The Diocesan Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Church, also known as Naic Church, is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

located in the municipality of

Naic Naic, officially the Municipality of Naic ( tgl, Bayan ng Naic), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Cavite, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 160,987 people. Naic has a land area of 76.24 square kilo ...

Cavite Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite ( tl, Lalawigan ng Kabite; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Located on the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. It was constructed during the 1800s. When the friars discovered that the land at Naic was fertile, they became interested in settling there. It eventually led them to build the administration building of Casa Hacienda, presently occupied by the Naic Central School. Casa Hacienda de Naic is the only ''casa hacienda'' administered by friars in the Philippines that is still in use.

History

It has been believed that the original location of the Naic's ''

poblacion ''Poblacion'' (literally "town" or "settlement" in Spanish language in the Philippines, Spanish; ) is the common term used for the administrative center, central, downtown, old town or central business district area of a Philippines, Philippi ...

'' was at the western side of the present site of the town. It was near a bridge constructed during the time of Juan Matavacas. The change of location of the ''poblacion'' happened on 1798 during the administration of Don Miguel de la Cruz, the first acting-monsignor of the town. The parish was established on 1796 and was headed by Pedro Antonio de Escuza.

Parish priests

Architectural history

The church, constructed during the 1800, was made up of

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...

and

cogon grass ''Imperata cylindrica'' (commonly known as cogongrass or kunai grass ) is a species of perennial rhizomatous grass native to tropical and subtropical Asia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Australia, Africa, and southern Europe. It has also been introduce ...

. Later additions of the church, such as ''kopa'', a pair of cruets, and ornamentation, were added six years after its initial construction. On 1835, the construction of a new stone church was administered by Don Pedro Florentino. Its construction resulted to influx of people - from 18 ''barrios'', or neighborhood in 1845 to 26 ''barrios'' in 1867. It reached up to 54 ''barrios'' in 1888. During the revolutionary period, the church convent of Naic was used as the headquarters of

Andres Bonifacio Andres or Andrés may refer to: *Andres, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Will County, Illinois, US *Andres, Pas-de-Calais, a commune in Pas-de-Calais, France *Andres (name) *Hurricane Andres * "Andres" (song), a 1994 song by L7 See also ...

after the

Tejeros Convention The Tejeros Convention, also known as the Tejeros Assembly and the Tejeros Congress, was a meeting held on March 22, 1897, between Katipunan factions of Magdiwang and Magdalo in San Francisco de Malabon, Cavite (now General Trias) that result ...

of March 22, 1897. The Naic conference was held at the church convent. It was in this conference that the

old Tagalog Old Tagalog, also known as Old Filipino ( tl, Lumang Tagalog; Baybayin: pre-virama: , post-virama rus kudlit ; post-virama amudpod ), is the earliest form of the Tagalog language during the Classical period. It is the primary language of pre- ...

letter of the flag was replaced by a "Sun of Liberty" with the symbolic eight rays. The sun was shown with teo eyes, a nose and a mouth. In 2014, the church was restored by Wong Chu King Foundation. Further renovations by local craftsmen under architect Noel Gatus added intricate, classical-style mosaic floor along its central nave. The millions of triangular marbles used were provided by Kaufman Stone.

Architectural features

The present church was built in the 17th century. Before the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the Naic Church was built along the semi-gothic architecture. It was one of the tallest (about five storeys high) and the longest (almost ten blocks long) in the province of Cavite. It was second to the

Imus Cathedral The Diocesan Shrine and Parish of the Our Lady of the Pillar - Imus Cathedral, commonly known as the Imus Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral church in the city of Imus, in the province of Cavite, Philippines. The city, which is the capital ...

in width. Three major altars and two minor altars were founded in its interior. The Very Venerated Image of the

Immaculate Concepcion The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth wh ...

, Patron Lady of Naic, was located in the main altar.

References

External links

* {{Roman Catholic Diocese of Imus Roman Catholic churches in Cavite Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Imus