It was built in 1847 and was named after the saint who recaptured Spain from the Moors, Saint Ferdinand III. It took 21 years for San Fernando Rey Parish to complete its construction. In 19th Century, the population was eventually increasing. In much older parishes, parish priests could no longer attend to the spiritual needs of numerous parishoners so there was a need to divide older parishes to
respond to the growing need to facilitate the administration of sacraments. Because of this, Liloan, a barrio of Mandaue was declared a new parish on June 27, 1845, with Recollect Fray Vicente Dolores as its first parish priest. The designer of the church in Liloan is viewed by some as visionary. Despite Liloan having only 5,000 citizens, when the church was constructed in 1847, the San Fernando Rey Parish Church was even larger than that found in Mandaue, Cebu's second largest city. The Cuenta de cargo y data ésta Yglesia de San Fernando de Liloan, one of the surviving canonical books of the church enumerated the details of the parish's construction; Mandaue gave 100 pesos to support its daughter-parish. After building a new rectory in 1852. Six Years later, a plan was laid out for the construction of a big and more permanent church which would be more fitting to be called a House of God. The construction of the stone church started in January 1859. Five months later, in June 18, 1758, ten Oponganons were hired to make 5,000 tabillas (coral stone blocks).
16 years later, in July and August 1875, 82 pesos and 6 reales were paid for the plan and cost estimate for the 3 retablos. In November and December of the same year, 61 pesos, 1 reales, and 19 cuartos were spent for the payment or the timber which was transported from Hindang, Leyte to Liloan using a balsa. The beltry, which is a structure that houses bells that tolls for the liturgical celebrations of the church, and the facade of the church were constructed in September and October 1876. The men who worked for it were paid 8 pesos, 1 reales, and 18 gramos. In the succeeding months, the contratistas (contractors) were paid 550 pesos for the church's retablo. After 21 years and seven recollect ministers, the church was eventually finished in 1880 during the curacy of Fr. Manuel Giminez. One unusual detail about the church in Liloan is that it faces the mountains to the west, whereas most churches face the sea to the east. Some have theorized that this is because Mass is often performed in the morning; and the church is thus shielded from the morning sun, making it less hot and uncomfortable. Others have speculated that the church's direction has a symbolic significance related to church rites. To this day, the parish continues to stand not only as a sanctuary for the religious communication but also as a vital and interesting part of the culture.
