page_title: Santa Monica Parish Church (Minalin)
section_title: 2011 inauguration and declaration
hierarchical_section_title: Santa Monica Parish Church (Minalin) / History / 2011 inauguration and declaration
caption_attribution_description: English: [1]The 1721 Santa Monica Parish Church, commonly known as the Minalin Church is a Baroque (heritage) Church, located in 2019 Minalin, Pampanga (San Nicolas). It is a Spanish-era church declared a National Cultural Treasure by the National Museum of the Philippines and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (Philippines)
context_page_description: The Santa Monica Parish Church, commonly known as the Minalin Church, is a Baroque church, located in poblacion area of San Nicolas in Minalin, Pampanga, Philippines. The church, built during the Spanish era, was declared a National Cultural Treasure by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the National Museum of the Philippines on August 27, 2011, one of 37 churches in the country bestowed that honor.
  The parish church is part of the ecclesiastical province of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Fernando, under the Vicariate of Christ The King. The church is under the patronage of Saint Monica of Hippo, with a feast day celebrated annually every second Sunday of May. The current parish priest is Rev. Fr. Eric de Guzman succeeding Rev. Fr. Greg Vega.
context_section_description: The Philippine National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) called for the conservation and protection of Spanish-era churches because of heritage and culture declaring them as National Cultural Treasures (NCT). Priority status was bestowed not just due to their historical value, but also based on the geographic representation of various regions across the nation. The Santa Monica Church was declared such by the National Museum of the Philippines on August 27, 2011.
  Ahead of the 400th founding anniversary of Minalin Parish (“Aldo ning Minalin”) in 2014, the National Museum of the Philippines per Director Jeremy Barns inscribed the Sta. Monica Church of Minalin as a National Cultural Treasure (NCT) for three reasons: First, its façade’s that resembles a giant “retablo” and was influenced by Christian, Buddhist, Hinduist and animistic cultures; second, the four capilla posas (prayer nooks or corner chapels) that are still duly preserved or intact at the four corners of its front patio and can only be found at the Santa Monica Church; and lastly, the old painting of the Our Lady of Consolation giving the cords to Saint Monica and her son Saint Augustine in the main altar.  The church was the second NCT in Pampanga, after the Betis Church (Saint James Parish Church) in Betis, Guagua, Pampanga.
  Archbishop Paciano Aniceto, D.D., and Minalin parish priest Fr. Greg Vega both celebrated the historic Mass with Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo and Minalin Mayor Arturo “Katoy” Naguit as guests.
caption: The National Cultural Treasure historical marker.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX AW100", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "COOLPIX AW100V1.0", "Image DateTime": "2013:01:18 15:23:20", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "280", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[0/0, 0/0, 0/0]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[0/0, 0/0, 0/0]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "0/0", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[0/0, 0/0, 0/0]", "GPS GPSSatellites": "", "GPS GPSImgDirectionRef": "M", "GPS GPSImgDirection": "7059/20", "GPS GPSMapDatum": "", "GPS GPSDate": "", "Image GPSInfo": "942", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "12788", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7170", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/30", "EXIF FNumber": "39/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:01:18 15:23:20", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:01:18 15:23:20", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "39/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3456", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "4608", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1308", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "28", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Portrait", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "1"}