Santuario del Santo Cristo
Santuario del Santo Cristo Parish
Church of San Juan del Monte
Westfaçade of the shrine in 2022
14°35′54″N121°01′50″E / 14.598333°N 121.030556°E /14.598333; 121.030556
Location	183 F. Blumentritt St.,San Juan, Metro Manila
Country	Philippines
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Website	santuariosantocristo.com
History
Founded	1602
Founder(s)	Dominicans
Dedication	Holy Cross
Associated people	P. Sebastián de Oquendo, OP
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Historic structure
Designated	1937
Architectural type	Church building
Style	Earthquake Baroque
Specifications
Number ofspires	2
Materials	stone, cement
Administration
Archdiocese	Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila
Deanery	Saint John the Baptist[1]
Parish	Santuario del Sto. Cristo Parish
Clergy
Archbishop	Jose Advincula
Priest in charge	Fr. Matthias Nga Reh O.P.

Santuario del Santo Cristo Parish, also known as theChurch of San Juan del Monte, is a church andconvento inSan Juan, Metro Manila, Philippines. It is under the jurisdiction of theArchdiocese of Manila. The church was built in 1602–1604 by theDominicans on land that was donated to the order. Both the church andconvento were burnt and destroyed during the Chinese insurrection of 1639, and later rebuilt in 1641. It was again destroyed in July 1763 asBritainbriefly occupied Manila during theSeven Years' War. The current church and convento were built in 1774, and used as a shelter byKatipuneros during the 1898Philippine Revolution against theSpanish Empire. It has since been renovated many times until the 1990s.

Pope Urban VIII grantedapprobation towards the shrine, notarized on March 4, 1648. The shrine is the seat of the Confraternity of the Most Holy Christ of Saint John of the Mountain (Spanish:Cofradia del Santísimo Cristo de San Juan del Monte Cristo de San Juan del Monte).^[2][3]

The Dominicans arrived in theSpanish East Indies in 1587 and had founded the Santo Domingo Convent in Spanish Manila (now known asIntramuros). Fifteen years after their arrival, the Dominicans went to the hill country east of Manila in what is now San Juan, and found clusters of smallnipa huts. The area was the property of a certain Spaniard named Captain Julian de Cuenca, who had been granted anencomienda along the banks of theSan Juan River where cattle were bred and raised.

The heavy work and hot climate were taking their toll on some of the ageing friars, who had been in the colony for several years already. While the order's vow of poverty stood in contrast with the concept of a convalescent and retirement home for Dominicans working in Manila and in the provinces, it was decided that it would be in order under three conditions:

1. The land would have to be donated;
2. It should be in a healthy place, with a climate cooler than Manila's; and
3. Nearness to and accessibility from Manila

It so happened that Captain Cuenca had heard about the Dominicans' plan; he lived in Manila and before that Mexico, where he had befriended some of the Order's members. He and his wife thought it the right time to show their family's gratitude to the Dominicans, and so they offered a nearly three-hectare plot of wooded land in hishacienda along the San Juan River. The property was at a higher elevation than Manila and close to the city ("onelegua", or 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) to the east). It was also easily accessible bybanca (outrigger canoe): up theRiver Pasig, then into the San Juan River and finally landing at theembarcadero Captain Cuenca had built at theconfluence of the San Juan and Maytunas Creek.

The Order gratefully accepted the offer, and the work began, with a small chapel toSan Juan Bautista del Monte built after several months. At first, it was a "filial house" of thefriary in Manila, from where it was administered, until it became a religious house in its own right in 1616. Independent of Santo Domingo Convent, it was then called the House of San Juan Bautista del Monte. Fathers Huete, Oriol, and Samaniego were assigned to the new house in 1617.^[4]

In 1641, Fr Sebastián de Oquendo, OP, the Prior of Santo Domingo monastery in Intramuros, decided to send to San Juan the image of theSanto Cristo that was then venerated inBinondo Church (another Dominican possession). The venerable image was brought to the reconstructed church in San Juan and placed on the main altar, displacing the image ofJohn the Baptist, since the image, which was "ninepalmos in height" (approx. 1.80 metres (5 ft 11 in)) would not fit. From then on, devotion to the Santo Cristo spread to nearby communities.^[5] The shrine itself gained popularity when the image began to perform miracles, thus earning the shrine the nameSantuario del Santo Cristo. News of the image's miracles spread to Manila and the surrounding areas, particularly the neighbouringFranciscan parish and town ofSanta Ana, to which the present-day cities of San Juan andMandaluyong were once villages.^[5]

