Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica

The mother church of Guam, on the site of the island's first Catholic church (1669)

Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica is the seat of the Catholic Archdiocese of Agaña and, in spiritual terms, the most important church in the Marianas. The site has held a church since 1669, when the Jesuit missionary Diego Luis de San Vitores built the first Catholic chapel on Guam. The current building is the fourth on the site: the previous one was levelled in the 1944 fighting, and the present cathedral was completed in 1959.

Architecturally it is a clean post-war Spanish revival in concrete: a single tower, a triple-arched entry, a long single-nave interior with stained glass depicting Chamorro saints. Pope John Paul II raised the church to the dignity of a minor basilica during his visit in 1981. The cathedral is freely open during the day; Sunday masses are well attended and a good moment to see the Chamorro congregation in their own setting.

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The original 1669 church on this spot was built by the Spanish missionary Diego Luis de San Vitores, the man who introduced Catholicism to the Chamorros. San Vitores was murdered two years later in a dispute with a local chief over the baptism of a child; he was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1985, and his reliquary now rests inside the cathedral he founded.

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