The original 50 ft. statue of Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth at the old Tierra de Maria site in Tagaytay, Cavite
For 1990’s and early 2000’s kids, television is one of the most popular mediums of entertainment since computers were not accesible during those times (save it for a few well to do ones who owns it), aside from the 3 O’Clock prayer that is in heavy rotation on national television, there was another prayer that is also treated with a similar rotation, albiet only on ABC 5 (now TV5) – the daily One O’Clock Prayer habit where the faithful are set to pray a Hail Mary at One O’Clock in the afternoon to ask petitions to her as we go along with our daily lives.
Although it didn’t reached much popularity like that of the Three O’Clock prayer in honor of the Divine Mercy, it was a good initiative which led the faithful to pause for a few seconds and ask for Our Lady’s help and it became a way to love her more and a way for children to be introduced to the Blessed Mother. For this blogpost, let us have a look back on the origins of this simple prayer and its movement that worked silently to help foster the devotion to the Blessed Mother in the Philippines.
The Hail Mary explained
A print diorama of the “Hail Mary”
Now to understand the One O’Clock prayer, we have to first discover how the “Hail Mary” (“Ave Maria” in Latin, “Aba Ginoong Maria” in Filipino) came about. The “Hail Mary” prayer consists if 2 distinct parts, the greetings of St. Gabriel the Archangel and her cousin St. Elizabeth which were taken from the Holy Scriptures while the “Holy Mary” part is a petition.
The first half of the “Hail Mary” is a clearly bibilical which combines the greeting of St. Gabriel the Archangel at the Annunciation and the greeting of her cousin St. Elizabeth when Mary went to visit her in Judea. In both of the greetings , an addition was made where in St. Gabriel, the name of Mary is introduced where in the scriptures, the texts says: “Hail, Full of grace” (cf Lk 1, 28) and it is necessary for immediate identification. On the other hand, in St. Elizabeth’s greeting, a similar change was introduced where in the scriptural texts, it states “Blessed is the fruit of your womb.” (cf Lk. 1, 42); the prayer form again identifies the blessed fruit of the womb by adding the name Jesus. This addition was probably made towards the end of the 14th to the 15th century. It was probably done under the influence of the Holy Name devotion which gained much popularity due to effective propagation of St. Bernardine of Siena.
The combination of the two greetings seems to be a very old practise in the Church dating back to the 6th or 7th century and it became popular due to the widespread use of the “Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary” where the “Hail Mary is frequently used. It was in 1200 that due to the popularity of the first half of the “Hail Mary”, Bishop Eudes de Sully of Paris decreed that that everyobody should know this prayer by heart as also the “Our Father” which would later became one of the basic Christians prayers.
Our Lady of Guadalupe and The Crucified Lord at the Tierra de Maria Chapel
The second part of the “Hail Mary” is in a form of petition which was originatwd probably towards the end of the 15th century where it is believed by many to have been added during the plague of the Black Death where the faithful asked for the Blessed Mother’s immediate potection from the plague which shows the the faithful’s immediate cry out to Our Lady and it became popular even after the deadly plague ended. Soon it appeared in the breviaries of different religious orders from the Mercedarians, Franciscans and Camaldolese among others.
The prayer took various forms during this bleak period in Europe, but was officially recognized after the publication of the Catechism of the Council of Trent and the full prayer was then included in the Roman Breviary of 1568.
The “Hail Mary” became so popular that it would became part of the numerous popular devotiona from the Holy Rosary, the Angelus, The Three Hail Marys (a devotion honoring the Most Holy Trinity) among others. The “Ave Maria” also became one of the most distinct and popular hymns to the Blessed Mother and numerous musical masters of different centuries made numerous arrangements to this beautiful prayer.
The beginning of the One O’Clock Prayer habit
A Replica of Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario de Manaoag enshrined at the Tierra de Maria Chapel which became one of the focal point of devotion of the Mama Mary’s Movement.
The One O’Clock Prayer habit, also known as the “Seed-Love Devotion” was developed by Mama Mary’s Movement Foundation Inc. which was founded on May 6, 1993 by +Bro. Jiggers Alejendrino with +Rev. Fr. Larry Faraon, the famed priest and preacher in television, as its Spiritual director. The Movement was established as a response to the call of St. John Paul II to the laity for an active role in the new evangelization.
The Logo of the Mama Mary’s Movement Inc.
The One O’Clock was chosen since it was the hour after the daily 12 noon Angelus which it is a good time within the day to be spiritually united with the faithful and offer this hour to Our Lord and Our Lady.
The following is the actual text of the One O’Clock prayer where the “Hail Mary” is prayed and an invocation was added before the prayer ends:
Make a W.I.S.H. and expect miracles to happen.
W-orship God the Father, seek the powerful intercession of the
I-mmaculate Heart of Mary, implore the mercy and love of the
S-acred Heart of Jesus, and invoke the power of the
H-oly Spirit. Let us now pray:
“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and Blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now (pause)
Heavenly Father, with Mama Mary, we lift up to you all the petitions of our brothers and sisters who are praying right now (here mention your petitions)
Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Mama Mary, hold our hands and lead us to Jesus.
The Propagation
The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe venerated at the Tierra de Maria Chapel
The Mama Mary’s Movement propagated the prayer by various means, most notably the airing of a television spot at ABC 5 since the 1990’s until the networked rebranded as TV5 in 2010. The Movement also set up altars of Our Lady of Manaoag to different shopping malls nationwide with leaflets of the prayer being distributed to the faithful who would stop at her altar to pause and pray.
The One O’Clock prayer gained a considerable amount of traction and popularity which helped the formation of the “Silent Prayer Army” where the faithful would pray this simple prayer, not only for oneself, but also to all who needed prayers.
The One O’Clock Prayer also became known as a “Miracle Prayer” not only the devotion promised to “expect miracles to happen” which it did as numerous reports of miracles were indeed reported through this devotion and the television spot also became a tool to introduce the Blessed Mother to a younger generation of audiences.
Tierra de Maria
The old Tierra de Maria Chapel with the original statue of Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth.
In 2000, the Tierra de Maria, a chapel dedicated to Our Lady and administered by the Movement, was established with the inauguration of the 50 foot image of Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth on January 1, 2000 – Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. The statue and the adjacent chapel was initially situated within Nature’s Park in Tagaytay City in Cavite which gives the place a more serene and meditative atmosphere to be one with God through the Blessed Mother. The site became an instant pilgrimage site and most visited in Tagaytay, especially during summer and Lent. The One O’Clock Prayer is prayed in the chapel constantly and more miracles were also reported in the house of prayer.
As of this writing, the Tierra de Maria Chapel was moved to a more spacious location in 2020 and a new statue of Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth is completed while the original one was sadly demolished yet the remnants of the statue are still preserved.
The Clandestine Movement and its significance
Although the One O’Clock Prayer habit did not reached the height of popularity like that of the Three O’Clock Prayer in honor of Our Lord’s Dicine Mercy, the prayer habit did play a significant role on preserving and spreading the devotion to Our Blessed Mother in the modern age which helped a generation to know and love her and became her devotees. This clandestine movement, this prayer habit in particular, showed to us that as we continue in our daily life and it’s struggles, we should never forget to ask Our Lord and His Mother for help and guidance for they always give a helping hand as we go with our earthly pilgrimage until we reached our ultimate destination – heaven.
Raas, Bernard, “Popular Devotions: Making Popular Religious Practices More Potent Vehicles of Spiritual Growth”, Logos Publications, Inc., Manila, 2012.
“Seed-Love Devotion – Mama Mary is Calling You”, Mama Mary’s Movement Inc., Mandaluyong City (prayer leaflet).
The icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help that was set to return to her altar in 2019
Transcribed by Mr. Sherwyn Aban
A talk from Rev. Fr. Tim Ofrasio, SJ for “Visitacion III: Halina sa Marikina” of Esculturas Religiosas en las Filipinas
Blogger’s note: The night of December 1, 2020 was rocked with a sad news of the passing of Rev. Fr. Timoteo “Tim” Ofrasio, SJ due to COVID-19. Fr. Tim is known as one of the pillars of Philippine Liturgical Music, a scholar and advocate of the offering of Ad Orientem worship for the Mass (The priest facing the altar at the direction of the east) and Traditional Latin Mass.The Filipino Catholic faithful from different sectors mourned his passing. I then remembered the talk that he gave at one of the events I attended years ago’s message is still important and relevant today, especially in the social media age where some non-Catholic extremists are ridiculing the Catholic faith relentlessly in social media.
As a fitting tribute to one of the pillars of the Philippine Catholic Church, I am sharing the complete talk Fr. Tim gave for “Visitacion III: Halina sa Marikina” of Esculturas Religiosas en las Filipinas in verbatim to keep his memory and legacy alive for future generations.
The Blogger’s photo of +Rev. Fr. Tim Ofrasio, SJ during the said event
Madalas pintasan ng mga Protestante at iba pang mga tao ang ginagawang pamimintuho ng mga Katoliko sa imahen ng mga santo. Inaakusahan nila ang mga Katoliko ng idolatriya o pagsamba sa mga diyus-diyosan na abominasyon daw sa mata ng Diyos sapagka’t ito ay labag sa unang utos ng Diyos: “You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” (Ex. 20, 3). (Huwag kang gagawa ng anumang imahen o kamukha ng anuman nasa langit sa itaas, o nasa lupa sa ibaba, o nasa tubig sa ilalim ng lupa.)
Ano ba ang idolatriya? Ayon sa Katesismo ng Simbahang Katoliko, “Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship…Man commits idolatry whenever he honours and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money etc.” Ibig sabihin, ang idolatriya ay pagsamba, hindi lamang sa mga idolong pagano, kundi anumang nilikhang bagay na ipinapalit ng tao sa Diyos upang sambahin, tulad ng mga idolo, ang demonyo, kapangyarihan, masarap na buhay, bansa, salapi, atbpa.
Ang paglilok ng mga imahen ng Panginoong Jesucristo, ng Mahal na Birheng María, at ng mga santo ay hindi idolatriya sapagka’t nakabatay ito sa Incarnation o Pagkakatawang-Tao ng Ikalawang Persona ng Santisima Trinidad. Kung naging Tao ang Diyos, samakatuwid, maaari Siyang ilarawan sa pamamagitan ng imahen. Ang pagbabawal o pagsawata sa paglilok ng imahen ay maituturing na pagtanggi na rin sa katotohanang ang Diyos ay naging Tao.