The Confraternity of the Santo Cristo was established and approved byPope Innocent X in 1648, roughly 45 years after the arrival of the Dominicans in San Juan. Prominent citizens of Manila and other towns became members of the Confraternity and made yearly pilgrimages to the shrine. Others decided to settle in the vicinity of the shrine, forming the nucleus of the present city of San Juan.^[4]

The local feast day of the Santo Cristo is observed every May 3, the former date ofRoodmas. On this day, the image is removed from theCalvario and mounted on acarroza (carriage) for the procession and then returned to its shrine. Since 2016, a replica has been used for the public processions at the request of Fr. Jesus Prol, after cracks were seen in the original image that had been in procession for many years.

The firstconvento and the church on the site must have been simple and unpretentious, in keeping with the rustic surroundings, and yet well suited as places for convalescing and aged Dominicans from Manila.

In 1639, the Chinese insurrection took place in Manila, with the very first church andconvento destroyed in the ensuing chaos. When the rebels were defeated by the Spanish-Filipino troops, the former retreated toMarikina and the mountains beyond, passing by San Juan. For some time the rebels occupied theconvento and the church and, when they decided to flee to the mountains, torched the church complex and the few houses in the vicinity. The buildings went up in flames, the column of smoke visible from a distance for several days.

In 1641, Oquendo decided to rebuild the church and convento of San Juan using solid materials such asadobe, which was found in the area. The church became aSantuario (shrine) with the transfer of the Santo Cristo, and it increased in popularity when a spring of good drinking water was discovered within the shrine grounds. Anaqueduct was built to bring the spring water from the shrine to the San Juan River, from where it was collected in bigtinajas (large, porous jars that cooled water) and brought bybanca (outrigger canoe) to Manila.

The buildings of the shrine complex were improved with the passage of time. A certain Fr. Peguero, who was the vicar of San Juan, described the shrine as "the biggest in the Islands and the refuge and consolation of all." He described the shrine further as "built on a mountain of solid rock and, thanks to that, it had not been damaged by earthquakes. It has been repaired well recently. It is all — the convent and the church — of stone quarry, and both are strong, firm, beautiful and devout. All in all they are the most perfect structures (of their kind) that exist in the Philippines." He further notes: "It is all paintedal oleo en jaspe (imitation marble) from the floor to the ceiling and adorned with many Latin and Spanish verses and texts from theHoly Scriptures. There are three altars with artistic and proportionateretablos. It has five richternos — some better than others — and six ordinary ones. It has not much silver, but what it has is enough for the service of the altar."

As British troopssacked Manila in 1763, the shrine was destroyed as the city's churches and other public buildings were looted and vandalised. The shrine and the convento, along with many houses in San Juan del Monte, did not fare any better, as these were ransacked then set alight by British soldiers. After the end of theSeven Years' War and the islands' return to Spanish control, reconstruction began. It is unknown whether the present image is the same one brought from Binondo, or a replica.^[4]

Negotiations on elevating the shrine's status to that of a parish began in 1941 betweenMichael J. O'Doherty, the 27thArchbishop of Manila, and the Dominicans. The creation of the Santuario del Santo Cristo Parish and its bounds were agreed upon at a meeting in the Archbishop's Palace on November 4, 1941. Present there was the parish priests of Pinaglabanan and Mandaluyong, from which the territory of the new parish would be excised. Before the resolution could be put into effect, however, theSecond World War broke out in the Pacific in December 1941. The following year,Imperial Japanoccupied the islands and established theSecond Republic.

The parish was canonically erected on May 3, 1942, fifty years after the establishment of Saint John the Baptist Parish at Pinaglabanan. Fr. Peregrine de la Fuente OP, formerly parish priest for 18 years in Dominican ministries ofLouisiana in theUnited States and later the firstApostolic Prelate of Batanes and the Babuyanes, was appointed first parish priest.

