, Socrates B. Villegas, in a circular dated 13 June 2011. Within the country, only the Manaoag Shrine currently holds this status.

Pope Benedict XVI canonically approved the grant of the plenary indulgence on 21 June 2011. The official document and a shrine official who was among the priests who went to Rome confirmed the plenary indulgence may be obtained on each visit to the shrine subject to three conditions for each occasion: (1) going to confession immediately before or after the pilgrimage; (2) receiving theEucharist during the pilgrimage; and (3) praying for the intentions of the Pope; each done in a spirit of detachment from the attraction of sin.

On 22 July 2011, a special mass was held to affirm the spiritual bond of affinity between Manaoag Shrine and the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome.