right|thumb|The Manila Cathedral before the 1880 earthquake
right|thumb|Manila Cathedral facade
The '''Manila Cathedral''', also known as the '''Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception''', was the seat of the Archbishop of Manila during the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines, and still remains the ecclesiastical seat of the Archdiocese of Manila.

The See of Manila, with jurisdiction over all the Philippine Islands and suffragan to the See of Mexico, was erected in 1578. The first bishop, Domingo de Salazar (born 1512), arrived in September 1581. 

==History==

On January 24, 1571 , feast of St. John the Baptist, the Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legaspi founded the city of Manila . He earlier took possession of Maynilad, the native settlement of Rajah Matanda and Rajah Sulayman on May 19, 1571 and firmly established Spanish authority in the newly conquered and untrammeled turf. The historic day happened to be the feast of Santa Potenciana and to honor her, she was made patroness of the new territory. Armed with the Spanish sword and the Cross, Legaspi, in his role as conquistador, apportioned a parcel of land for the church of the new settlement under the patronage of La Purisima Inmaculada Concepcion.

The Church of Manila was established by the secular Juan de Vivero who had the honor of baptizing Rajah Matanda. Vivero first arrived in these shores in 1566 as chaplain of the nao or galleon of San Geronimo which had come to support the Spanish colonization of the newly discovered islands. He was given the special privilege and sole faculty by the Archbishop of Miexico to establish the spiritual administration of the new Philippine colony. Later, Vivero would become the first vicar-general and the first ecclesiastical judge of Manila .

The Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception administered the religious affairs of Manila until such time it became a parish and Manila was created into a diocese. It was a simple structure of nipa and bamboo, materials which were readily available during that time. It had for its first parish priest the secular Juan de Villanueva. The other religious who became the pillars of this parish were Juan de Vivaneta and Nicolas Riccio.

This church was also witness to the events that would threaten the city and its residents. On November 30, 1574 , the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, the Spanish forces were able to quell Limahong’s invasion. Because of such fortunate turn of events, the holy apostle was made patron saint of Manila . The victory was celebrated with fireworks and a Mass with sermon was held in the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in Manila . 
In 1591, at the age of 76 years, Bishop Salazar sailed from Manila to Spain , accompanied by the Dominican Fray Miguel de Benavides, to work for the erection of Manila into an archdiocese. He left the cathedral building in a state of near completion, enough for mass to be celebrated in it. The first stone cathedral had a central nave and two collateral ones.

The succeeding years saw the continuous efforts made to complete the cathedral structure. A Royal Cedula, dated June 11, 1594 , ordered Governor General Dasmariñas to allocate 12,000 ducats for the bells, the ornaments, retablos, organs, lamps, and other materials the cathedral would require.

While in the court of Madrid in Spain , Bishop Salazar had a slight accident which greatly weakened him. Fatigued by his travels, work, and age, Bishop Salazar died on December 4, 1594 . He died without returning to Manila to reign as its first archbishop and without ever seeing his beloved cathedral completed.

 
===The Elevation of Manila as Archdiocese: 1595===

On August 14, 1595 , Pope Clement VIII issued a brief erecting Manila into a Metropolitan Archdiocese and its three suffragan dioceses of Nueva Segovia (Vigan), Nueva Caceres (Naga), and Santisimo Nombre de Jesus ( Cebu ). Its new territory now extended “100 leagues north and south, the villages were distant from its capital, being 40 leagues to the north, and about 60 to the south. It is bounded on the north by the Diocese of Nueva Segovia and on the south by that of Cebu . Its western boundaries are maritime.”

 
===Progress in Construction: 1597===

In 1595, sacred relics were given by the Holy See and brought to Manila by the Jesuit Fray Alfonso Sanchez. The relics were from 155 martyrs, 20 popes, St. Polycarp, and St. Potenciana. A structure was built specifically to house the relics at the side of the cathedral. When the structure was completed, the relics were formally deposited there in 1597. Governor Juan Niño de Tabora and his wife Doña Magdalena Saldivar y Medoza built another collateral structure to shelter subsequent relics.

 
===The First Archbishop: Fray Ignacio de Santibañez===

The second bishop assigned to Manila to reign as the first archbishop of the newly erected archdiocese was Fray Ignacio de Santibañez of the Order of San Francisco .

Archbishop Santibañez gained fame as a very good preacher and speaker. However, his administration of the archdiocese was short-lived. He died on August 14, 1598 only two months and four days since he took over the Archdiocese of Manila.

 
===The Earthquake of 1599 and 1600===

In 1597, the Ecclesiastical Chapter or Cathedral Chapter wrote to the king that the buildings for the cathedral were not yet finished. There was still neither a chapter hall, baptistry, bell tower nor cloister. The principal altar, two auxiliary ones and the choir were built solely from alms. This cathedral suffered during an earthquake in 1599 and, still unfinished, experienced another strong earthquake the following year. At midnight of December 31, 1600 , 29 years after Manila was established, a very strong earthquake hit the colonial capital, which almost completely destroyed the cathedral.

The Jesuit Pedro Chirino described the Manila Catheral in 1600 to be built with solid wooden posts, so big and thick that two men were not enough to fully embrace each post. Although the cathedral seemed to be strong with its solid posts, it was not sturdy enough to resist the typhoon that devastated it.

By the beginning of the 17 th century, the cathedral was still unfinished, although Governor General Francisco Tello wrote in a letter addressed to the king on July 6, 1601 , that the cathedral of Manila was in fine condition with a tower and a sacristy. Yet much was still to be accomplished. The process of completion was slow since the Royal Treasury lacked funds to subsidize the project. Still, a glimmer of hope was seen with the incumbency of the second Archbishop of Manila, Fray Miguel de Benavides, who became Manila ’s vicar in August of 1603. 

Archbishop Benavides initiated the rebuilding of the Manila Cathedral in stone but he never lived long enough to see the cathedral finished. He passed away on July 26, 1605 , two years after his ascension to the archbishopric. The cathedral project was left in the hands of his successor, Diego Vasquez de Mercado, who became archbishop on June 1, 1610 .

By 1607, the Manila Cathedral was in such a miserable condition that it became necessary to abandon it and transfer cathedral services to the Chapel of San Andres of the Colegio de Santa Potenciana. This condition continued for the next seven years until a new one of stone was built.

Archbishop Mercado continued the late prelate’s project. He expanded, beautified, and completed the cathedral building. In 1614, a new Manila Cathedral of three naves, seven chapels, and ten altars arose. It was built largely from funds donated by the licentiate Don Francisco Gomez de Arellano, fourth dean of the cathedral, from the alms solicited by the good archbishop from residents of Manila , and from the Royal Treasury.

The seven chapels of the Manila Cathedral were built from donations given by generous patrons of the cathedral. The capilla mayor or largest chapel of the cathedral was dedicated to Don Francisco Gomez de Arellano, a most generous donor of the cathedral. For his kind and magnanimous deed, Don Francisco was assigned, upon his death, a special niche with bronze letterings and border at the capilla mayor. Francisco Gomez de Arellano had served as cura en propiedad in Villa de Arevalo in Panay. He was also capellon mayor and rector of the Royal College of Santa Potenciana in 1598, a canon of the church, and the chaplain for the Hospital Real de los Españoles.

Captain Juan Sarmiento and his wife Isabel de Paredes of Manila founded a chapel and masses amounting to 200 pesos every year. Captain Antonio de Espinosa and his wife Maria de Acriaza, descendants of one of the oldest families of Manila , founded a chapel under the patronage of San Bartolome and a chaplaincy of 180 pesos. The beautiful Capilla del Sagrario, or Sanctuary Chapel, was founded by Captain Alonzo Tarancon with funds coming from the property of the late Miguel Simon, a devout and pious man who was accorded the honorary title of padre. A chaplaincy was also founded for the Curato de Españoles, curary for Spaniards, amounting to 210 pesos each year, with 140 pesos for the lamp of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Archbishop Vasquez de Mercado founded on the left side of the capilla mayor a chapel for his sepulcher and all the prebends who desired to be interred there. In his designated niche was a large slab measuring one vara in height and two and a half in width, with his portrait etched in wood over the slab. He also founded a chaplaincy of 1,000 pesos every year at the disposal of the Chapter. The next chapel was founded by the accountant Alonso de Espinosa Saravia with a chaplaincy of 150 pesos every year for the service of the Chapter. The last chapel was founded by Don Rodrigo de la Barrera with a chaplaincy of 150 pesos every year.

