Nuestra Señora de Gracia Church

The Nuestra Señora de Gracia Church, also known as Guadalupe Church is a Baroque Roman Catholic church in Makati, Philippines. The parish church and its adjacent monastery are currently administered by the Augustinian friars of the Province of Santo Niño de Cebu. The territory of the parish covers San Carlos Seminary, the major seminary of the Archdiocese of Manila and Our Lady of Guadalupe Minor Seminary.FoundationThe first sanctuary and monastery in Guadalupe was built by Fray Simon Dantes. This foundation was declared a domus formata or a community under the advocacy of Our Lady of Grace through a Provincial Chapter on March 7, 1601. One year after, the Community in Guadalupe was given the right to vote in the provincial chapters.In the Chapter held on November 30, 1603, the patroness, Our Lady of Grace was changed to Our Lady of Guadalupe following the request of several devout and religious people to honor the memory of the Virgin Mary venerated in Extremadura, Spain. A wooden replica of the statue was later brought from Spain.By 1632, the devotion had spread due to the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade. Devotees from Spain and Mexico thronged into the sanctuary of Guadalupe to pay their respects to the Virgin. It became such a habitual courtesy that the authorities were forced to put up a landing dock at the foot of the hill by the river. A wooden house and a stairs of stone of around one hundred steps were built in order to accommodate the pilgrims who in turn never failed to donate money.