Ayon sa turo ng Katesismo, hindi itinuturing ng Simbahan na idolatriya ang paglilok ng mga imahen ng mga santo sapagka’t hindi naman sinasamba ang mga imaheng ito, kundi pinararangalan ang mga santo sa pamamagitan ng pamimintuho sa imahen ng mga santo. Alam ng namimintuho na ang imahen ay gawa sa kahoy o resin o plaster of paris, at wala itong iwing kapangyarihan. The Catholic knows “that in images there is no divinity or virtue on account of which they are to be worshipped, that no petitions can be addressed to them, and that no trust is to be placed in them. . . that the honour which is given to them is referred to the objects (prototypa) which they represent, so that through the images which we kiss, and before which we uncover our heads and kneel, we adore Christ and venerate the Saints whose likenesses they are” (Council of Trent, Sess. XXV, de invocatione Sanctorum).
Natutulad ang mga imahen sa larawan o retrato ng mahal natin sa buhay, lalo na ng mga yumao na, na nais nating manatili sa alaala na parang kasama pa rin natin. Halimbawa, ang larawan ng ating ina ay itinuturo natin bilang “Nanay ko” pero alam natin iyon ay kopya lamang ng tunay na taong ating ina.
Maaaring gamitin ng Diyos bilang instrumento ang mga imahen para magpahiwatig ng nais Niyang ipabatid sa mga tao, pero ang mismong imahen ay walang sariling kapangyarihang gumawa ng milagro. Dahil maaaring gamitin ng Diyos ang mga imahen bilang instrumento para magpahiwatig sa tao, kaya ang imahen ay iginagalang at pinagpipitaganan ng namimintuho, lalo na kung ito’y napakatanda na at umaabot na ng dantaon sa kantandaan, pero hindi niya ito sinasamba tulad ng pagsamba niya sa Diyos. Nagkakaroon ng problema kapag ini-attribute ng namimintuho sa imahen ang kapangyarihan sa Diyos lamang nanggagaling. Kapag sinabing “milagroso” ang imahen, ibig sabihin, ginagamit ito ng Diyos upang magparamdam sa namimintuho, at antigin ang kanyang puso o kalooban, pero ang imahen, gaano man ito katanda at ka-‘milagroso’, ay walang sarili o iwing kapangyarihan.
Dahil likas na kailangan ng tao ang kongkretong bagay na nakikita at nahihipo, importante ang papel na ginagampanan ng imahen sa kanyang buhay-espirituwal. Sa pamamagitan ng paghipo at pagpapahid ng panyo o anumang bagay sa imahen o larawan, nararamdaman ng tao na may bisa ang pakikipagtastasan niya sa Diyos. Samakatuwid, nagiging instrumento ng tao ang imahen upang makarating siya sa Diyos. Mas may ’dating’ sa tao ang pagtawag niya sa Diyos kung may imahen siyang nahihipo, nahahalikan at nakakausap, kahit na ang imahen mismo ay walang buhay at gawa lamang ng kamay ng tao.
Gayunpaman, binibigyan natin ng dahilan para mapintasan ang pamimintuho natin sa mga imahen kapag sumusobra o lumalabis ang ginagawa nating pagdedekorasyon at pagbibihis sa mga imahen, na nakakaiskandalo sa mga tao, lalo na sa mahihirap. Kumbaga sa pagkain, kapag sobra ang recado, nakakaumay, sa halip na nakakatakam! Ang paggagayak ng mamahaling alahas—mga hikaw, singsing, brooch, korona, aureola na yari sa mamahaling bato, mga brilyante, ginto, pilak, at pagsusuot sa mga imahen, lalo na kung ito’y ipuprusisyon, ng kasuotang sobra-sobra ang burda na halos nagmumukhang fashion show ng mga imahen ang prusisyon, ay hindi maganda sapagka’t sa halip na ma-edify ang mga tao sa imaheng ipinuprusisyon, ang nakikita nila ay karangyaan na malayo sa kanilang karanasan at malayo rin sa buhay ng santong kinakatawan ng imahen. Bukod pa rito, parang ginagawang relihiyosong Barbie and Ken Dolls ang mga imahen na napalitan ng iba’t ibang kasuotan. Isang halimbawa nito ay ang iba’t ibang imahen ng Santo Niño na nauuso ngayon, depende sa taste at kakayahang gumastos ng may-ari. Higit sa lahat, maaaring subconsciously, ang kamarero o kamarera ang pinararangalan sa pagdi-display niya ng sobra-sobrang karangyaan, sa halip na ang santo na kanyang pinipintuho.
Being deeply devoted to the saints through their images is a laudable thing. Through it, we carry on and continue not only a cultural heritage but above all, a religious heritage that we received through our evangelization almost 500 years ago. Above all, it is our way of expressing in the concrete our belief in the “Communion of Saints” which is an article of faith that we affirm when we pray the Creed. However, we need to exercise prudence—pag-iingat at mabuting pagpapasya—in expressing our devotion to the saints when we put them on public display. Our aim is not to impress other people and compete with each other in the expense and décor we are able to provide our images, but rather to inspire devotion to the saints that they represent, so that they may help us in our daily struggle, and maybe our model in following and serving the Lord.
Let us remember the secular dictum, which also applies to the use of signs and symbols in religious imagery: ‘The Simpler, the Better’— LESS IS MORE.
Reference:
Ofrasio, Timoteo, SJ, personal communication, July 25, 2015.
Transcription:
Aban, Sherwyn
Photos:
Lim, Elmarc
Malabanan, James Benedict
Special thanks to Mr. Rodel Enriquez of Esculturas Religioasas en las Filipinas and to Mr. Sherwyn Aban for granting the permission to share this insightful talk from the late Rev. Fr. Tim Ofrasio, SJ in his loving memory.
The altar image of La Inmacaulda Concepcion of Manila Cathedral
A trip to Intramuros is not complete without visiting or seeing one of its famous and prominent landmarks – The Manila Metropolitan Cathedral, the First Cathedral, and the Mother Church of the Philippines. Every pilgrim, tourist, or local Manileño would always make it a point to enter the Cathedral to pray, meditate, gaze on the artworks and architecture among others.
Aside from architecture, one of the most prominent feature of the Cathedral is the beautiful and imposing statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Immaculate Conception, the Principal Patroness of the Philippines. The image of the Virgin grabs the attention of the all who visit the Cathedral and be amazed on her other worldly beauty which gives a beholder a sense of heaven here on earth.
The altar image of La Inmaculada Concepcion of Manila Cathedral
The image
There were two images of Our Lady, the Immaculate Conception that is venerated at the historic Cathedral – the imposing altar image and the side altar image that the faithful can be venerated by the faithful. Both depictions of the images of La Inmaculda Concepcion depicts the Virgin in a heavenly realm, moments after her creation, the spirit of Mary (in the form of a young woman) looks up in awe at (or bows her head to) God. The moon is under her feet and a halo of twelve stars surround her head, possibly a reference to “a woman clothed with the sun” from Revelation 12:1–2. Additional imagery includes clouds, a golden light, and cherubs, usually wearing a white robe and a blue mantle doesn’t sport a veil and her hair flows gracefully with eyes looking upwards.
A few differences can be noticed between the two images: the altar image’s hands are placed at her chest while the side altar image’s hands are in a prayer position and her dress have traces of pink in some parts of her dress and her hair is a bit longer and there were angles at her feet, while the altar image does not have one.
A look at Manila Cathedral’s beginnings
The present Manila Cathedral
The Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception is the first Cathedral in the country. When the Philippines was separated from the Archdiocese of Mexico and became a new diocese, Manila was chosen as the episcopal seat, and the Church of Manila dedicated to “La Purisima y Inmaculada Concepcion” established by the secular priest Padre Juan de Vivero in 1571 was chosen to become the Cathedral. Hence, the Manila Cathedral is aptly honored as the Mother Church of the Philippines. The cathedral was damaged and destroyed several times since the original structure was built in 1581 while the eighth and current structure of the cathedral was completed in 1958.
At present, San Agustin Church serves as the parish church of Intramuros under the advocation of the Immaculate Conception since 1945, after the seventh Manila Cathedral (1879-1945) was bombed mercilessly along with the rest of the Walled City during the Battle of Liberation.
The basilica has merited a papal endorsement from Pope Gregory XIII and three apostolic visits from Pope St. Paul VI, Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Francis. It was a motu proprio from Pope St. John Paul II that this Cathedral was raised into the dignity of a Basilica on April 27, 1981, two months after his first visit to the Philippines.
The images
Left: The image of Nuestra Señora de Guia was originally enshrined at the Cathedral for centuries until 1918 when she was brought back to her shrine in Ermita, Manila. Right: An image of the Immaculate Conception based on the famed painting of Bartolome Esteban Murillo replaced the image of Nuestra Señora de Guia image and stayed there until the Second World War when Intramuros was severely damaged during the Liberation of Manila in 1945.
The general thematic of the present Cathedral was inspired by the Most Holy Virgin, to whose Immaculate Conception the church is hallowed. Originally, it was the image of Nuestra Señora de Guia that was enthroned at the Cathedral until it was returned in 1918 to her shrine in Ermita, Manila and a Murillo inspired image of the Immaculate Conception was enshrined until the Liberation of Manila in 1945 where the seventh Cathedral was bombed.
The original Festejada image of Manila Cathederal carved by Santiago Santos
During the rebuilding of the Cathedral, another image of the Immaculate Conception was sculpted by Santiago Santos and it was temporarily enthroned at the Cathedral and became the festejada image of the Second National Marian Congress on December 5, 1952. At present, the image is now venerated at a special altar at the Cathedral where people can venerate it up close. During the Grand Marian Procession in Intramuros, Manila, this image is placed at the facade of the Cathedral as if to oversee the whole procession attended by numerous Marian devotees nationwide.
The present altar image of the Immaculate Conception at the Cathedral was sculpted from bronze by Vincenzo Assenza based on the famed painting of Bartolome Esteban Murillo – the standard iconography of the Immaculate Conception. The statue of the Virgin triumphs on the high altar, which Mary is represented as the center of human history. It was initially enthroned without an encarna until a few years later it was painted which gives the image the signature look that we are all familiar with today.