The official inauguration of the parish and the installation of its parish priest was led by Archbishop O'Doherty, in a ceremony coinciding with theFeast of the Holy Cross, the shrine's titular. In the decree for erection, signed on March 28, 1942, the parish bounds were set as: to the north, R. Pascual Street and its continuation eastwards to theErmitaño Creek (also known as Salapán Creek); to the west,San Juan River; to the southwest,Shaw Boulevard; and to the east, Ermitaño Creek. Archbishop O'Doherty said that he erected the new parish due to "the insistence of the people of San Juan, for several years already that the Santuario be made a Parish, the great increase in population and the request of the Parish Priest ofPinaglabanan Church himself, Father Artemio Casas".^[4]

The shrine celebrated its diamond jubilee as a parish in 2017. The yearlong celebration began on Saturday, March 4, 2017, with recitation of the rosary and aconcelebratedMass. The date was chosen as it was the anniversary of the May 3, 1942, reception of the decree of erection signed by Archbishop O'Doherty. Though signed earlier, its delivery was hampered by theSecond World War and other transportation issues.

• February 16, 1963 – The cornerstone of the newSantuario was blessed by CardinalRufino Santos, the 29th Archbishop of Manila. The stone, together with other documents, was kept in a concrete box and displayed to the public for eight years. On September 8, 1971, it was finally buried beneath the main altar.
• November 13–14, 1967 – Arte Español, Inc. delivered tenchandeliers to the shrine, which were immediately installed.
• January 9, 1968 – Themolave wooden crosses marking theStations of the Cross were blessed and installed by Fr José Martínez, a Franciscan from the church of Santa Ana, Manila. These were made from the beams of the old church.
• September 1968 – Arrival of 16stained glass windows, depicting the fourteenStations of the Cross,Our Lady of the Rosary and the Dominican saintsThomas Aquinas,Albert the Great andVincent Ferrer. Six smaller windows, depicting theFour Evangelists and preaching, were later mounted in theapse. These depict, from left to right: SaintsMatthew andLuke; an allegory of theSermon on the Mount;Saint Paul Preaching to theGentiles; and finally SaintsMark andJohn. They were designed by Cenon Rivera, former Dean of Fine Arts at theUniversity of Santo Tomas and made by Kraut Art and Co.
• May 8, 1973 – Construction began on the church's ceiling, finishing by December 12; the architect was Adolfo Benavides. At about the same time, thenarra ceiling of the Chapel of the Resurrection was mounted.
• April 6, 1974 – The painting of the church'sexedra, which had begun February 6, 1974, was completed. The initial plan was to decorate the exedra with amosaic of theResurrection, but the idea was abandoned due to the high cost and other considerations. A painting with the same theme was later executed by Ireneo Robles, a young artist from theUniversity of Santo Tomas.
• November 1978 – Work on thefaçade was finished, having begun on October 10, 1977. Architect Lorenzo del Castillo's concept was accepted out of many proposals. The old façade was retained, and a twin of the existing tower was built at the right side. Both towers were linked by two arches, surmounted by a shrine containing a cross. Stones from the oldconvento were used in the new parts of the façade.
• 1979 – Two bells, one weighing 267 kilograms (589 lb) and the other 207 kilograms (456 lb), arrived from Quintana's Factory inSaldaña,Palencia, Spain. Following tradition, one is named after theSanto Cristo and the other afterOur Lady of the Rosary.
• November 1990 – concrete statues of eight Dominican saints—Louis Bertrand,Antoninus of Florence,Albertus Magnus,Catherine of Siena,Saint Dominic,Thomas Aquinas,Rose of Lima (apatron saint of the Philippines) andVincent Ferrer—were installed in theniches of the façade.^[4]

• The church was recognized as a Historic Structure by theNational Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), with a cast-iron plaque that was issued and placed in 1937.^[6]
• The two century-old acacia trees beside the church were declared as heritage trees by DENR NCR last April 24, 2016.

• 
  Southernbelfry of thefaçade
• 
  Externalnarthex of the shrine
• 
  A door of the shrine
• 
  Side entrances along the southeastern flank beside the garden
• 
  Nave andsanctuary in 2014
• 
  Detail of the ceilingbosses above the nave
• 
  Sanctuary andexedra withfresco of the Resurrection by Robles
• 
  Main altar, with theCalvario above it

• Media related toSantuario del Santo Cristo at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website
• Santuario del Santo Cristo onFacebook
• Santuario del Sto. Cristo Church, San Juan, Manila, 11 minute video narrated by pastor.

• Roman Catholic churches in Metro Manila
• Buildings and structures in San Juan, Metro Manila
• Cultural Properties of the Philippines in Metro Manila
• Churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila

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