"And I also say to you that YOU ARE PETER,
and upon this rock I will build My church..."
-Mt. 16:18
"At sinasabi ko sa iyo, IKAW AY PEDRO,
at sa ibabaw ng batong ito ay itatayo ko
ang aking Simbahan..."
-Mt. 16:18 PRIMER ON THE HISTORY OF THE PARISH AND OF THE VIRGEN DE LA ROSA
In 1578 an inconspicuous ‘visita’ served as the seat for the introduction of the Catholic faith and doctrine to the fam
ilies who formed the early community along the banks of the Pasig River in a place referred to as ‘Macati.’ The Franciscans, having established their mission house in Sta. Besides being tutored in God’s love and the brotherhood of men, an ardent devotion to the Mother of God was inculcated early in them during the mass celebrated every Saturday and sung will all solemnity in her honor. Owing to the ‘encomienda’ system of the Spanish crown, the land which comprised Macati became the sole ownership of Capitan Pedro de Brito, a retired aide to the Spanish army Chief. In 1608, Capitan de Brito, who was then elected Alferez General of Manila, and his wife Ana de Herrera executed an instrument of foundation whereby one-half of their landholdings in Makati were bequeathed to the Society of Jesus. One of the conditions of this bequest was the establishment of a novitiate and church on a hill named Buenavista and that they were to be placed under the patronage of Saint Peter. Since the income from the foundation financed the construction of the church and novitiate, progress was slow. But by 1620 the church, which was named San Pedro Macati, was completed with Rev. The arrival of the image of the Virgen de la Rosa (Our Lady of the Rose) in 1718 from Acapulco was most welcomed by its parishioners who remained faithful to their Saturday Marian devotion. An extraordinary feature of this image, according to the testimony of Fr. Delgado, SJ who brought the image from Mexico, is a reliquary on her breast, in which was conserved a strand of hair of the Blessed Mother. A Jesuit historian, Rev. Pedro Murillo Velarde, in his “Historian de la Provincia de Filipinas de la Compania de Jesus,” included an actual photograph of the Virgen de la Rosa and described it as a statue of great beauty and perfection. In 1856, seven years after the death of Fr. Murillo Velarde, the first novena prayers of the Virgen de la Rosa was printed in Tagalog under the guidance of Fr. Mariano Sta. Ana Marcial who was once the parish priest of the Manila Cathedral. The Parish of Sts. Peter and Paul is indeed blessed to be able to celebrate momentous and significant occasions, attached with the privileges of being a Jubilee church, namely: the 300th Anniversary of the Arrival of the image of the Virgen de la Rosa de Macati last February 25, 2018, officiated by then Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle; the Canonical Coronation of the Virgen de la Rosa de Macati on March 16, 2019 by then Papal Nuncio Gabriele Giordano Caccia; and the 400th Anniversary of the Parish Church on November 29, 2020 by Apostolic Administrator Bishop Broderick Pabillo. The blessings continue as the parish has been chosen to be one of the 500 Years of Christianity Jubilee Churches in the Archdiocese of Manila. The opening of the Jubilee Door will be on April 17, 2021.