The remains of the late Archbishop Benavides were interred at the Gospel side of the principal altar. Archbishop Vasquez de Mercado, who died in an accident on June 12, 1616 , was interred in the mortuary chapel he founded in the cathedral.

 
===The Earthquakes of 1621 and 1645===

It was not long after when an earthquake on August 1, 1621 , caused serious damages on the cathedral’s walls, columns, and roofs. The cathedral became so structurally weak and unsafe such that it posed danger to anyone who desired to go inside the building. It was imperative to rebuild it since repairs would not improve its miserable condition. At this period, the cathedral did not even have a main retablo but only a canopy with an image of Christ. Men were even employed just to guard and keep watch over the ornaments and other precious objects within the cathedral.

Between July 1, 1641 , the date of Archbishop Hernando Guerrero’s death, and July 1645, the date when Archbishop Fernando Montero took possession of the archdiocese, the cathedral underwent reconstruction. However, the cathedral fell victim again to nature’s devastation when an earthquake destroyed it on November 30, 1645 , feastday of St. Andrew.

The earthquake was one of the strongest to hit Manila , with tremors repeatedly shaking the city days after. The earthquake hit the city at 8 in the evening with the bells of the cathedral and the Convent of Santo Domingo pealing loudly with the intensity of the quake, joining the tremors that shook the buildings and the residents of Manila . Six hundred residents of the city were buried beneath the rubble and debris, with the religious going around to administer confession and the last rites to the dying victims.

The cathedral easily fell in ruins, its bell tower crumbled to the ground, and its walls reduced to their foundations. Only the capilla mayor and a wall remained. The archives inside the chapter hall were irretrievably buried. Books and papers regarding the early history of the colony were lost forever.

The tremors continued for the next few days, and on the fifth day, a quake of even stronger intensity destroyed whatever structures and ruins were left standing. In less than an hour, many people died. Killed were more than 450 people with 150 houses leveled to the ground. Because of the continuous tremors, the Spanish residents of Manila , fearing for their lives, left the city and rented the simple huts of the natives in the outlying arrabales of Manila . It was a sight to see the most finicky and delicate Spaniards, who before lived luxuriously in their ample salons, living in the humble huts of the indios.

The Manila Cathedral was so devastated that a camarin made of wood with bamboo and nipa for a roof was built to temporarily house the flock in the plaza facing the Governor General’s Palace. The cathedral was reduced to a memory together with all the structures in the city. The earthquake impoverished the cathedral so much with its sources of income lost.

In 1645, after the earthquake, a generous donor, Doña Luisa de Cosar, widow of the former Governor of Formosa, Sergeant Major Francisco Suarez de Figueroa, offered to establish an endowment to have the Sagrario de los Curas, or Priests’ Sanctuary, and chapel for the Most Blessed Sacrament rebuilt. This was her way of thanksgiving for being spared from the earthquakes of November 30 and December 4, 1645 and a means to express her love and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. The Cathedral Chapter accepted the endowment with all its stipulations for the reconstruction, upkeep, and maintenance of the Cathedral’s Sanctuary 

===Reconstruction under Archbishop Poblete===

The process of reconstruction of the whole cathedral was to start only after some years upon the arrival of Miguel de Poblete in 1653. On July 24, 1653 , the new archbishop Miguel de Poblete entered the city of Manila after arriving in the port of Cavite from Acapulco and sadly viewed the ruins of the old cathedral and the temporary camarin which served as the cathedral in the middle of the plaza. He had the ugly camarin removed and cathedral services temporarily installed in the Church of the Confraternity of La Santa Mesa de Misericordia. For the next six years, the Misericordia Church would function as the interim cathedral. Immediately, the new archbishop planned to reconstruct the stone cathedral.

