Nestling on the slope of the Sierra Madre Mountain ranges on 1,000 feet elevation above sea level towards the eastern portion of Laguna is the picturesque town of Cavinti. The biggest in the province than San Pablo City or any other town in land area, it can be reached by car or bus within one and a half hour's travel from Manila. Covering a span of over 50 square miles, it is bounded by Pagsanjan, Lumban, Longos, Luisiana and Magdalena in Laguna and Mauban and Sampaloc in the province of Quezon.

Legends have it that the name Cavinti came from the phrase "Kaka, kabit sa binti", which the first Spanish colonizers found very difficult to pronounce. It is said that the very first day these colonizers arrived in this place, a wedding was taking place. The rite, so the story goes, was very unique because it was different from the conventional wedding ceremonies done in churches or civil courts. In that ritual the Spaniards saw the groom running after the bride; (The idea behind the whole thing was to let the groom run after the bride as the witnessing crowd kept watching. Once the bride caught the nuptial was consummated).

So the bride ran uphill and down hill, through clear and wooded areas, on dry swampy paths as the groom kept following behind. Down yonder the pair reached a stream (probably the Cavinti river), which fortunately or unfortunately was at that time swollen due to floodwaters. The unwary bride jumped into it. The groom followed without let up. Suddenly as undercurrent snatched the girl catching her unaware of a coming danger.

Nearby at the river bank the bride's younger sister, who was in the midst of the crowd cried out, "kaka, kapit sa binti", pointing to the groom. She shouted it out on tope of her voice in a desperate effort to save her older sister. For sake of her dear life the bride gasping for breath obeyed without hesitation. That very moment the sister's cry of "Kaka, kapit sa binti!" became words of magic. For, it saved not only the bride's life or the wedding tragic ending. It saved most especially the town from not having a name it can call its own.

The town of Cavinti was an integral part of Lumban from the very start. In fact, this was why, again according to the legends, the two Puhawan brothers of Lumban, in search of food in the early 1600, reached Cavinti where they found an image which turned out to be that of San Salvador. They brought the image to their home in Lumban. But in no time, it got lost only to be found again the very same place where it was first discovered. Today on this hollowed grounds stands majestically the centuries-old Catholic church in honor of San Salvador built by, the town's forebears for all the generations to enjoy and cherish.

The church's early structures were made of light materials. For many times they had to rebuild it on account of destruction wrought by natural calamities such as earthquakes, typhoons, and fires.

The ecclesiastical supervision of the church also belonged to Lumban since it's founding. Even at the time of the construction of the first stone church in 1621. Cavinti was still under the canonical jurisdiction of Lumban. It was only in 1819 when the town gained complete and independent status as a parish by virtue of a papal bull believed to have come directly from Rome.