The annual Intramuros Grand Martian Procession held every First Sunday of December
Festivities
The celebration of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception at the Cathedral is one of the highlights for Marian devotees for the month of December with the annual Grand Marian Procession that is held every First Sunday of December that the faithful may witness this grand spectacle of culture and faith. The Grand Procession is organized by the Cofradia de la Inmaculada Concepcion, Inc. and the Intramuros Administration and it features hundreds of different Marian images from different families, organizations, parishes, shrines, and minor basilicas in the country.
The celebrations begin with the Hermanos Mayores Mass at the Cathedral and for the occasion, the Santiago Santos image comes out of the Cathedral and is placed at the main entrance where the Hermanos, the Comite de Festejos, and clergy would watch and oversee the procession. All throughout the night, the image acts as an overseer of the whole festive night where the participants would also give honor to the country’s Principal Patroness. On the actual day of the Solemnity, Masses are offered continuously with the faithful flocking the Cathedral.
A witness of the past, present, and future
The image of La Inmaculada Concepcion of Manila Cathedral became the silent witness to our history from four Papal Visits, high profile weddings, state funerals among others that made a mark in our history and popular culture. The Virgin of the Cathedral continues to inspire many devotees and pilgrims from all over the country as they gaze upon the finest work of God’s creation – the Immaculate Mother of the Redeemer.
Whenever there were victories and tragedies in our nation, she is always present, supplicating for us while guiding us in our lives from the moment Christianity was introduced up to the present. Let us continue to ask the help of our nation’s Patroness that she may help us in our way for a better future with her Son reigns in our country.
Reference:
“Artworks of the Manila Cathedral”, International Institute of Liturgucal Art, Rome, Italy, 1958.
Aviado, Lutgarda , “Madonnas of the Philippines”, Manlapaz Press, Quezon City, 1972.
Barcelona, Mary Anne, “Ynang Maria: a celebration of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Philippines”. Ed. Consuelo B. Estampa, P.D. Pasig City, Anvil Publishing Inc, 2004.
“Pilgrim’s Passport Jubilee of Mercy December 8, 2015 – November 20, 2016”, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila, 2015.
Interview:
Lazaro, Romain – Manila Cathedral
Photos:
Malabanan, James Benedict The Manila Cathedral Facebook page
Special thanks to Mr. Romain Lazaro of the Manila Cathedral on his help on this blogpost.
Apart from the Rosary, the Brown Scapular of the Carmelite Order, the Black Cincture of Our Lady of Consolation and the White Scapular of Our Lady of Mercy, one of the most popular Marian sacramental in the Catholic Church is the Medal of the Immaculate Conception, more popularly known as the “Miraculous Medal”. The devotion to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal played a significant role in the the history of the Church that helped shaped the current landscape of Marian devotion in the world.
Now as we celebrate the 190th anniversary of the revelation of the Miraculous Medal to St. Catherine Laboure, a sister of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, let us now have a look back on the history and the development of the devotion to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal and how it influenced the history of the Church and also in our country’s culture.
A tribulation in France
The understand the context of the apparitions of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, we should look on what was happening in France during that time. The effects of the French Revolution and Napoleonic rule are still seen and felt in the French society with continuous political and tensions that will still be felt during the apparitions of Lourdes in 1858. France also faced the heresy of Jansenism, a controversial religious movement in the 17th and 18th centuries that arose out of the theological problem of reconciling divine grace and human freedom. Jansenism appeared chiefly in France, the Low Countries, and Italy. In France it became connected with the struggle against the papacy by proponents of Gallicanism—a political theory advocating the restriction of papal power—and with opposition to the monarchical absolutism. From these circumstances we can see the backdrop of the apparitions of Our Lady in Rue de Bac to a humble novice that would challenge these circumstances and would help shape Church history.
The Humble novice
St. Catherine Laboure
Catherine Labouré (born Zoe Laboure) was born on May 2, 1806, in the Burgundy region of France to Pierre Labouré, a farmer, and Madeleine Louise Gontard, the 9th of 11 living children. Zoe’s mother died on October 9, 1815, when she was nine years old. It is said that after her mother’s funeral, Labouré picked up a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and kissed it saying, “Now you will be my mother.”
Zoe was observed to be extremely devout, of a somewhat romantic nature, given to visions and intuitive insights. As a young woman, she became a member of St. Vincent de Paul’s Daughters of Charity, after a dream about him that encourage her to follow the call to religious life. In January of 1830, Zoe Laboure became a postulant in the hospice of the Daughters of Charity at Catillon-sur-Seine and took the name Catherine. Three months later, she was again in Paris, this time to enter the Seminary at the Mother House of the Daughters of Charity.
Shortly after she entered her new home, God was pleased to grant her several extraordinary visions. On three consecutive days she beheld the heart of Saint Vincent above the reliquary in which his relics were exposed, each time under a different aspect. At other times, she beheld our divine Lord in front of the Blessed Sacrament; this would occur especially during Mass when he would appear as he was described in the liturgy of the day.
The first phase of the apparition
The first apparition of Our Lady to St. Catherine Laboure
The apparitions of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal began during her novitiate year. On July 18, 1830, Catherine was awakened about 11:30 p.m. by her guardian angel who led her to the chapel, where she was surprised to find all the candles lit as if it was Midnight Mass. But the chapel was empty. Suddenly, Catherine saw the Blessed Mother appear there. “I sprang forward with one leap to her side – kneeling on the altar steps with my hands resting on the knees of the Blessed Virgin. There I spent the sweetest moment in my life.”
Our Lady appeared and talked with her for hours, telling her that she would have to undertake a difficult task. Mary told Catherine that God had a special job for her to do, and also warned of a great time of upheaval that would occur in France and beyond.
“My child,” said the Blessed Virgin, “times are very bad. Calamities are going to fall upon France. The whole world will be in an upheaval due to all sorts of troubles. The good God wishes to give you a mission. Later I shall let you know what it is. You will have much to suffer. But do not be afraid. The times are evil, and misfortunes are about to overwhelm France. The throne will be destroyed and the whole world convulsed by all sorts of calamities. But come to the foot of this altar. Here graces will be poured out on all who ask for them, great or small. My eyes are always watching you, I shall grant you many graces. Special graces will be given to all who ask for them, but people must pray.”
The second phase of the apparition
The second phase of the apparition to St. Catherine Laboure
A few months later, on November 27, 1830, the Blessed Mother appeared again to Sister Catherine in their chapel. This time, the Blessed Virgin holds a globe in her hands and saying: “This globe which you see is the world, France in particular and for every person living in it. I am praying for it and for everyone in the world. The rays which shed on the globe from my hands are the graces which I bestow for all those who ask for them. But there are no rays that come from some of the gems because those are the graces which God wishes to bestow on them but they forget to ask…”
Afterwards, she outstretched her hands, with shafts of light streaming from her hands emanating from jewels on the rings adorning her fingers, “These rays symbolize the graces I shed upon those who ask for them,” Our Lady told Catherine. “The gems from which rays do not fall are the graces for which souls forget to ask.” (Some of the jewels on Our Lady’s rings were not shining.)
The revelation of the Miraculous Medal to St. Catherine Laboure
She was surrounded by the words “Ô Marie, conçue sans péché, priez pour nous qui avons recours à vous” [“O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!”] The image turned around, and on the reverse side appeared “a capital M with a cross above it and two hearts, one thorn-crowned (the Sacred Heat of Jesus) and one pierced with a sword (the Immaculate Heart of Mary) beneath. Catherine heard a voice asking her: “Have a Medal struck after this model. All who wear it will receive great graces; they should wear it around the neck. Graces will abound for persons who wear it with confidence.” Thus the design for Miraculous Medal revealed.
The Meaning of the design of the Miraculous Medal
The Medal of the Immaculate Conception designed by the Blessed Mother as revealed to St. Catherine Laboure on November 27, 1830
The medal is thus by far the only ecclesiastically approved medal that was designed by the Blessed Mother herself which she revealed on her second apparition to St. Catherine Laboure.
The front of the medal depicts The Blessed Virgin Mary standing on a globe, with the head of a serpent beneath her feet. The reference to Mary conceived without sin supports the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary—not to be confused with the virgin birth of Jesus, and referring to Mary’s sinlessness, “full of grace” and “blessed among women” (Luke 1:28). Circling the oval-shaped medal is the signature, “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.” Rays shoot out from Mary’s hands, which she told Catherine, “symbolize the graces I shed upon those who ask for them.”
On the reverse, twelve stars surround a large “M,” from which a cross arises. This design shows Jesus’ Cross of Redemption. Interleaving of the M and the cross shows Mary’s close involvement with Jesus, which also implied her role as Mediatrix Below the “M,” the medal depicts two flaming hearts. The left heart, circled with thorns, represents the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The right heart, pierced by a sword, symbolizes the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Some Catholics ascribe another meaning to the 12 stars, from the Book of Revelation 12:1 “a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars.” The flaming hearts of Jesus and Mary symbolizes the burning love Jesus and Mary have for all people.
The image of Our Lady of Grace based from the iconography of the Miraculous Medal
The iconography of the Blessed Virgin Mary as seen in the design of the Miraculous Medal would later create an impact on the contemporary iconography of the Blessed Virgin Mary along with the association of the title as Our Lady of Grace. It is interesting to note that from the moment of the approval of the apparitions of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, along with those in Lourdes and Fatima and its accompanying devotions, their iconographies became popular due to intense propagation to the devotion connected to these apparitions and also the mass production of their images which made it accessible to the masses worldwide. It can also be noted that the depictions of the Virgin from these apparitions created a shift in contemporary Marian iconography which is evolved through the centuries.
The image of the Blessed Virgin Mary based from the depiction of the Miraculous Medal would later be associated to the title of “Our Lady of Grace”. The basis of the association to this title comes from the Virgin herself when she explained to St. Catherine Laboure the meaning of the rays of light coming from her hands: “The rays that you see are the graces which I bestow upon those who asked for them. The stones (she was wearing rings according to the accounts of St. Catherine) emitting no rays symbolizes graces which they forget to ask for. Graces will be bestowed, but they must pray, they must pray.” Our Lady presented herself as the Mediatrix of All Graces. Such a title must be seen in relationship to her motherhood of Jesus Christ and to the faithful. Since she gave the world the only Mediator we rightly can call and consider her as our Mediatrix.