On April 20, 1654 , the cornerstone of the new cathedral was laid by Archbishop Poblete with the governor general, the Royal Audencia, the Cabildos, and the religious communities in attendance. Archbishop Poblete personally went on foot around Manila , soliciting donations for the cathedral project. In spite of the relative poverty of the city denizens at that time, the good archbishop was able to collect 3,000 pesos in contributions. To this initial fund, he added whatever little money he had. He even made a wooden scale model of the proposed edifice which would have three naves and would be of the Roman Doric order.

From 1658 to 1659, work on the cathedral was hastened. At this stage, contributions began pouring in. The Spanish monarch donated 22,000 pesos from the Royal Treasury of Mexico. Supporting the completion of the project were the products of the vacancies of the archbishopric. When all the donations were spent, the Archbishop sold his silverware, his pectoral cross and ring just to keep the construction going.

By 1659, the cathedral’s naves were already enclosed and the Sagrario de los Curas, the choir and the Chapter hall were finished. At this time, Archbishop Poblete decided to hold Holy Mass in it. The Church of Misericordia , which had served as interim cathedral, was asked to transfer all the cathedral ornaments to the new structure’s sacristy for this event. On December 5, 1659 , the archbishop consecrated the big bell and blessed the belfry of the new Manila Cathedral.

On December 7, 1659 , eve of the feast of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, the Archbishop celebrated low Mass in the Sanctuary of the new cathedral. The following day, the feast itself, a Pontifical Sung Mass was celebrated in the cathedral with the governor general, the Royal Audencia, the religious, and other dignitaries in attendance. From then on, the divine functions were performed by the archbishop in the cathedral.

More support came for the cathedral, so that by 1662, religious services were held there more conveniently. That year, the main altar of the cathedral was built out of molave, a native hardwood, whereas an artist painted and decorated the silken cover of this altar. Contributing greatly to this cathedral building were Governor Sabiniano Manrique de Lara and the residents of Manila .

The archbishop planned to have the cathedral formally dedicated on August 31, 1662 , with much festivity, but the several revolts in the Parian and in the provinces of Pampanga, Pangasinan, and Ilocos made it impossible. Although only partially completed with some finishing works still to be executied, the cathedral was blessed on June 7, 1662 . The new cathedral was a beautiful structure of stone, with many altars and chapels. Someone pictured it out in detail:

“The Cathedral was beautifully built of quarried stone, lime, and gravel. It was 40 brazas long, 15 brazas wide, and 9 branzas high. It had three naves, one at the center and one each on both sides. Each side had seven beautiful columns. The main portal or entrance was adorned with three doors. Each door corresponded to the naves opening out to the plaza. At approximately the middle of the edifice were side doors each leading to the city streets. It had two Sanctuaries—one for Spaniards and another, for natives. There were 8 windows, 4 on each side. Chapels lined the sides with a one-braza elevation from the side streets. The woodwork was all of molave. It had a splendid presbytery, the table of which was 5 steps elevated. The Choir was 3 steps higher than the floor with 52 carved wooden chairs. There were two Pontifical thrones—one on each side of the choir.

“The Cathedral had an imposing tower with a huge bell in it. Near the tower base were located the various offices of the Cathedral. At the top of the tower was a clock.”

Archbishop Poblete died on December 7, 1667 , bequeathing his wealth for the maintenance and upkeep of the cathedral. In his lifetime, he spent 25,000 pesos for the construction of his beloved cathedral. He also donated ornaments, vestments, and vessels for decoration and use during divine services. He was also able to obtain sacred relics which he donated to the cathedral church: an arm of San Marcial, an arm of San Jocundo, an arm of one of the 1,000 virgins, and a piece of the Holy Cross of Christ. The relics were encased in special silver and golden reliquaries.

