The Natividad de la Nuestra Señora Parish (also Our Lady's Nativity Parish), commonly known as Pangil 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 ...

in Natividad,

Pangil Pangil, officially the Municipality of Pangil ( tgl, Bayan ng Pangil), is a 4th class municipality in the province of Laguna, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 25,026 people. Etymology According to a paper ent ...

Laguna Laguna (Italian and Spanish for lagoon) may refer to: People * Abe Laguna (born 1992), American DJ known as Ookay * Andrés Laguna (1499–1559), Spanish physician, pharmacologist, and botanist * Ana Laguna (born 1955), Spanish-Swedish ballet d ...

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 ...

. The statue of the pregnant

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

(locally known as ''Nuestra Señora de la O'') is said to be a gift from King Carlos III of Spain.

History

Pangil was founded as a ''visita'' or hermitage by

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

friars

Juan de Plasencia Miguel Juan de Plasencia () was a Spanish friar of the Franciscan Order. He was among the first group of Franciscan missionaries who arrived in the Philippines on 2 July 1578. He spent most of his missionary life in the Philippines, where he fou ...

and Diego de Oropesa in 1579. It was administered by the nearby parish of Lumban due to lack of priests. The first church dedicated to the

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Nativity of Mary, the Marymas or the Birth of the Virgin Mary, refers to a Christian feast day celebrating the birth of Mary, mother of Jesus. The modern canon of scripture does not record Mary's bir ...

was built out of cane. In 1611, a stone church and

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

was built under the direction of Father Gonzalo del Roble. Restoration of the church's woodwork and improvement of the convent was done by Father Lucas Fernandez in 1711. The church was remodeled in 1749 to 1751 by Father Luis de Nambroca. Based on the records of Father

Felix Huerta Felix Huerta, O.F.M., was a Spanish Franciscan friar, Catholic priest, scholar and missionary to the Philippines during the 19th century, when it was still a colony of Spain. He is best known for authoring a history of local Catholic parishes which ...

, the church has also a stone chapel dedicated to Saint

Mark the Evangelist Mark the Evangelist ( la, Marcus; grc-gre, Μᾶρκος, Mârkos; arc, ܡܪܩܘܣ, translit=Marqōs; Ge'ez: ማርቆስ; ), also known as Saint Mark, is the person who is traditionally ascribed to be the author of the Gospel of Mark. Acco ...

and Saint Anthony Abad.

Notes

Bibliography

External links

*
Facebook page of Our Lady's Nativity Parish
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nuestra Senora de la Natividad Parish Church

Spanish Colonial architecture in the Philippines Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Pablo