The propagation
The medals were produced in 1831 with the help of her confessor, Rev. Fr. Jean Marie Aladel, The medal was then formally known as the Medal of the Immaculate Conception due to iconography that was presented to the medal and the prayer that surrounds the medal. Two pious associations were founded for the spread of the devotion to the Virgin of the Miraculous Medal: The Children of Mary and the Association of the Miraculous Medal.
The original image of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Rue de Bac
The Children of Mary (The Association of the Children of Mary Immaculate) founded by Fr. Aladel upon the request of the Virgin herself, as revealed by St. Catherine. At first, was limited to only the orphans and students cared for by the Sisters of Charity in 1840 then later opened to all parishes and institutions worldwide, with the approval by Pope Pius IX in 1847 and in 1850. The Association of the Miraculous Medal was established to cater to all the faithful with the only requirement of membership is wearing the Miraculous Medal, blessed by the priest and should be worn on the breast suspended from the neck and it was approved by Pope St. Pius X in 1909.
The Miraculous Medal of the Blessed Mother would also inspire St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan Conventual friar, to found the Militia Immaculata in 1917. The members are encouraged a total consecration to the Immaculate Virgin Mary as means of spiritual renewal for all individuals and society, as well as the Church. Members wear the Miraculous Medal as an outward sign of their consecration. The Medal also played a prominent place in the Legion of Mary, founded by Servant of God Frank Duff in 1921. In the Legion’s Handbook and in Frank Duff’s book ‘Virgo Praedicanda’ he stated that seeing that the Medal has a significant role in the Legion apostolate throughout the world not just distribute the Medal, but also to communicate its message and explain the role of the sacramental in the life of the Church. It is also interesting to note that the image of the Legion of Mary is that of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal and the Vexilia shows the Miraculous Medal as well.
Miracles
The apparition of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal to Alphonse Ratisbonne that led to his conversion
Soon after the distribution of medals throughout France and later other parts of the world, numerous miracles were reported that are connected to the Miraculous Medal from unexplained cures, expulsion of evil spirits and conversions.
One of the earliest known miracles of the Miraculous Medal was the end of a terrible cholera epidemic in 1832. At that time, the medals were being produced while the epidemic was killing 20,000 in Parish. In June 1832, the Daughters of Charity began distributing the medals, especially to infected people who filled the hospitals and those who wore them were immediately cured. The faithful also experienced special protection from the epidemic and the healing from emotional distress. The people of Paris began to call it “Miraculous Medal”. Soon after, more miraculous cures were also reported through the years because of the Miraculous Medal.
One of the most astounding miracles of the Miraculous Medal are the conversion of unbelievers, from Monseigneur Dominique de Pradt, former chaplain of Napoleon Bonaparte and supporter; Alphonse Ratisbonne, a Jewish atheist who was graced by a vision of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal that led to his conversion in 1842; Claude Newmann and James Hughs in 1844 who also received visions of the Virgin before their execution as punishment for their crimes among others. The missionary efforts of the Vincentian family to pagan foreign lands also helped on the spread of the Medal that won many souls to God that some led to their martyrdom.
Official Church recognition
In 1836, The Archbishop of Paris initiated an official canonical inquiry into the alleged visions. Sister Catherine refused to appear, wishing her identity to be kept a secret. Fr. Aladel pleaded to be allowed to keep her name anonymous. The tribunal, basing its opinion on the stability of her confessor and Catherine’s character, decided to favor the authenticity of the visions by Archbishop Hyacinthe-Louis de Quélen of Paris.
The miracles and popularity of the Miraculous Medal of the Immaculate Conception helped hasten the dogmatization of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Pope Pius IX in 1854. Interestingly, a few years after the defining the dogma, in 1858, the Blessed Mother appeared once again in France, this time in Lourdes to St. Bernadette Soubirous where she gave the stamp of approval of this act of the Church by identifying herself as “I am the Immaculate Conception.”. It is also reported that St. Bernadette was wearing the Miraculous Medal herself and when the Virgin finally gave her identity, as per insistence of the visionary, she stated that she placed her rosary on her arm, she outstretched her arms downwards like that of the Miraculous Medal, then raised her arms and later moved in prayer position and looked upwards and revealed her identity.
Life after the apparitions
The Incorrupt remains of St. Catherine Laboure
Sister Catherine continued to live her life as a religious and performing her duties for 46 more years of her Order. Although she continued to spread the devotion to the Miraculous Medal of Our Lady, she never once revealed to anybody, except to her confessor, the apparitions until Fr. Aladel died in 1865 that left no one knew the whole events of Rue de Bac. Sensing that the end of her life was drawing near, in 1876, Sister Catherine asked Our Lady for permission to share her story to her superior from her identity as the visionary and encouraged the carving of the “Virgin of the Globe” statue.
Sister Catherine died on December 31, 1876. Her mortal remains lies incorrupt that can be venerated at the site of the apparition to this day. St. Catherine Laboure was beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1933 and was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1947. Her feast day is celebrated every November 28, the day after the Liturgical feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. (In the Traditional Calendar, it is celebrated every December 31).
The devotion in the Philippines
An old clipping of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Manila
Wherever the Vincentian Family go, they brought along with them the devotion to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. The devotion to Nuestra Señora de la Medalla Milagrosa began with arrival of the Daughters of Charity and the Congregation of the Mission on June 22, 1862 upon the decree of Queen of Isabela II dated October 19, 1852. The Vincentian priests took over the administration of San Carlos Seminary and other diocesan seminaries in different (arch)dioceses in the country while the Daughters of Charity took over the hospitals that were previously administered by the Hospitalier Brothers and Colegios of Santa Potenciana and Santa Rosa in Intramuros. It was from here that they began to promote the devotion to Nuestra Señora de la Medalla Milagrosa and introduced the Miraculous Medal to the country. Soon afterwards, numerous seminaries and institutions were established and administered by the double Vincentian family from La Concordia College, Colegio de Santa Isabel, Hospicio de San Jose, Asilo de la Milagrosa, Adamson University among others.
To further promote the devotion in the country, numerous associations and apostolates were established to reach this goal and was proven to be a success. The Association of the Children of Mary was established at La Concordia College in 1868 and later the Association of the Miraculous Medal followed afterwards that would soon spread throughout the country. In 1957, Mr. Jose Chebat, a member of the Central Association of the Miraculous Medal in the United States, established the Miraculous Medal Apostolate which not only aimed for the further propagation of the Miraculous Medal devotion but also to help support the formation of Vincentian Seminarians in the country. The Apostolate was proven to be a success with the increase of members over the years.
The centers of devotion in the country
With the successful propagation of the devotion to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in the country, the Vincentian established its first Church in San Marcelino, Ermita Manila under the Patronage of St. Vincent de Paul in 1883, first as a chapel and the original image of Nuestra Señora de la Medalla Milagrosa, which was imported from France, was enshrined. The chapel was instantly became the center of the devotion to the Virgen de la Medalla Milagrosa in Manila and after almost 30 years later in 1912, a concrete church was built to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the Vincentian family to the Philippines.
The images of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Manila, Muntinlupa City, Cebu and Quezon City
Unfortunately, the church was burned down during the Second World War, along with the image. A new image was commissioned by the religious order from Maximo Vicente that can be seen and venerated today at the church’s main altar.
In Cebu, the devotion to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal began with the establishment of Congregacion de Hermanitas de la Madre de Dios in 1878 (which was later incorporated to the Daughters of Charity in 1895) and the center of the devotion to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal was in Asilo de Medalla Milagrosa which was established in 1934. The Asilo commits itself to the integral development of the abandoned, surrendered, neglected children, youth and their families, unemployed adults, women, older persons, migrants, persons living with HIV and their families, and those persons in crisis through sustainable programs and services where resource sharing and participative involvement is a way of life.
To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the apparition of the Blessed Mother to St. Catherine Laboure, the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal was established and consecrated in Posadas Village, Sucat, Muntinlupa City in 1980 and it became a parish in 1981. The image of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal was imported from Spain and was crowned on the day the shrine was inaugurated.
The Second phase of the apparition adopting a Filipiniana imagery
The Santuario de San Vicente de Paúl was established on March 25, 2003 in response to the challenge of the Jubilee Year 2000 of creating initiatives that will benefit the interests of the marginalized. The Vincentian Fathers and Brothers believe that along with the building of a shrine is the building of a community, disciples and a Vincentian devotion to its founder, St. Vincent de Paul and also to the Virgin of the Miraculous Medal.
Apart from these shrines, numerous diocesan parishes and mission stations were established in other parts of the country that are dedicated to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal like those in Quezon City, Laguna, Iloilo, South Cotabato, Cavite, Leyte, Batanes among others.
The impact of the devotion in the Philippines
The devotion to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal became one of the most popular Marian devotions in the country thanks to the efforts of the double Vincentian family’s propagation for years since they arrived in our shores. The Miraculous Medal instantly became an essential part of Marian devotion to all Filipinos that the faithful would attach their medals to their rosaries and their Brown Scapulars among others.
The two depictions of of Our Lady of the Rue de Bac apparitions became popular and were later associated to other Marian titles like Our Lady of Grace for the iconography on the medal which are venerated in the parishes in Makati and Cacloocan City (a Diocesan Shrine as well) and that of the Lady of the Globe as Mary the Queen and Regina Mundi which was venerated in Mary the Queen Parish in San Juan City.
Nuestra Señora de la Medalla Milagrosa de Bulakan
One of the most lasting impact of the devotion to the Virgin of the Miraculous Medal in the country is the beautiful tradition of the Flores de Mayo tradition in the country with the image of Nuestra Señora de la Medalla Milagrosa of the Diocesan Shrine and Parish of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción in Bulakan, Bulacan which became the first image of the Virgen de las Flores that was specially commissioned for this purpose. The history of the Flores de Mayo traditions traces back to Jaro, Iloilo in 1855 and years later, Rev. Fr. Mariano Sevilla, the Diocesan Parish Priest of the centuries old Bulakan Parish published the “Flores de Maria o Marikit na Bulaklak na sa pagninilaynilay sa boong buwan nang Mayo ay inihahandog nang mga deboto kay Maria Santisima” in 1867. Soon afterwards, Fr. Sevilla later established the Hijas y Caballeros de Maria to keep and maintain the Flores de Mayo traditions alive and it is still observed up to this day.