He entrusted the completion of the cathedral project to his nephew and executor, Don Jose Millan de Poblete, dean of the Cathedral Cahpter of Manila. The project continued with funds generated by the income of vacant encomiendas and from the residents of Manila . In less than two years, the arches, entrances, and collateral naves were finished. On August 31, 1671 , the principal chapel or capilla mayor was completed and dedication rites were celebrated on September 8, 1671 , although construction was not yet fully completed. Work continued until 1681 when the sacristy and other offices of the cathedral were built.

 
===More Restoration Work under Archbishop Camacho===

During the term of Archbishop Diego Camacho y Avila, 1697-1706, the cathedral project received so much attention. The archbishop solicited funds to perfect the cathedral and finish the bell tower. He was able to raise 40,000 pesos for the ornamentation of the cathedral. The periods of building and refurbishing were interrupted by natural calamities, like typhoons and earthquakes, and what were completed had to be restored again.

Archbishop Camacho is credited to have completed the sacristy, which was painted and covered with a gilded roof, the Chapter hall, offices, and the choir with its tribunas and grilleworks. He was also responsible for fabricating a lovely pulpit made out of ivory, ebony, and tindalo which the Cathedral Chapter reported to the king as the best in the colony. In the center of the pulpit was the image of the Immaculate Conception of the same material.

It was also during Camacho’s term that the bell tower was completed in 1706. Hired to build the six-tiered bell tower was the Sangley master mason Dionisio Saplan. The Cabildo Eclesistico wrote praises about the tower which could compete in beauty and structure with those in Mexico and Peru . When the Arcbbishop left for his new assignment in Guadalajara , the cathedral was fully repaired, complete with bell tower and ornamentations.
 
===Repairs under Archbishop Rodriguez===

Fray Juan Angel Rodriguez ascended to the archbishopric of Manila in 1736 and initiated repairs and renovations on the cathedral. In 1737, the media naranja of the bell tower was demolished and rebuilt in brick with a cupola much prettier than its antecedent. The cathedral church itself was in a ruinous condition. Its hardwood flooring was deplorable, the wooden arched ceiling so damaged, and the roof, especially the areas over the collateral naves, had fallen down. The retablos, which were poorly treated, suffered from the effects of water the continuously leaked from the ceiling and ran over it. The choir area was intolerably humid and filthy, a condition brought about by bats which inhabited the space. Totally, the cathedral was very unserviceable except for its walls.

Such miserable condition of the cathedral spurred Archbishop Rodriguez to improve the edifice. He replaced the deteriorated wooden parts of the structure and was himself able to obtain 13 large bells for the cathedral. For lack of money for the project, he was prompted to solicit from the government unused stones, bricks, and lime originally intended for royal works. In 1740, he reiterated the request but did not live long enough to realize his dream.

 
===The Cathedral by Archbishop Poblete and His Successors until 1751===

Prior to the cathedral’s reconstruction by Uguccioni, the structure was a simple and long quadrilateral church annexed with auxiliary services and spaces to complement and support the main congregation or worship area. To its left side, near the main portal, was the Cathedral Chapter hall and an octagonal bell tower. The cathedral was divided into three naves—a principal nave and two collateral ones—separated by colonnades. Seven chapels founded by the generous faithful flanked the side naves. At the back of the main altar were the sacristy, a small parlor and the stairs leading to the private room above.

To the left of the nave, and separated by a patio from the Chapter hall, was the Parroquia del Sagrario, which was the chapel serving as a parish church for Spaniards. It had its own sacristy located immediately behind it. In a small patio located outside the Sagrario and the left wall of the cathedral were 12 houses or casitas, where dwelt poor sacristans. A small pozo or well and a camarin for storage were also located in this courtyard. The cathedral had hardwood flooring, a wooden ceiling, and a height not in proportion to its length. This was the cathedral of Archbishop Poblete and his successors who repaired and improved on it. This was also the same cathedral which Archbishop Trinidad, who was Poblete’s successor, deemed wise to be reconstructed in 1751.  

