St. Therese Parish at UPLB declared Diocesan Shrine

The Saint Therese of the Child Jesus parish at the University of the Philippines in Los Banos, Laguna has been declared as a Diocesan Shrine on October 1, which coincided with the feast of the popular saint.

A blessing of the facilities and the chapel was held at 8 a.m., followed by a Eucharistic celebration presided by Msgr. Jerry Bitoon, Vicar General of the Diocese of San Pablo.

Devotion to St. Therese started in the mid-1920s after her canonization. Students and professors of the then UP College of Agriculture and Forestry petitioned church authorities in the Archdiocese of Lipa in Batangas to establish a chapel outside the university’s perimeter fence.

A chapel was then built in honor of St. Therese in 1927. The present church with a maximum seating capacity of 1,000 was built and blessed in 1971.

It is currently under the pastoral care of Fr. Luis A. Tolentino, who will also be the first rector of the Shrine.