The National Shrine and Parish of the Divine Mercy is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church dedicated to the

Divine Mercy Divine mercy or God's mercy refers to the compassionate love, forgiveness, and forbearance of God toward creation, especially humankind. It is an essential attribute of God in Christianity, in Judaism, and in Islam. It has also inspired particu ...

Marilao, Bulacan Marilao (), officially the Municipality of Marilao (), is a municipality in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 254,453 people. Marilao is derived from the Tagalog word "marilaw", which tr ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. It is under the jurisdiction of the

Diocese of Malolos The Diocese of Malolos (Latin language, Latin: ''Dioecesis Malolosinae''; Tagalog language, Tagalog: ''Diyosesis ng Malolos''; Spanish: ''Diócesis de Malolos'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church i ...

. It was elevated to the status of National Shrine by Archbishop

Orlando Quevedo Orlando Beltran Quevedo (; born 11 March 1939) is a Filipino prelate of the Catholic Church. A cardinal since 2014, he was Archbishop of Cotabato from 1998 to 2018. He became a bishop in 1980. Early life Orlando Beltran Quevedo was born on ...

of the

Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (abbreviated as CBCP) is the permanent organizational assembly of the Catholic bishops of the Philippines exercising together certain pastoral offices for the Christian faithful of their terr ...

. The first

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

was held at the site on February 2, 1992, the

Feast of the Presentation Candlemas, also known as the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus Christ, the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or the Feast of the Holy Encounter, is a Christian feast day commemorating the presentation of Jesus at the Temp ...

Monsignor Monsignor (; ) is a form of address or title for certain members of the clergy in the Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" can be abbreviated as Mons.... or Msgr. In some ...

Ranilo Santos Trillana, PC, EV, was its Rector and parish priest until he succumbed to

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

on September 11, 2024.

Features

The Guadalupe Chapel in the church’s basement has a replica of the '' tilmahtli'' bearing

Our Lady of Guadalupe Our Lady of Guadalupe (), also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe (), is a Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with four Marian apparitions to Juan Diego and one to his uncle, Juan Bernardino reported in December 1531, when t ...

, near which is flowing water many pilgrims collect as they consider it miraculous. Behind the church is a

Calvary Calvary ( or ) or Golgotha () was a site immediately outside Jerusalem's walls where, according to Christianity's four canonical gospels, Jesus was crucified. Since at least the early medieval period, it has been a destination for pilgrimage. ...

with life-sized statues of the

Stations of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Via Dolorosa, Way of Sorrows or the , are a series of fourteen images depicting Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and acc ...

. Nearby are the

Rosary The Rosary (; , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), formally known as the Psalter of Jesus and Mary (Latin: Psalterium Jesu et Mariae), also known as the Dominican Rosary (as distinct from other forms of rosary such as the ...

Hill; the Grotto of

Our Lady of Lourdes Our Lady of Lourdes (; ) is one the Marian devotions, devotional names or titles under which the Catholic Church venerates the Mary, mother of Jesus, Virgin Mary. The name commemorates a series of Lourdes apparitions, 18 apparitions reported by ...

where people can pray for good health; and the Grotto of the

Resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions involving the same person or deity returning to another body. The disappearance of a body is anothe ...

. The Saint Faustina Hall is an auditorium where Sunday Masses are also held to accommodate any overflow of pilgrims in the main church. The Little Poland Museum has replicas of the house and basement where later

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

lived; the

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

convent chapel where

Faustina Kowalska Maria Faustyna Kowalska of the Blessed Sacrament, Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, OLM (born Helena Kowalska; 25 August 1905 – 5 October 1938) was a Catholic Church in Poland, Polish Catholic religious sister and Christia ...

had a vision of the Divine Mercy; and the

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

prison cell where

Maximillian Kolbe Maximilian Maria Kolbe (born Raymund Kolbe; ; 8 January 1894 – 14 August 1941) was a Polish Roman Catholic priest, Conventual Franciscan friar, missionary, saint, martyr, and a Nazi concentration camp victim, who volunteered to die in place ...

was

martyred A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In colloquial ...

in 1941.

References

External links

* * Catholic pilgrimage sites Roman Catholic churches in Bulacan Roman Catholic national shrines in the Philippines Divine Mercy (Catholic devotion) Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Malolos Jubilee churches in the Philippines {{Philippines-RC-cathedral-stub

Features

See also

References

External links