===Under Archbishop Pedro de la Santisima Trinidad===

Archbishop Pedro de la Santisima Trinidad Martinez de Arisala became Manila’s vicar in 1747. He saw the dilapidated state of the cathedral and decided to have it reconstructed by a fine architect to avoid any future defects in the edifice every time natural disasters struck the city. The archbishop requested Nueva España to send a good maestro who could handle the work and in 1748 informed the Spanish monarch that a new cathedral should replace the present one.

The following year, Archbishop Trinidad asked for financial assistance enclosing the report of the Jesuit architect Father Joaquin Mezquita, the military engineer Don Tomas de Castro y Andrade and Don Antonio Gonzalez de Quijano. The report stated that the length of the cathedral was uproportional to its width and, thus, the structure necessitated rebuilding according to the norms of architecture. In response, a Royal Cedula was dispatched, ordering the Archbishop and the Royal Audencia to submit the design for a new cathedral church and the cost estimates for the said project.

Before the Royal Cedula could reach Manila , a Florentine architect and engineer, in the person of Juan de Uguccioni, passed by Manila during the latter end of the year 1750. A missionary of the Sagrada Congregacion de Propaganda Fide, Fray Uguccioni was on his way to Goa , India , after serving the English in a technical capacity in the Malvar coast.

Upon the request of Archbishop Trinidad, Uguccioni made an assessment of the cathedral which he submitted on December 9, 1750 . His findings confirmed the previous reports on the structure. Uguccioni remarked that the rectangular structure had a height unproportional to its length…”without the least symmetry or ornamentation and, therefore, I consider [the cathedral] wholly as rough, formless, and unproportional, to which can be added its great darkness, one reason why a multitude of filthy animals infest it, making it uninhabitable and totally indecent.”

Uguccioni proposed for a totally new edifice but budgetary considerations forced him to just restore the old structure with the introduction of the necessary modifications or renovations in conformity with aesthetics. The archbishop consulted the governor general and the Cathedral Chapter on the project. Ultimately, a consensus was reached to pursue with Uguccioni’s proposal.

 
===The 1751 Reconstruction by Fray Juan de Uguccioni===

The Manila Cathedral underwent a major transformation under the hands of the Italian architect Juan de Uguccioni and the obrero mayor Don Estevan Roxas y Melo. Don Estevan was a native of Lima , Peru , and was secretary to Archbishop Rodriguez since 1736. After the death of the archbishop, Roxas opted to stay permanently in this colony and was appointed eventually as medio racionero and later as canonigo de gracia in the Cathedral. Because of his talent in the sciences and mathematics, as well as for efficiency in his duties, he was appointed by Archbishop Trinidad as the obrero major of the cathedral reconstruction.

thumb|right|250px|De kathedraal van Manilla
thumb|right|250px|De kathedraal van Manilla van binnen tijdens een trouwerij
De '''Kathedraal van Manilla''', ook wel de '''minor basilica of the Immaculate Conception''', is een kathedrale Filipijnse hoofdstad Spaanse koloniale tijd de zetel van de aartsbisschop van Manilla.

De eerste kathedraal, gemaakt van schepen en zeven kapellen. De bouw werd begonnen in 1584 en voltooid in 1614. Deze versie werd in een aardbeving in 1645 verwoest. De vierde versie van de kathedraal werd gebouwd tussen 1654 en 1671 ten tijde van aartsbisschop Miguel Poblete. Deze vierde versie van de kathedraal werd ernstig beschadigd door een zware aardbeving in 1863. De vijfde versie van de kathedraal werd gebouwd tussen 1870 en 1879. Hij werd gezegend in december 1879. Deze kathedraal werd verwoest door de bombardementen tegen het einde van de Tweede Wereldoorlog in 1945. 

De huidige kathedraal werd gebouw tussen 1954 to 1958 onder aartsbisschop Rufino Jiao Santos en onder leiding van architect Fernando Ocampo. In 1981 werd de kathedraal door paus Johannes Paulus II gewijdt als minor basilica.