Draft:San Nicolas de Tolentino Shrine (Capas, Tarlac)

The Diocesan Shrine of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, commonly known as the San Nicolas de Tolentino Shrine, is a Roman Catholic Church located in Capas, Tarlac, in the Philippines.

The church is dedicated to Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, whose feast is celebrated every September 10. It houses a first-class relic of the saint, attracting large numbers of pilgrims each year.

Recollect Origins
The church was canonically erected in 1776 by the Augustinian Recollect (OAR) missionaries. The settlement of Capas was once part of Pampanga. The mission in Capas was unlike that in the other towns in Pampanga which were started by the missionaries from the Order of Saint Augustine (OSA). From 1777 to 1834, the station originally encompassed the area of Patling (now Barangay O'Donnell in Capas). At least four priests were assigned in the first settlement, among them is Fray Jose Aranguren, OAR, who became Archbishop of Manila, and the namesake of Aranguren, Capas.

Under Fray Juan Perez de Santa Lucia, the town and mission were moved to its present site. The original settlement eventually became the town of Patling and was placed under the patronage of Saint Joseph. The last Recollect friar assigned to the mission was Fray Felix Perez, OAR, who administered the mission until 1898.

The parish was previously under the jurisdiction of the diocese (now archdiocese) of San Fernando. In 1963, it was transferred to the newly created Diocese of Tarlac, which encompasses the civil territory of the province.

Church Structure
Unlike the other churches established by the Recollects in their mission stations, the first church structure was made predominantly of stone. A major renovation of the church in the 1930s built its current design which is still preserved to this day. It is said that during this renovation, the then young Bishop Celso Guevarra, a native of Capas, witnessed the exhumation of the remains of a Spanish priest buried beneath the altar, possibly that of Fray Juan Perez de Santa Lucia. Since then, the church has undergone further renovations. In 1996, the church interior was once again altered and drastically expanded in size in a major renovation spearheaded by then parish priest Rev. Msgr. Tirso Daquigan. The last major renovation was in 2018, under then parish priest Rev. Fr. Macario Ramos, which saw another alteration of the sanctuary.

Elevation to Diocesan Shrine
It was also during the time of Fr. Ramos that the parish was elevated to a diocesan shrine. On April 14, 2018, Most. Rev. Enrique Macaraeg, then bishop of Tarlac, consecrated the church altar and declared its status as a diocesan shrine. On the same day, a first-class relic of its titular was enshrined in the shrine for public veneration. The relic, which is a small bone particle, was sent to the church by the postulator general of the OSA in Rome.