It is said that the image of La Medalla Milagrosa was also commissioned a few years later and was commissioned for the flower offering rites since the image can be placed in a more accessible place in the Church since the the image of Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion was placed in the high altar.
The Flores de Mayo tradition would soon spread all over the Philippines and it is interesting to note that some parishes in the country still uses an image of Nuestra Señora de la Medalla Milagrosa as the Virgen de las Flores, most specifically in Cavinti, Laguna, General Trias and Kawit, Cavite among others.
Another pious tradition that made an impact is the Domiciliary visits of the pilgirm image of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal who visited different households within their jurisdictions and stay to a chosen family for a few days or weeks and the community will pray the rosary and other devotions on that household until it will move to a different family and do the similar pious routine. It can be said that the Domiciliary visits of the image inspired the current block rosary movement that is still going on to different communities in the country.
The third phase of the apparition also adopting the Filipiniana imagery
The devotion today
The devotion to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal continuous to develop and grow over the years. Memberships to the Associations of the Medal continues to increase. The legacy of the devotion to the Lady of the Medal are still evidently seen as what Professor Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira. stated in his lecture: “We can say that the Miraculous Medal was the first major step toward the ‘re-Marianization’ of the nineteenth century, preparing the great movement of souls that would culminate with the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Because of its important role in Church history, this devotion retains all its relevance for Catholics today. In view of these past graces and consolations, it should be cultivated with great fervor.”
The Miraculous Medal is an important sacramental and the promises attached to it by Our Lady are just as necessary and efficacious today as they were in the 19th century. She asked us to wear it with confidence and our saints wishes us to hand out Miraculous medals to those they come into contact with, safe in the knowledge that Our Lady will impart copious graces to them. We should remember her message that we should not be afraid of to ask the necessary graces for our salvation, including the Holy Mass that we often forget and she is always there to help us in need.
O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you!
References:
Aviado, Lutgarda, “Madonnas of the Philippines”, Manlapaz Press, Quezon City, 1972.
Barcelona, Mary Anne, “Ynang Maria: a celebration of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Philippines”. Ed. Consuelo B. Estampa, P.D. Pasig City, Anvil Publishing Inc., 2004.
“The Miraculous Medal”, Kolbe Publications, Militae Immaculatae Traditional Observance, 2016.
Nicole Vray, “Une autre regard sur Marie: Histoire et religion” Lyon: Editions Olivétan, 2008.
Raas, Berhard, SVD, “Popular Devotions Making Popular Religious Practices More Potent Vehicles of Spiritual Growth”, Logos Publications, Manila, 2014.
Santiago, Luciano P.R., “To Love and to Suffer: The Development of the Religious Congregation for Women in the Spanish Philippines, 1565 – 1898”, Ateneo de Manila University Press, Quezon City, 2005.
Smith, Jeremiah J., “Saint Maximilian Kolbe: Knight of the Immaculata”, 2008.
“The Official Handbook of the Legion of Mary”, Concilium Legionis Mariae. Dublin, Ireland, 2005.
The image of Santo Bambino de Arenzano at the dome of his Basilica in Italy
For most of our readers and the faithful, images of the Blessed Virgin Mary are usually the recipients of the honor of Canonical or Episcopal Coronations over the centuries and the consciousness on this pious act have a tremendous resurgence in the recent years, especially in our country, most specifically during the Pontificate of Pope Francis. Now with more access to information and further researches shows that some images of the Child Jesus and St. Joseph were also recipients of the honor of being crowned upon the approval of the Church hierarchy from the petitions of their devotees. For this special blog post, we are going to feature the four (yes, you read it right) Canonically Crowned images of the Child Jesus all over the world and its corresponding devotions here in our country (yes we do have them).
The beginnings of the devotion
The devotion to the Child Jesus is the devotion to the reality of the Incarnation. The fact is that our God did become truly human and entered this world as a baby, having humbled Himself by taking on a human nature, subjecting Himself to all that flesh is heir to (minus the effects of original sin. This is how He chose to begin His saving mission on earth. St. Paul marvels at how Christ “emptied Himself” in the Incarnation, and we who love Him marvel as well. That is why the Church celebrate His Holy Infancy alongside His Death and Resurrection; the former made the latter possible.
The Church celebrates the Divine childhood of Jesus Christ with a set of feasts from the most popular of all, Christmas Day to celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord. After Christmas, there are the Feast of the Circumcision on January 1 (in the Traditional Calendar, now the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God in the Novus Ordo Calendar), the Feast of His Holy Name, the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6 (Some countries celebrate this feast every First Sunday of January), the Feast of the Holy Family (now celebrated in the Novus Ordo Calendar on First Sunday after Christmas), and the Feast of the Purification of Mary and Presentation of Our Lord (Candlemas) on February 2. Indeed, the entire month of January is dedicated to His Holy Name and His Holy Childhood.
The Prague Child of Manila and Davao and the Bambino de Aracoeli of Maragondon, Cavite
Many of the saints had a special devotion to the Child Jesus, some even having been blessed by visions of Him as a boy. St. Christopher, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Agnes of Montepulciano, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Rose of Lima, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, St. Pio of Pietrelcina among others that are particularly associated with the Divine Child and many are depicted with the Child Jesus in art. In the icons of Our Lord and Lady during the early years of the Church, the Child Jesus is always represented with His Mother and it is still can be seen in some Catholic shrines and Orthodox Churches in Europe and West Asian countries where the Orthodoxy is prominent. It was St. Francis of Assisi clandestinely initiated the devotion to the Child Jesus when he began to set up a “creche” (more popularly known as the Nativity scene or “Belen” in Filipino). Centuries later, numerous depictions of the Child Jesus outside of Nativity scene were becoming popular with the help of the Carmelite Order, most prominently St. Teresa of Avila and Ven. Fr. Cyril of the Mother of God. Most of these images would portray Him raising His right Hand in a gesture of blessing while His left Hand, He often holds a globus cruciger (symbolizing the world as his dominion), a book, a bird, or grapes (symbolizing the Eucharist) or a cross.
The Divine Child is adored in different countries in different ways: in Italy, He is the “Santo Bambino”; in Spain and its former colonies, He is the “Santo Niño” or “Divino Niño”; to the Germans, He is the “Christkindel.” Interestingly, there are particular devotions to the Christ Child due to an apparition or a cult of an image with a reputation to be miraculous, such as is the case with the Infant of Prague (Czech Republic), El Santo Niño de Atocha (Spain and Mexico), the Santo Bambino di Aracoeli (Italy), Holy Infant of Salzburg (Germany), El Divino Niño de Bogota (Bolivia) among others.
The Crowned of images of the Child Jesus
Although the rites of crowning of images are usually reserved to the images of the Blessed Virgin, there have been some instances that the images of the Child Jesus that were given such honor on the account of the special reverence accorded to the image and its miracles and devotion.
Now, without any further ado, here are the following images of the Child Jesus all over the world that were granted the honor of Canonical (Pontifical) Coronation and its corresponding devotion in our country.
Santo Bambino de Aracoeli
Santo Bambino de Aracoeli Provenance: Minor Basilica of Santa Maria Aracoeli, Rome, Italy Coronation date: May 2, 1897 Pontificate: Pope Leo XIII
This statue of the Infant Jesus, dating back to the end of the fifteenth century, is a wood carving made in Jerusalem from an olive tree from Gethsemane by a pious Franciscan Friar. According to tradition, the Friar did not have the necessary paints to complete his work and so it was miraculously completed by an angel. During his return trip to Rome a severe storm on the sea forced him to throw overboard his small case containing the precious treasure, but the case arrived at the port of Livorno by itself in the wake of the ship. Preceded by the fame of unusual miracles, the holy image was received with great joy in the Eternal City and was accorded special veneration. Rich gifts of gold and precious stones give witness to the gratitude of the faithful for the innumerable graces received. The Chapel of the Holy Bambino is continuously visited by pilgrims from all parts of the world. Mothers, before giving birth, visit Aracoeli to receive a special blessing and also bring their children to be consecrated to the Divine Child. The ever-increasing fame of this miraculous image moved Pope Leo XIII and the Vatican Chapter to order its coronation which took place with solemn rites on May 2, 1897.
In the Philippines, the devotion to the Santo Bambino de Aracoeli reached our country when a replica of the Santo Bambino was enshrined at the Parish of Our Lady of the Assumption in Maragondon, Cavite in 1986 and the devotion grew over the years and his feast is celebrated every May 2.
Bambino Gesu de Arenzano
Bambino Gesu de Arenzano Provenance: Minor Basilica of the Child Jesus of Arenzano, Genoa, Italy Coronation date: February 24, 1924 Pontificate: Pope Pius XI
The image was donated by the Marquise Delphina Gavotti of Savona and was presented to the built shrine on June 2, 1902. It replaced a picture image of the Infant Jesus of Prague brought by the Carmelite Order on September 25, 1900, which was located beneath the statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The image is a replica of the Infant Jesus of Prague which was brought by the Carmelite Order who wanted to propagate its devotion in the area. The feast of the image is celebrated each September 1. Various miraculous claims are associated with the image by its pilgrims, now preserved within the basilica. Pope Pius XI granted a Canonical coronation to the venerated image on February 24, 1924 via his Papal legate Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val. The same Pontiff raised the sanctuary to the status of a Minor Basilica on May 6, 1928 through an Apostolic decree signed by the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, where the image is permanently enshrined today.
Although there weren’t any parishes, chapels or oratories dedicated to the Bambino Gesu of Arenzano yet in the Philippines, some of the Filipino faithful are currently enlisted as members of Pious Association of the Bambino Gesu de Arenzano.
