Santuario de San Pedro Bautista

The Santuario de San Pedro Bautista , also known as the San Francisco del Monte Church is a parish church in the San Francisco del Monte district of Quezon City, in the Philippines. It is one of the oldest church in the country having founded in 1590. The church is dedicated to its founder Fr. Pedro Bautista, a Spanish missionary from Avila, Spain, one of the 26 Christians martyred in Japan in 1597.The shrine belongs to the Diocese of Cubao under the Vicariate of Saint Pedro Bautista. It is also under the administration of the Franciscans or the Order of Friars Minor, from the Franciscan Province of Saint Pedro Bautista.HistoryWhen Pedro Bautista was elected custos, an official of the Franciscans, he saw the need for a secluded place where the missionaries could recharge physically, mentally and spiritually. He found a hilly area which he deemed conducive for meditation, and on February 17, 1590, then Governor-General Santiago de Vera granted the land to the Franciscan Order.The town of San Francisco del Monte back then was an elevated area of with thick woods, surrounded by a creek and eight water springs. Father Pedro Bautista built a little convent and a chapel made of bamboo and nipa palm. He dedicated the chapel to Our Lady of Montecelli and the place was opened as a house of retreat for missionaries, as a novitiate house, and as a place for reclusion of government officials.