Popularly known as Binondo Church, the Minor Basilica and National Shrine of San Lorenzo Ruiz was established by the Dominicans in 1596 and initially dedicated to Saint Gabriel the Archangel who became Binondo’s patron until the mid-19th century. It is also known as Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish as it venerates the Blessed Virgin Mary as Binondo’s patroness from the early 1700s up to the present.

The church became the center of the then newly-created arrabal or village of Binondo which former Governor General Luis Perez Dasmarinas created as a gift for Sangleys or Chinese of Parian and Baybay (the present-day Tondo) who converted to Christianism. It is also here that Filipino protomartyr Lorenzo Ruiz shaped his Christian faith as he worked as altar server, sacristan and escribano before his fateful journey and death in Japan on September 28,1637.

The current church is the sixth structure since 1596 as its previous buildings were either severely damaged or totally destroyed by earthquakes, fires and armed conflicts brought by foreign invaders for the past four centuries. The Binondo Church that we are all familiar with was finished in 1985 after decades of rehabilitation since 1946, two years after it was ravaged by fire during the September 22, 1944 bombing of downtown Manila.

The historic 1981 beatification and 1987 canonization of San Lorenzo Ruiz has become a huge blessing for the church that he once considered as spiritual home. On July 23, 1992, His Holiness Pope John Paul II granted Binondo Church the title of «minor basilica» in honor of the first Filipino saint. It is the 10th minor basilica in the Philippines and the 4th in the Archdiocese of Manila.