Holy Infant of Prague
Holy Infant of Prague Provenance: Church of the Virgin Mary the Victorious – Shrine of the Child Jesus, Prague, Czech Republic Coronation date: September 6, 1924 Pontificate: Pope Pius XI
The statue of the Holy Infant of Prague in Czech Republic, said to be modeled by a pious friar, to whom its likeness had been revealed in a vision to him by The Holy Infant and it was once owned by the Pernstein family. The statue of the Holy Infant later became the property of Maria’s daughter Polyxena. Polyxena was married to Duke Wilhelm de Rosenberg, First Lord of the Kingdom, Great Bourgrave of Prague and Knight of the Golden Fleece. In 1629, Polyxena resolved to make the statue of the Holy Infant available to the faithful that it was given to the Carmelite Monastery and the adjoining Church of Virgin Mary the Victorious in Prague. She is said to have stated, “I bring you my dearest possession. Honor the Infant Jesus and you shall never want.” The friars soon acquired a devotion to The Infant Jesus and had recourse to Him in their needs. Many blessings, both material and spiritual, came to the monastery and the friars. During this time, the Thirty Years War was in progress and Prague was under siege several times that the Carmelite friars fled and the statue of The Holy Infant was thrown in a storage area behind the main altar of the Church of Our Lady of Victories by the mercenaries who occupied the monastery. Five years later, in 1635, after the Treaty of Prague, the Carmelites returned to Prague and to their monastery and completely forgot about the statue. In 1637, Venerable Fr. Cyril of the Mother of God found the statue behind the main altar. The hands of the statue had been broken off. It was at this time that the Infant is said to have appeared to Father Cyril and told him, “Have pity on Me, and I will have pity on you. Give Me My hands, and I will give you peace. The more you honor Me, the more I will bless you.” The last sentence has become the centerpiece of world-wide devotion to The Infant Jesus of Prague. Father Cyril, inspired by the Infant’s guidance, spent many futile attempts to raise the money for the repairs required for the statue of The Holy Infant. He eventually found benefactors who paid not only for the restoration of the statue, but for the construction of a chapel expressly intended for its veneration. From that time to the present, devotion to The Divine Infant Jesus of Prague has continued and spread throughout the world and continues to draw pilgrims up to this day. The Holy Infant of Prague was Canonically Crowned on September 6, 1924 during the Pontificate of Pope Pius XI and the coronation rite was conducted by the Vatican Secretary of State, Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val. The image was crowned again by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on September 27, 2009 during his Apostolic Visit in Czech Republic.
The devotion to Infant of Prague was also popular in the Philippines with two notable shrines dedicated to him: the Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat in Mendiola, Manila and the Chapel-Shrine of the Holy Infant of Prague in Matina, Davao del Sur.
Santo Niño de Cebu
Santo Niño de Cebu Provenance: Minor Basilica of Santo Niño de Cebu, Cebu Coronation date: April 28, 1965 Pontificate: Pope St. Paul VI
The first religious image in the Philippines was brought by Ferdinand Magellan was given to Humamay, who was later baptized as Reina Juana as a gift along with the images of the Ecce Homo and Virgen Delos Remedios. It is reported that Reina Juana was in tears upon receiving the image. Magellan died on 27 April 1521 in the Battle of Mactan. Legends say that after initial efforts by the natives to destroy it, the image was venerated as one of their pagan deities. 44 years later, the Spaniards returned headed by Miguel López de Legazpi to conquer the islands and on April 28, 1565, Juan Camus, one of Legazpi’s soldiers, found the image of the Holy Child in a pina box located in one of the huts in the area and a solemn procession took place and the site of the hut is now the location of the Minor Basilica of Santo Nino de Cebu. Many historians consider the facial structure of the statue made from Flanders, Belgium, where Infant Jesus of Prague statues were also common. Miracles were reported through the Holy Child of Cebu that the devotion was so popular that the devotion was carried over to Manila and other parts of the Philippines. The image was Canonically Crowned on April 28, 1965 on the occasion of the 400th Anniversary of the Kaplag (Rediscovery of the image) and the Quadricentennial of the Christianization in the Philippines on the strength of the Papal Bull “Cunabula Religionis”.
The devotion to the Santo Niño de Cebu helped sparked the spread of Christianity in the Philippines and replicas of the Santo Niño de Cebu are venerated in Batangas City, Batangas; Malitbog, Southern Leyte; Biñan, Laguna; Intramuros, Manila among others.
On honoring the Child Jesus
The devotion to the Infant Jesus as a child and yet King of Heaven is a wonderful theme to contemplate in prayer. As far back in Old Testament times the prophet Isaiah spoke: “And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness.” [Isaiah11:1-2]. This Child was given to us who “being rich, became poor for your sake. in order that by His poverty you might become rich” [2 Cor 8:9]. Our Eternal Father ordained that His Son, Jesus, should know all life’s stages: infancy, childhood, youth, and that He should be like us in everything, except sin.
This kind of honor that is conferred to images of the Child Jesus is one of our ways to recognize the His Kingship over the universe. As God’s beloved Son, our King has direct and immediate access to God. As the Image of the invisible God, Jesus, our King, is the embodiment of Divine Sovereignty. As the firstborn of creation, He is the promise of all the good things that will follow. As risen Lord, He is the Head of the Church and the promise of our own resurrection.
Let us be reminded of the great truth that Christ must be in charge of our lives, that we must give him sovereign power over our bodies, our thoughts, our heart and our will. In every moral decision we face, there’s a choice between Christ the King and Barabbas, and the one who seeks to live in Christ’s Kingdom is the one who says, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”
References:
Delos Reyes, Michael P. “Salve Regina: On Crowning image of the Virgin Mary”, Claret Communications Foundation Inc., Diliman, Quezon City, 2015. “The Christ Child: Devotions to Jesus’ Infancy and Childhood”, Retrieved from http://home.earthlink.net/~mysticalrose/infantjesus.html on January 2, 2020. “Devotion to the Child Jesus”, Retrieved from https://www.fisheaters.com/childjesus.html on January 2, 2020. Ludvík Nĕmec, “The Great and Little One of Prague”, Prague, Czech Republic, 1959. “The Miraculous Bambino Gesu”. Italian Slow Walks, 2010. “Santo Bambino de Aracoeli”, Minor Basilica of Santa Maria de Aracoeli, Rome, Italy, 1990.
Special thanks to the owners of the photographs used in this blogpost. +AM+DG +AMPSPC+
In the busy and historic city of Las Piñas, located at the Southern part of Metro Manila, the city took pride of its historic Parish and Diocesan Shrine of St. Joseph where the famous Bamboo Organ can still be seen and heard. Apart from the historic Church and the Bamboo Organ, the people of Las Piñas took pride on their devotion to San Jose de Las Piñas – the Titular patron saint of the parish – that became part of the fabric of life and culture of the city for centuries.
The Image
The unique venerated image of San Jose de Las Piñas, more popularly known to his devotees as “Tata Hosep” is a de tallado image of St. Joseph with the Child Jesus that is venerated in his own chapel in the Parish and Diocesan Shrine of St. Joseph in Las Piñas City.
The carving of this image shows that this might have come from the early years of santo carving with elongated faces for both Father and Son which is one of the common features of folk carving which adds charm to the image. The image presents St. Joseph standing yet leaning towards the right to the direction of the Child Jesus which is also standing besides him and holding his hand looking at him. Tata Hosep holds a staff with a sheaf of lilies and has a silver hat that is usually placed at his back (he wore this hat on some occassions) and usually wears a paragua (umbrella like halo) on his head while the Niño Jesus sports His diagnotic Tres Potencias and brings a toolbox. Although a de tallado image, he is also vested with real clothes made from different materials and done with an array of designs, most commonly the palikpik on his shoulders.
Tata Hosep at his own chapel
History
The devotion to San Jose de Las Piñas began on November 5, 1795, the Archbishop of Manila assigned Las Piñas, then a small town of farmers and fishermen, to the Order of the Augustinian Recollects to establish a new church. Fray Diego Cera de la Virgen del Carmen, OAR, a native of Spain, traveled from Mabalacat, Pampanga province and arrived on the town on the day after Christmas of 1795. Soon after, he started building the church made from adobe stones in the Earthquake Baroque architectural style. He was a natural scientist, chemist, architect, community leader, as well as organist and organ builder. He also built the organs for the Manila Cathedral and San Nicolas de Tolentino Church in Intrmuros, Manila. In 1816, when the stone church was almost complete, he started building the organ made of bamboo and completed the instrument in 1824. Fray Diego Cera served as the parish priest of Las Piñas till May 15, 1832, when he could no longer perform his duties due to severe illness. He died on June 24, 1832, in Manila.
The famed Bamboo Organ of Las Piñas City
The Bamboo Organ
The fame Bamboo Organ in St. Joseph Parish Church in Las Piñas City, Philippines, is a 19th-century church organ with unique organ pipes with 902 pipes are made of bamboo. The choice of bamboo was probably both practical and aesthetic – bamboo was abundant and used for hundreds of items of both a practical and an artistic nature. It was completed after 6 years of work in 1824 by Father Diego Cera. The unqiue piece was later restored in Germany in 1972 and shortly after its return, the annual International Bamboo Organ Festival, a music festival of classical music, was started to celebrate the music of the reborn instrument and its unique sound.
The organ was declared a National Cultural Treasure of the Philippines in 2003. The St. Joseph Parish Church, with the famous organ and the church museum at the old convent house, is a popular tourist destination for Filipinos and foreign visitors alike in Las Piñas.
A Parish Priest and a saint
One of the parish priest that was assigned in the Las Piñas Church is the famed St. Ezekiel Moreno. In 1876, he was assigned to St. Joseph’s Parish in Las Piñas and worked zealously for the development of the lives of the people in the area. It is also believed that he also helped on fostering further the devotion to St. Jospeh to the people. The town suffered many major calamities during his pastorship, yet the people did not lose hope because of his example.
Tata Hosep during his participation at the 2019 Intramuros Grand Marian Procession
The origin of the devotion
The centuries old image of San Jose de Las Piñas is considered to be the oldest venerated image in the city. The devotion started even before the time when Las Piñas Church was canonically established as a parish and was separated from Parañaque in 1795.
According to town tradition, in the mid-1600’s, an image was seen floating along te shores of Parañaque. The fisher folks were trying to bring it to dry land but the load seemed too heavy for them to bear. Fortunately, the fishermen from Las Piñas were the ones who were able to carry it to dry land. They took this as a sign that the image wanted to be with them. As consolation, they handed over two dozen of eggs to the people of Parañaque as part of the long standing tradition of exchanging religious items with small amounts of money or goods. From that time, he became the city’s long standing “Santo Patron” and the devotion to “Tata Hosep”, as he is fondly called by his devotees, grew and developed over the centuries.
Church Recognition
In line with the 225th founding anniversary of the historic parish, it was elevated to the status of a Diocesan Shrine on November 5, 2020.
