Antipolo Cathedral

The International Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage sits on the ridge at Antipolo, high enough that the view back over Metro Manila from the surrounding streets takes in the whole basin. The image it houses arrived from Mexico in 1626 and was carried on eight galleon crossings of the Pacific, which is where the Good Voyage title comes from - travellers still come to have journeys blessed, and the shrine was raised to international status in 2023, the first in the country. Its best-known custom is the Alay Lakad: on the eve of the first day of May and through the month, tens of thousands walk overnight from Manila up the hill to hear Mass at dawn, a tradition that has been going for generations. The cathedral itself is a modern building, wide and plain, rebuilt after the war. Antipolo around it is a hill town of viewpoints, restaurants and the Hinulugang Taktak falls, and the road up is a standard weekend escape from the city.

History

The Jesuits ran the church from 1591 to 1768, and it was completed in 1632 to house the image of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage brought by Governor General Juan Niño de Tabora; it was later damaged in 1639 and by earthquakes in 1645, 1824 and 1863, and José Rizal came here as a boy with his father on 6 June 1868. The present church, by the architect José de Ocampo, was built from 1948 to 1954, declared the first national shrine in the Philippines on 14 January 1954, made a cathedral on 25 June 1983 and an international shrine in 2023 (Wikipedia, Antipolo Cathedral).

What's there

• The Marian image - the Good Voyage figure above the altar.
• The hill setting - Metro Manila spread out below the ridge.
• The Alay Lakad crowds - the May walking pilgrimage.
• The modern cathedral - the wide post-war shrine building.

When to go

Year-round; May is the pilgrimage season and the shrine is at its busiest and most interesting then. Weekends bring heavy traffic up the hill from the city.

Things to know

The building is modern and architecturally plain - the interest is the devotion, not the fabric. Traffic to Antipolo is slow at weekends, and the May crowds are enormous.

Nearby

Hinulugang Taktak is minutes away; the Rizal viewpoints and restaurants line the ridge road.

Key facts