Pope Francis has elevated the St. Nicholas of Tolentino Parish in Sinait, Ilocos Sur into a minor basilica.

Nueva Segovia Archbishop Marlo Peralta made the announcement during the recent opening of the church’s Jubilee Door and three years since the parish was declared Archdiocesan Shrine of Sto. Cristo Milagroso.
A Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines News post said, the formal elevation rites will be held on September 10 this year, to coincide with the feast of St. Nicholas.
The parish is the first minor basilica in the archdiocese and the second in the Ilocos region.
The designation is granted to churches around the world in recognition of their special pastoral and liturgical significance in Catholic life, and their closeness to the Pope, the CBCP said.
The request for minor basilica status was presented to the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in 2020 by the parish.
Built in 1574 by the Augustinian missionaries and completed in 1598, the church is considered as one of the oldest religious structures in the country. It serves as home to a revered 400-year-old life-size image of the crucified Christ which attracts pilgrims in the province and nearby areas.
The image along with a Marian statue was found in 1620 in the shores of Dadalaquiten, the boundary between the towns of Sinait and Badoc in Ilocos Norte. The crucifix was brought to Sinait, while the Marian statue was brought to the Badoc Church, which was declared a minor basilica in 2019. In 2020, the archdiocese celebrated the 400 years since the discovery of the images.