Orani Church

The Minor Basilica and Shrine Parish of Our Lady of the Rosary of Orani, commonly known as Orani Church, is a Latin Catholic minor basilica built in the Neoclassical style located in the center of Orani, Bataan, in the Philippines. It is under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Balanga.

Wilfredo C. Paguio believes that the town got its name from the word "maruani": a group of settlers introduced by the Samal people who wandered into the town and settled there in early days, about 300 years ago – the period which might be considered as the beginning of the history of the town although there were already human settlements in Orani as far back as the late 1500s.

The name of Orani may also be traced to the town of Orani in the island of Sardinia in present-day Italy, then part of the Kingdom of Spain at the time when the Spanish missionaries, including the Dominicans, were first sent to the Philippines. Many towns and places in the Philippines carry the name of towns belonging to the Spanish Crown. This is due to the name's significance to the founders of the new town, or in recognition of the patronage and financial contribution of some members of the nobility to the missionary work of the frailes in the new area, or simply as an expression of nostalgia by the colonial masters. Such is the case of Nueva Ecija, Nueva Segovia, Nueva Vizcaya, Toledo, Albuquerque, Alcala, and Tolosa, to cite a few examples. Several Dominicans also trace their roots to Orani in Sardinia, while the Marquisate of Orani, the noble lineage that encompasses the territory to this day, was known to have contributed extensively to the missions in the New World.

The Church of Orani is under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Balanga; It is part of the Vicariate of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary. The titular patron saint is Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary. The church is named after its patroness, commonly known as "Our Lady of Orani". She is also known as the Virgen Milagrosa, a name given to her by her many devotees in light of a number of miracles attributed to her intercession.

The title "Our Lady of the Rosary," or "Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary," is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary that has traditionally been promoted by the Order of Preachers (more popularly known as the Dominican Order) ever since it was founded by Dominic de Guzman in the 13th century. In 1571 Pope Pius V, a Dominican friar himself, instituted the feast of "Our Lady of Victory" to commemorate the victory of the Catholic naval forces in the Battle of Lepanto. The victory was attributed to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as a rosary procession had been offered on that day in St. Peter's Square in Rome for the success of the mission of the Holy League to hold back Ottoman forces from overrunning Western Europe. In 1573, Pope Gregory XIII changed the title of this feast to the "Feast of the Holy Rosary". This feast was extended by Pope Clement XI to the whole of the Latin Rite, inserting it into the General Roman Calendar in 1716. In 1960 under Pope John XXIII it is listed under the title Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Rosary; and under the 1969 liturgical reforms of Pope Paul VI Our Lady of the Rosary is mentioned as a mandatory memorial. In Orani, the patronal feast day is celebrated on the second Sunday of October.

On April 18, 1959, Nuestra Señora del Rosario was canonically crowned in a solemn ceremony headed by the Archbishop of San Fernando and the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines.

Since June 5, 2023, the rector and parish priest of Orani is Antonio "Tony" M. Quintos, Jr. Orani's Catholic population is about 33,957.

On April 21, 1714, the "visita" (chapelry) of Orani formally became an independent parish, separating itself from the Parish of Samal. Diego Ortiz was appointed as Orani's first cura párroco. The original structure, made out of nipa leaves and bamboo and constructed on the founding site in the 1600s, was modeled after the primitive types: open on all sides, thatched roofed held by columnar posts of molave wood and equipped with bamboo benches. The chapel was later made bigger and reconstructed with adobe and stone as well as sturdier roofing material. Agustín Manjares y Esquivel renovated the chapel in 1723.