Immaculate Conception Parish Church is the oldest

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 in the municipality of Los Baños, Laguna,

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 ...

. Its titular is the (also

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the doctrine that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Mariology, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Debated by medieval theologians, it was not def ...

) and its feast is celebrated every December 8. The church is under the jurisdiction of the

Diocese of San Pablo The Diocese of San Pablo (Latin language, Latin: ''Dioecesis Sancti Pauli in Insulis Philippinis'', Filipino language, Filipino: ''Diyosesis ng San Pablo'', Spanish language, Spanish: ''Diócesis de San Pablo'') is a Catholic Church, Roman Catholi ...

History

The town of Los Baños started as a ''visita'' of

Bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

under the

Augustinian order Augustinians are members of several religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written about 400 A.D. by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13th ...

with Nicolas de Tolentino as the titular saint. In 1590,

Franciscans The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor being the largest conte ...

replaced the

Augustinians Augustinians are members of several religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written about 400 A.D. by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13 ...

in their missions with Pedro Bautista, later canonized as

San Pedro Bautista The were a group of Catholics who were executed by crucifixion on 5 February 1597, in Nagasaki, Japan. Their martyrdom is especially significant in the history of the Catholic Church in Japan. A promising beginning to Catholic missions in Jap ...

. He discovered numerous hot springs in the area which locals called ''Maynit''. He created a public bath he called the ''Los Baños''. After twenty years, the Franciscans established a temporary convent to administer the hot springs that were popular for healing illnesses. A small hospital chapel was built in 1613 in the absence of a church until 1727 dedicated to the Our Lady of Immaculate Conception, with the title . It was brought down by fire in 1727. A temporary chapel was built out of nipa and

cane Cane or caning may refer to: *Walking stick, or walking cane, a device used primarily to aid walking * Assistive cane, a walking stick used as a mobility aid for better balance * White cane, a mobility or safety device used by blind or visually i ...

which was later destroyed again by fire. A big stone church was built in 1790 by Domingo Mateo in its present site. The

belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christianity, Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is us ...

and tile roofing were supervised by Manuel Amat in 1851 and the convent in 1852. The

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

and

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

were destroyed during the 1863 earthquake but repairs were made during the administration of Manuel Rodriguez and Gilberto Martin in 1880. It was also used in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

by the Japanese occupying forces as a garrison and headquarters.

Devotion

The local image of the Virgin Mary under the titular of the Immaculate Conception is known as the (also Virgin of the Holy Waters). The image of Immaculate Concepcion was said to be miraculous. Some of the miracles includes the wetting of the Virgin’s robes up to the shoulders, amor seco growing from the hems of her garments and mysterious footprints all over the church leading to her altar. Due to the popular devotion to the Virgin and miracles attributed to her, the church is currently petitioning to become a diocesan shrine.

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Immaculate Conception Parish Church, Los Banos, Laguna

Los Baños, Laguna Los Baños (IPA: Help:IPA/Tagalog, ɔs bɐˈɲɔs, officially the Municipality of Los Baños (), colloquially 'elbi' or simply LB, is a municipality of the Philippines, municipality in the Philippine Province, province of Laguna (province ...

Los Baños, Laguna Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Pablo Jubilee churches in the Philippines