The First Santo Domingo Church and Convent in the Philippines (Late 16th century)

THE FIRST SANTO DOMINGO CHURCH AND CONVENT

When the Dominicans arrived in the Philippines in 1587, they were temporarily lodged at a Franciscan convent until their own convent and church, built in a marshy and mosquito-infested place, were completed. On January 1588, the community headed by the first Prior, Fr. Diego de Soria, OP, transferred to their mother house, the first and wooden Sto. Domingo Convent and Church in Manila. There were interment chapels allotted for benefactors. An image of our Lady of the Holy Rosary was enshrined in the Church while “the candles in the chapel of our Lady burned without wasting”. 

SOURCE: cf. "History of the Dominican Province of the Holy Rosary" in The Philippine Islands: 1493-1803, pp. 139 and 142.