The devotion at present
The devotion to Tata Hosep continued to floruish up to this day and it is considered as the oldest existing devotion in Las Piñas City. Numerous testimonies of healing and other miracles have been heard and duly recorded including accounts of his visitations to invite people to celebrate his town fiesta which is held every First Sunday of May (the Traditional Feast of the Patronage of St. Joseph in the old Liturgical Calendar), apart from his liturgical Solemnity every March 19. Tuesday devotions in his honor is also proven to be popular in the city where devotees would visit his chapel and offer novenas and masses in his honor.
Apart from the festivities in honor of Tata Hosep, the people also have a beautiful “Sayaw ng Saboy” dance tradition that is performed by young girls during the Salubong rites during the wee hours in the morning and will last the whole morning. This tradition, along with the Bamboo Organ Festival added much color to the modern yet discreet facade of Las Piñas City where they haven’t forgotten their beautiful traditions and keeping it alive in the generations to come.
The devotion to San Jose de Las Piñas became an important part in the daily life, history and culture of Las Piñas and the city’s history will be forever be linked to their beloved Tata Hosep. Just like how he is fondly called “Tata Hosep”, he indeed became an important father figure in Las Piñas City as he guided the city in its progress, tragedy and triumph as the city’s patron and intercessor.
References:
“Simbahan ng Las Piñas”. National Registry of Historic Sites and Structures of the Philippines. Retrieved on November 2, 2020.
“Historical Markers: Metropolitan Manila”, National Historical Institute. 1993.
“Tata Hosep ng Las Piñas”, Diocesan Shrine and Parish of St. Joseph, Las Piñas City, 2020.
Interview:
Nadal, John – Parish and Diocesan Shrine of St. Joseph, Las Piñas City
Villeta, Jonnel – Parish and Diocesan Shrine of St. Joseph, Las Piñas City
Photos:
Bernardo, Fritz, Rinaldi, MD
Daquioag, Michael of Buen Viaje PH
Parish and Diocesan Shrine of St. Joseph Facebook page
Malabanan, James Benedict
Special thanks to Mr. John Nadal and Mr. Jonnel Villeta of the Parish and Diocesan Shrine of St. Joseph, Las Piñas City for providing documents and information on the history of San Jose de Las Piñas and to Mr. Michael Daquiaog and Dr. Fritz Bernardo, MD for the photographs of San Jose de Las Piñas.
It’s been years since the centuries-old image of Nuestra Señora de la Salud made a comeback after decades of obscurity from the confines of the Recollect Museum in Mira Nila Homes, Quezon City throughout 2016 and 2017. This generation was fortunate enough to see this day coming as one of the celebrated miraculous images of Old Intramuros returns to once again shower graces of healing to the present generation of Marian devotees in the country and other parts of the world.
How it all happened?
Nuestra Señora de la Salud
I’ve already discussed in one of my early blog entries the history of Nuestra Señora de la Salud based on the surviving accounts from numerous books and resources in the archives of the Order of the Augustinian Recollects and in the available books and articles found in other libraries and public domain. The story of the image began in 1634 when the seventh group of the Augustinian Recollect friars arrived in our country and have the image first enshrined in the old Parish in San Juan de Bagumbayan (now part of Rizal Park in Luneta) then moved to San Nicolas de Tolentino Church in Intramuros on two occasions and stayed there until the Second World War. From the moment the image and devotion were introduced in the country, numerous miracles were attributed to her intercession – including the pacification of the Second Chinese Revolt of 1640.
Despite the old popular belief that the Virgin disappeared, the image was spared from the destruction of the old San Nicolas Church in Intramuros and was kept first in the sacristy of Basilica Minore de San Sebastian since 1945 until she was transferred to their new Monastery in Quezon City and was later donated to their museum in the same city in 1988 up to the present. Consequently, the devotion came to oblivion due to her long absence in the public eye.
The wait was over
Nuestra Señora de la Salud during the Grand Marian Procession
Years later, there were clamors from some faithful who studied and remembered the glorious history of Old Intramuros and those who recently discovered the almost forgotten devotion to the Black Virgin, to revive the devotion and expose the miraculous image once again for public veneration. In 2006, the Virgin came out from the Museo for the first time for the International Order of Augustinian Recollects Mission Congress held at San Sebastian Church and the whole Recoleto family saw her for the first time in decades and this ignited the desire to revive the devotion to her.
A decade later, in 2016, with the help of lay devotees, two events would mark the return of the Virgen de la Salud to the public, A Marian exhibit held at Bulwagang Recoleto in November 2016 and a triumphant comeback to Intramuros where she graced the Grand Marian Procession 2016 that December. The public finally saw her for the first time since her shrine was destroyed during the Second World War almost eighty years ago and marveled at her presence she was greeted with the shouts of “Maligayang Pagbabalik!” (Welcome Back!), “¡Viva la Virgen!” among others. From that moment on, the Image of Nuestra Señora de la Salud became one of the regular participants of the Grand Marian Procession in Intramuros, Manila which is held every First Sunday of December.
Making her presence known
Aside from the successful outings of the Virgin, She also made rounds through a national caravan where replicas of La Salud visited several parishes in the country, and replicas are also enthroned to her stops as a reminder of her visit. The caravan began in late 2017 with her visits to different Augustinian Recollect mission centers and Diocesan Parishes, Chapels, Shrines, Convents, and Seminaries in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
Nuestra Señora de la Salud during the Grand Marian Procession that made in the pages of the Philippine Star
The nationwide caravan was a success and requests for her visits are on-demand that the visitation and enthronement of replicas of La Salud continue to visit different parishes, convents, chapels, and monasteries as far as Batanes. The faithful flock to see before their eyes the petite image that became an instrument of different prodigies over the years and it is said that miraculous cures took place during her nationwide visitation.
Experiencing Mary’s Healing Love – A symposium on Hyperdulia
The Recollect Fathers also held a Marian symposium at Bulwagang Rekoleto, Miranila homes, Quezon City on October 28, 2017. The symposium was held in a line with the re-introduction of Nuestra Senora de la Salud to the Filipino faithful. Around 300 Marian devotees gathered at the hall of the Bulwagan who wanted to gain more knowledge about the unique Marian devotion that we Filipinos have and the devotion that the Recollect Fathers introduced to the country. The symposium featured three guest speakers from different expertise from +Msgr. Sabino Vengco, noted Mariologist, Rev. Fr. Emil Quilatan, OAR, Church historian and Archivist of the Order, and Rev. Fr. Rommel Rubia, OAR, historian of the Order.
Msgr. Vengco tackled “Hyperdulia”, the unique veneration given to the Blessed Virgin Mary that the faithful are giving to her, and some notes on the Marian devotion in the Philippines. Rev. Fr. Quilatan on the other hand discussed the Marian devotion that the Recollect Order introduced to the Philippines, notably that of Nuestra Senora del Carmen de San Sebastián (the first image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the Philippines), Nuestra Senora del Pilar de Imus, (the Patroness of the Diocese of Imus, Cavite) among others. Rev. Fr. Rubia discussed in his talk the history of the devotion to Nuestra Senora de la Salud from her arrival, her popularity, her obscurity during the Second World War, and the efforts to revive the devotion to La Salud in modern times.
Aside from the talk, the attendees were given the chance to tour around Museo Recoleto, through the guidance of Rev. Fr. Hector Gonzales, OAR, where they viewed some important artifacts from different Recollect Churches in the country and an ongoing Marian Exhibit that showcases different Marian images that are venerated all over the country.
The symposium was concluded with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered by Rev. Fr. Dionisio Selma, OAR, Prior Provincial of the Order of the Augustinian Recollects in the Philippines. Before the Sacrifice of the Mass, the original image of Nuestra Senora de la Salud was brought down from her provisional altar in the Museum for the veneration of the attendees.
The Traslacion of Nuestra Señora de la Salud
La Salud’s Traslacion and her first Fiesta in years
The moment has come to formally reintroduce the devotion to Nuestra Senora de la Salud to the Filipino faithful after years of obscurity since the destruction of her sanctuary during the Second World War in 1945. Two significant events took place to mark this important comeback – the Traslacion of the original image and her first Fiesta after almost eighty years since the Second World War.
The Traslacion of the original image of Nuestra Senora de la Salud was held on November 4, 2017, where the image was formally transferred via a motorcade from Museo Recoleto in Miranila Homes, Quezon City to her new home in San Nicolas de Tolentino Parish in Congressional Avenue, Quezon City. The Virgin was accompanied by the Recollect fathers she was welcomed by the San Nicolas Parishioners, Marian devotees, and the processional image of St. Nicholas of Tolentino – the Patron of the Parish. The Sacrifice of the Mass followed after the solemn enthronement rites and the faithful were given the chance to venerate up close the miraculous image of Nuestra Senora de la Salud.
Fr. Dionisio Selma, OAR, Father provincial of the Augustinian Recollects enthroning the image of Nuestra Señora de la Salud at her new home
Days later, on November 17, 2017, the first fiesta of Nuestra Senora de la Salud was celebrated after almost eighty years since the Second World War. The fiesta was well attended with more pilgrims from different parts of the country flocking to San Nicolas Parish to celebrate her fiesta. After the celebrated Holy Mass offered by the Augustinian Recollects fathers, a Grand procession followed where the Virgin was accompanied by images of the saints of the Augustinian Recollect Order from St. Augustine, St. Monica, St. Ezekiel Moreno, OAR, St. Magdalena de Nagasaki, OAR, San Nicolas de Tolentino, St. Rita of Cascia, Sta. Clara de Montefalco, San Juan de Sahagun, Sto. Tomas de Villanova and St. Joseph. The procession winded the streets of Congressional Avenue with lighted candles flickering along the way while praying the Holy Rosary and singing different Marian Hymns in honor of the Black Virgin of Health. The Fiesta was concluded with the public veneration of the image and a thanksgiving feast for pilgrims.
On November 17, 2019, the new chapel of Nuestra Señora de la Salud was formally blessed and opened where the image is now permanently enshrined. But due to the clamor of the faithful, the image was enshrined once again in the main parish Church for the veneration of the faithful. In 2021, the Cofradia de Transito de Nuestra Señora was reorganized, with recognition from the Diocese of Cubao and Rome, to further help the propagation of the devotion to Nuestra Señora de la Salud.
