historical marker installed in 1937 The
Augustinians built the first
chapel of
Santa Monica (the original name of Manaoag) in 1600, at the site of the present graveyard. It was served by the friars from the town of
Lingayen, who were succeeded by the Dominicans in 1605 and served from the town of
Mangaldan. The first Dominican priest to work in the Manaoag mission was Juan de San Jacinto, who was the first
curate of Mangaldan. It was only in 1608 that the Mangaldan mission was formally accepted by the provincial chapter of the Dominicans. In 1610, Tomás Jiménez, became the Manaoag mission's first resident priest. Numerous threats from the
Igorot tribes of the surrounding mountains led to the transfer of the entire community to the present site on a hill. The Dominicans started to build a large church on its present site in 1701 under the sponsorship of Gaspar de Gamboa and his wife, Agata Yangta, who were wealthy residents from
Manila who moved to Lingayen. Later expansion of the church from 1882 was frustrated by an earthquake in 1892. During the tumult of the
Philippine Revolution for independence from Spain, revolutionaries set fire to the church, its treasures, ornaments, and records on May 10, 1898. The image narrowly escaped destruction; it was found abandoned at the back of the church. It was spirited away to
Dagupan, where it was kept from June to October 1898. The Dominicans returned in 1901 upon the invitation of Rev. Mariano Pacis, the diocesan priest of Manaoag. Under the aegis of the Dominicans, the church that was started in 1882 was finally completed to a large extent in 1911-12. The central
retablo, incorporating
Baroque columns from the 18th-century altar, was completed by the famed Tampinco Atelier of Manila. The transepts were completed in 1931-32. The Dominicans ceded all their Pangasinan missions to the diocesan clergy except Manaoag. Spiritual administration of the shrine in perpetuity was granted by the
Holy See to the Order of Preachers in 1925. A huge crowd attended the
canonical coronation of the image on April 21, 1926, by the
Apostolic Delegate to the Philippines Guglielmo Piani, , as authorized by
Pope Pius XI. This meant that the Catholic Church officially recognized and proclaimed that the Virgin Mary acclaimed as Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag had granted favors and blessings to or formidable intercessions for her devotees through the centuries. The church was rebuilt after surviving Japanese bombardment during the
Second World War. The old
convent is now the present
Colegio de San Juan de Letran Manaoag, founded as Holy Rosary Academy in 1947 by the last Spanish Dominican in Manaoag, Rev. Teodulo Cajigal, OP. Since December 8, 1972, the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag has been under the Philippine Dominican Province. It celebrated the
diamond jubilee of the image's canonical coronation on January 1, 2000.
Contemporary history Pope Benedict XVI issued a Pontifical decree via the former
Archpriest of the
Basilica of Saint Mary Major, Cardinal
Bernard Francis Law on June 21, 2011, which canonically approved the granting of a "special bond of spiritual affinity in perpetuity" through which the pilgrims are assured of the same blessings and entitlement to a plenary
indulgence equal to that received when visiting a papal basilica in Rome. This decree was confirmed by Archbishop
Socrates B. Villegas on June 13, 2011. The Manaoag shrine is the first to achieve this status followed by the
Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Caysasay in
Taal, Batangas in June 2012. The official document and a shrine official, who was among the priests who went to Rome, confirmed that a plenary indulgence (of a maximum of one per day) may be obtained on each visit to the Shrine in a spirit of detachment from the attraction of
sin subject to three conditions for each occasion: going to confession immediately before or after the pilgrimage; attending a Mass and receiving the
Eucharist during the pilgrimage; and praying for the intentions of the Pope at the Shrine. A petition to elevate the shrine to a minor basilica was sent on August 15, 2014, the
Feast of the Assumption of Mary. On October 11, 2014,
Pope Francis granted the petition elevating the shrine as a minor basilica. The shrine was solemnly declared a minor basilica on February 17, 2015. On April 22, 2026, the church celebrated the centennial anniversary of the
Pontifical coronation of the image of
Nuestra Señora del Santísimo Rosario de Manaoag. == Access and transportation ==