The beautiful edifice, said to the be the largest church north of Manila in the 18th century, is the house of God which our forefathers built.

This first one was a humble chapel probably of bamboo and nipa, constructed in 1587, four hundred and thirty-six years ago today.

It was, however, subjected to the floods and the good Fathers decided to transfer the site of the church to a higher ground across the river, where the mongo bean was grown in abundance.

It was furnished with a huge bell, whose sonorous tones could be heard for miles around, summoning the faithful to mass in the morning and reminding them to recite the Angelus in the evening.

It may therefore be surmised that the transfer to the present site and the reconstitution of the town was accomplished between the end of March and the early part of June 1764.

It was during the transfer of what was left of the church’s furnishings that the huge bell, the pride of Binalatongan was lost.

In fact, Binalatongan from the beginning of Spanish rule was the headquarters of the Dominican Order in Pangasinan and it was always staffed by at least four friar missionaries.

It had a very large jurisdiction as four towns were later born of San Carlos: Aguilar in 1805, Mangatarem in 1835, Urbiztondo in 1852, and Basista, only recently in the modern period (1961).

They were the town officials responsible in carrying out the project, procuring the needed materials and assigning the polistas or carlianes who would labor on the construction.

But this church property had been because Don Francisco Muñoz, town president in 1912 to 1915, was able to persuade Rev.

It was also during this period that the foundations of the tower were laid, raising the level at its floors nine meters and the church yard was enclosed by iron railing.

On August 8, 1989, Doña Conseelo S. Perez and Governor Rafael M. Colet, together with Archbishop Federico G. Limon and Mayor Douglas D. Soriano, unveiled the marker of the church.

[citation needed] In July 2022, Pope Francis designated the church a minor basilica, along with the Archdiocesan Shrine of Saint Anne in Taguig, Metro Manila.

[2] The church was solemnly designated the title on January 14, 2023, in a Mass presided by the apostolic nuncio to the Philippines, Archbishop Charles John Brown, concelebrated by Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, auxiliary bishop Fidelis Layog, and Fr.

The third and fourth levels form a large pediment with the raking cornice consisting of huge scrolls.

[4] The main bell of the Minor Basilica of Saint Dominic weighs more that 3,990 kilograms (4 tons) and measures 1.5m high, and produces sound with B2 key.