National Shrine of Virgen La Divina Pastora

National Shrine of Virgen La Divina Pastora
Facade of the National Shrine of Virgen Divina Pastora
Basic information
Location	Three Kings Parish, Delos Reyes Street, Gapan City 3105, Nueva Ecija
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
District	Diocese of Cabanatuan
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	National Shrine and Parish Church
Architectural description
Architectural type	Church
Architectural style	Baroque
Groundbreaking	1856
Completed	1872
Materials	limestone and brick

The Parish Church of the Three Kings in Gapan is considered the oldest and biggest colonial church in Nueva Ecija. In 1986, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines declared this church as the National Shrine of Virgen La Divina Pastora.

The Augustinians formally accepted Gapan and established in it a community with its own minister on August 28, 1595. Situated across the Rio Chico, Gapan was originally bounded by Manicling, San Miguel de Mayumo and the Cordillera mountains. Due to its rapid progress, the Provincial Council decreed on October 31, 1636 that Gapan be divided into two vicariates. The first will be composed of Gapan, Junas and San Miguel and the second will be composed of the areas north of the river. In 1704, Governor General Domingo de Zabalburu ordered that all Chinese living in the missions of Bongabon, Santor, Carranglan and Pantabangan transfer to Gapan. These movement witnessed the steady increase of population. In 1612 Gapan merely had a population of 1,800 which soared to 3,651 in 1760 and in 1896, 15,238.

The Order of Saint Augustine administered the parish of Gapan from its foundation in 1595. However the secular priests took over in 1770. The present church was constructed under the direction of the friars Laredo, Cornejo and Laneza from 1856 to 1872. Fray Francisco Laredo started the construction of the church and finished the work on the walls, the dome, the presbytery and the transept. It was his successors Fray Antonio Cornejo and Fray Leonardo Laneza who worked for the completion of the church.

The church was built on the spot cleared by Augustinian friars Contreras, Tendilla, Caballo and Salazar in 1595. The church is distinctly Byzantine in style and is built from blocks of limestone and bricks. The bricks locally called laryo was made in two sites. The first site is only a few blocks away from the church in San Vicente while the second site is located in San Lorenzo, the two oldest settlements in Gapan.

The exterior of the church is plain while its interior formerly has a central retablo with niches dedicated to the Epiphany of the Lord and to the Virgen La Divina Pastora. This central retablo however was torn down in the 1970s due to infestation of termites. It was replaced with a modern style sanctuary dominated by a huge image of the Crucifixion, arguably the largest in the province of Nueva Ecija. Only the two side retablo are maintained to this day. Prominently displayed on the left retablo is the original miniature image of the Virgen Divina Pastora which was donated by the Valmonte Family in 1986. The right retablo enshrines the Adoration of the Magi.

While the palitada of the walls was stripped, the grand painting of the Holy Trinity on the church's dome has been preserved. Local artist, Isidoro Samonte painted this image in the early 1900s.

The image of the Virgen La Divina Pastora is the object of the largest Marian pilgrimages in Central Luzon. Although the precise origins of the image are shrouded in legend, its recorded history is traced largely to the Valmonte Family.