Our Lady of Candelaria Parish Church

The Our Lady of Candelaria Parish Church, commonly known as the Silang Church, is a Roman Catholic parish church in the city of Silang, in the province of Cavite, Philippines under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Imus. Its titular is the Our Lady of Candelaria (also Our Lady of Candles). The church is known for its Spanish colonial architectural style and the rococo-influenced retablos.The church and retablo of the Our Lady of Candelaria Parish was declared as National Cultural Treasures by the National Museum of the Philippines on 3 February 2017.Church HistoryThe Franciscans started evangelizing Silang in 1585 with the permission of Fr. Cristobal de Salvatierra. After ten years, the parish was established on February 3, 1595. They built a small chapel made of light materials under the patronage of St. Diego of Alcalá and a small school and took charge of Silang until 1611. Due to the request of an encomendero (grantee of an encomienda), Capt. Diego Jorge de Villalobos to the rector of the Society of Jesus in Manila, the Jesuits were assigned to Silang in May 1599. The first Jesuits in town was Fr. Diego Sanchez and Fr. Diego de Santiago. The first two Jesuits were followed by Fr. Luis Gomez, Fr. Francisco Almerici, Fr. Pedro Chirino, and Fr. Leonardo Scelsi. The church and school built by the Franciscans was destroyed by fire on August 30, 1603. With a new order of priests to administer, the church and school previously built by the Franciscans were transferred in a new location and made even larger. The stone church was built from 1637 to 1639 under the auspices of Fr. Juan de Salazar and was dedicated to the Nuestra Senora de Candelaria in 1640. When the Jesuits were expelled from the Spanish colonies, the parish was taken over by the secular clergy in 1788, the Augustinian Recollects in 1849, back to the secular clergy in 1868, Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM) in 1910, seculars in 1913, Columbans in 1936 and is now administered by the secular clergy since 1978.