Santa Maria Church (Ilocos Sur)

The Minor Basilica and Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of the Assumption, commonly known as Santa Maria Church, is a Roman Catholic Basilica in Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur, Philippines. The church was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on December 11, 1993, as part of the Baroque Churches of the Philippines, a collection of four Baroque Spanish-era churches. It is currently the Pro-Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia while the Vigan Cathedral is undergoing repairs.

The Santa Maria Church is an attraction to tourists and Catholics in Ilocos Sur. It is a reminder of the four centuries of Spanish domination over the area, and is a unique structure with a diverse architectural design of bricks and mortar. It was built on top of a hill a lookout and a citadel as well as a religious center during the early administration of the region by friars and soldiers of Spain.

The parish of Santa Maria started as a chapel-of-ease (visita) of Narvacan, its neighboring town to the north, in 1567. The influx of the settlers after the full conquest of the Ilocos Region by the Spaniards greatly increased the population of Santa Maria. The chapel became an independent ministry in 1769 and was dedicated to the Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of the Assumption. Besides economic progress, evangelical missions were expanded. The mission at Santa Maria, located on a narrow flat plain between the sea and the central mountain range of Luzon, close to the interior settlements, made Santa Maria as the center of both the religious and commercial activities.

According to the legend, before the Santa Maria Church was built on its present site, the Virgin Mary was enshrined at a different place called Bulala. The frequent disappearance of the Virgin Mary from her previous place of enthronement only to be found perched on a guava tree that grew where the present church is located, had led the townspeople to move the church to its present location.

Father Mariano Dacanay, the Ilocano parish priest from September 1, 1902, to May 27, 1922, has another variation of this legend which he assures, was gathered from reliable sources. He relates that the Blessed Virgin was enthroned in another chapel that was formerly erected below the present church and what is now the Sta. Maria East Central School compound. Father Dacanay adds, that from this chapel, the Virgin Mary made her peregrinations to that guava tree on the knoll.

This version of Father Dacanay of the legend gains greater probability if not credence for today, one of the twin structures bearing the features and architectural designs of what could have been a chapel or a church by then obtaining standards remains intact in said school compound and presently used as a classroom for grade school pupils.

Numerous and varying legends or stories about the Virgin Mother have long become part of Philippine religious lore. And if any one of them could be accepted as truth, then it is the blessed Virgin herself who manifested in a miraculous way her preference of a site for her permanent home.

Construction of the present church was started in 1765. In 1810, the bell tower was built during the renovation of the church and furnished with a bell the following year. During the renovation of church complex in 1863, the protective wall around the sides of the hill was constructed. After the bell tower was remodeled the same year, its foundation must have gradually settled down making the imposing structure slightly leaning or tilting as it appears today. The convent was greatly renovated in 1895.