The Cathedral of María Auxiliadora, also known as Saint Mary's Cathedral, 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 Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

in the predominantly

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

city of

Marawi Marawi, officially the Islamic City of Marawi (Maranao language, Maranao: ''Bandar a Marawi''; ; Jawi script, Jawi ''(Batang Arab)'': ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city and capital of the Provinces of the ...

on the southern island of

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) is the List of islands of the Philippines, second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and List of islands by population, seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, 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 ...

. The church is the seat of the Territorial Prelature of Marawi.

Background

Belonging to the Territorial Prelature of Marawi, the church was built in 1934 and dedicated to

Mary Help of Christians Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Bless ...

. In March 2008, the church reportedly had a corrugated iron roof. Being in a majority Muslim city, the church's façade did not display a cross.

Battle of Marawi

During the 2017

Battle of Marawi The siege of Marawi (), also known as the Marawi crisis () and the Battle of Marawi (), was a five-month-long armed conflict in Marawi, Philippines, that started on May 23, 2017, between Government of the Philippines, Philippine government Arme ...

, the extremist

Maute Group Dawlah Islamiya, also called Islamic State of Lanao and formerly named as the Maute Group ( or ), is a radical Islamist group composed of former Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas and foreign fighters. Based in Lanao del Sur, it was f ...

seized the cathedral as part of their takeover of the city. Online videos posted by the militants showed them toppling and smashing religious icons, tearing photographs of

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

, and desecrating the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

. They later set pews and the whole structure alight. The church was heavily damaged with bullet holes on the structure's wall and tin roof. The military recaptured the cathedral from the Maute Group on August 25, 2017. The first Sunday

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 in the cathedral on October 1, 2017, coinciding with the feast of Saint

Thérèse of Lisieux Thérèse of Lisieux (born Marie Françoise-Thérèse Martin; 2 January 1873 – 30 September 1897), religious name, in religion Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, was a French Discalced Carmelites, Discalced Carmelite who is widely v ...

patroness Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

of the

Philippine Army The Philippine Army (PA) () is the main, oldest and largest branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), responsible for ground warfare. , it had an estimated strength of 143,100 soldiers The service branch was established on December ...

. The service was attended by at least 300 uniformed soldiers. With Bishop

Edwin de la Peña Edwin Angot de la Peña, Mission Society of the Philippines, M.S.P. (born April 5, 1954) is a Filipinos, Filipino bishop of the Roman Catholic Church, currently serving as the Prelate of Roman Catholic Territorial Prelature of Marawi, Prelature ...

y Angot's consent, Saint Mary’s Cathedral, along with his residence, will be among the many buildings to be demolished by the government as it is no longer structurally sound.

References

{{Marawi Roman Catholic cathedrals in the Philippines Buildings and structures in Lanao del Sur Marawi Churches in the Roman Catholic Territorial Prelature of Marawi