When graces shone forth once again
Nuestra Señora de la Salud
It seemed that the revival of the devotion to Nuestra Señora de la Salud is very timely for our present world is afflicted with all kinds of sickness and her maternal intervention is needed more than ever. From the moment the Caravan for the revival of the devotion to the Virgin, there were reports of numerous women who cannot conceive a child became expectant mothers when they asked help from Nuestra Señora de la Salud. From then on, more reported cures were recorded from recovery from dengue, cures from cancer (disappearance of cancer cells without medications) cures from other illnesses, and most remarkably the cases of a patient who recovered from multiple organ failure and a patient who recovered from a comatose state.
These numerous graces of healing show us that she will always be there for us and she is ready to intercede for us to her Son, the Divine Doctor, and Healer. While on earth, Our Lady was ever kind to the sick. She has not ceased to help them now that She is in Heaven. But even so, through all the ages of Christianity, She has been the constant nursing mother at the sick beds of Her children. The health of the body, yes; Mary wants us to have that, as Her Divine Son gave the health of the body. But most of all, She wants for us the health of the soul. She who cooperated in the Redemption wants to see us healed of the disease of the soul.
Nuestra Señora de la Salud, pray for us!
References:
Barcelona, Mary Anne, “Ynang Maria: a celebration of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Philippines”. Ed. Consuelo B. Estampa, P.D. Pasig City, Anvil Publishing Inc., 2004.
Rubia, Rommel, OAR, “La Salud: the Black Virgin of Health”, Recoletos Communications, Order of Augustinian Recollects, Province of St. Ezekiel Moreno, Quezon City, 2016.
“Testimonials to the powerful intercession of Nuestra Señora de la Salud”, San Nicolas de Tolentino Parish, Quezon City, 2019.
Photos:
Dacquioag, Michael of Buen Viaje PH Bernardo, Fritz Rinaldi Bunyi, Homer Order of the Augustinian Recollects Media Communications
The Dungaw of Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario – La Naval de Manila during the “Dungaw” rites on her festivity in lieu of the grand procession due to the government’s restrictions to curb cases of COVID-19 virus
The COVID-19 Pandemic has caused much damage in all aspects in everyday, including religious with the restrictions on Church attendance as part of the government’s measures to prevent the spread the pandemic further which the Church hierarchy cooperated since March of 2020. During this time, we see processions and other liturgical and pious activities that involved public gatherings were suspended and later modified in compliance to the current health measures which is understandable and the La Naval festivities were no exemption. For La Naval de Manila festivities for 2020, we saw how the celebrations continued with a unique twist to it with the revival of old traditions that we haven’t seen in the modern era since the post war years that made a mark to her devotees and the Filipino Catholic faithful.
The Year 2020
The year 2020 seems to be another great year given that we are all entering a new decade that we though will make us excited. However, it seems that it the enthusiasm slowly faded with the a series of tragic events from deaths of popular figures in popular culture, the relentless political and social turmoil that the nation faced and the unexpected eruption of Taal Volcano in Batangas that rocked the country.
The La Naval procession in Intramuros, Manila after almost 70 years
It was during this time that in January 24 – 25, 2020, as part of the 400th year founding anniversary celebrations of Colegio de San Juan de Letran, the original and Canonically Crowned image of Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario – La Naval de Manila returned to Intramuros in a grand celebration which was highlighted with the re-enactment of the image’s Canonical Coronation and the much awaited Grand Procession in her former home after several decades. The return of the Santo Rosario gave a glimpse of hope to her devotees and the faithful during those trying times.
Yet in March 2020, the unthinkable happened, the COVID-19 Pandemic swept the world on its feet with rise on the number of the virus’ victims that chooses any victim regardless of race, social strata among others. The world shutdown with lockdowns imposed in all countries as part of its drastic measures to curb the pandemic. On March , 2020, the Bayanihan Act took effect
The Dunagw of La Naval de Manila
The Dungaw of the Virgin
Given with the imposed lockdowns restrictions on public gatherings during in the early months of community quarantine, in April 2020, Rev. Fr. Roger Quirao, OP, Prior of the Convent of Santo Domingo asked the Dominican student-brothers to place the vicaria of the Santo Rosario at the right side of the main facade of Santo Domingo Church with the intention of the faithful to venerate the Virgin at least at the front gate of the Shrine along Quezon Avenue.
The rite begins at 8:00 in the morning and the hymn “Salve Regina” is sung by the brothers at the front of the Church while the vicaria is being brought out for the veneration of the faithful followed by an antiphon and the “Concede nos”. The “Dungaw” lasts throughout the day and devotees would stop at the church to ask for help, protection and consolation to the Virgin in this distressing time and the vicaria is brought back inside the Church while intoning the traditional “Despedida a La Virgen” at 8:00 pm. The whole rite is being streamed online thru the official Facebook page of the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary – La Naval de Manila so that the devotees and the faithful at home can witness and pray along given that majority of the people could not go outside due to the pandemic.
This particular act of the “Dungaw” seems to be new to the devotees yet as a matter of fact, this practice was already established in Old Intramuros with the first image of the Santo Rosario from Mexico was placed on top of the Old Santo Domingo Church where it is illuminated every night by the incessant offerings of the devotees to ask for her protection of the Walled City and its people. Unfortunately, this image was one of the casualties of the Second World War when Japanese and American forces bombed Manila in the 1940’s.
Interestingly, there were records found, particularly a ceremonial that dates back in 1741 and supporting accounts regarding the “Dungaw” rites of the Santo Rosario. According to these accounts, the Ivory image comes out of her Lady Chapel in times of need and distress, most notably during the departure of galleon ships of the Manila – Acapulco Galleon Trade where the image is placed at the ramparts along the Pasig River “as a consolation to the sailors” given that there were accounts that some of them would not return alive due to the perils of sea travel or sickness that they would get from one of the stops. The ceremonial would also mention that the elders may request for the image to be brought out in procession or be places at the facade of the old Santo Domingo Church along the streets of Intramuros when the city is “suffering from an affliction”. One such account is the earthquake of June 3, 1863 when the Santo Rosario was brought down from her chapel together with the images of Santo Cristo del Tesoro and San Francisco de las Lagrimas for veneration of the faithful.
Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario – La Naval de Manila
The 2020 Festivities
The pandemic compromised how festivities were celebrated due to restrictions on public gatherings – and the La Naval de Manila festivities was no exception. Fortunately, a relaxed quarantine measures were imposed in the country when the La Naval de Manila 2020 festivities were announced by September of 2020 which gradually allowed church attendance with the necessary health protocols that needed to the followed. The whole festivities were streamed online thru the Facebook and YouTube so that the devotees who couldn’t make it to Santo Domingo Church due to travel restrictions that is still imposed nationwide.
The festivities were a bit different from the previous years with no baldachino in sight, no carrozzas in the line, except for the Carozza Triunfal of the Virgin that would be her throne for the duration of the festivities and the 27 Dominican Saints are enthroned at the altars of Santo Domingo – a throwback from Old Intramuros where the processional images of the Dominican saints were enthroned at the altar surrounding the Santo Rosario. We would see in the 2020 festivities that some traditions of Old Intramuros and of the Order would be seen for the first time by the public. The festivities formally began on October 1, 2020 – the Feast of St. Therese of the Child Jesus – with the motorcade of the Vicaria throughout the jurisdiction of Santo Domingo Church that morning and the enthronement of the original image at her Carozza Triunfal later in that afternoon. The novena went through as the usual and streamed online.
In lieu of the much awaited besamanto, where devotees would have a chance to see the Virgin up close, the student-brothers distributed pieces of the old vestments of the Santo Rosario to the devotees who attended the novena services – another nod in the past. The family of the current recamadera (caretaker of the image) of the Virgin recounts that “… a handful of devout faithful would usually mill around the Iglesia (Old Sto. Domingo, Intramuros) hoping to chance upon Doña Angelita Leyba (the last camarera before World War 2) who has swatches of cotton rubbed on the image of the Blessed Virgin and Baby Jesus, and any old nagwas or trimming which was removed from her. These Items would be used by the devotees as sacramentals, just like a rosary, medal, and prayer book. Any item rubbed on or worn by the Miraculous image of Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario was regarded as milagrosa, sacred and precious. Like a relic, any item from the Virgen was believed to aid in healing the sick, ward off evil, protect from danger, and was one’s best companion for the journey from life to death.”
On the actual feast day, devotees and pilgrims continued to flock Sto. Domingo Church and for the first time in decades, no grand procession took place, but a Solemn and Grand Dungaw was held with the original image of the Santo Rosario comes out in her beautiful carozza triunfal and she was placed at the main door of the Shrine and stayed there for a few minutes.
The Dominican Friars led the prayer of the Holy Rosary and for the first time, the long yet beautiful Dominican version of the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary was sung and prayed in Latin. The Dominican Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the best kept secrets of the Order for centuries for this particular litany was used in times of peril, distress, plagues and even in exorcism rites.
The origin of this special litany dates back from the time of Bl. Humbert of Romans during the 13th Century when he was the Master General of the Order when the Dominicans’s existence is in danger when Pope Innocent IV issued the bull, “Etsi animarum” in 1254, which imposed severe restrictions on the Order. Bl. Humbert, greatly troubled and pained over what was happening to his beloved Order knelt before an image of Our Lady with tears asking for her help and intercession. Suddenly, he heard the Virgin and responded: “From this very moment, the Order has been freed.” A few days later, Pope Innocent IV died in Naples, sixteen days after issuing his bull against the Dominicans, which his successor, Pope Alexander IV, quickly annulled with his own bull, “Nec insolitum,” on December 31, 1254.
The Virgin of the Rosary – La Naval de Manila during the Solemn Dungaw rites
Another incident took place when the Order also suffered persecution from the secular Masters of the University of Paris, led by William of Saint-Amour, who sought to expel the Order in the University and propagated calumnous propaganda against them. Bl. Humbert of Romans, in the General Chapter of 1256, ordered that the Seven Penitential Psalms be prayed, along with the Litany with other prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Dominic. A few days later, in Rome, as the brethren were praying the Litany, a friar fell into a trance, and had a vision of Our Lord over the altar, with Our Lady at His side, who was asking her Son to heed the petitions of the friars. A few days later, over the course of ten days, Pope Alexander IV intervened decisively in favor of the friars, and against those who calumnied the Order.
A historian from that era commented that thanks to these Litanies, not only did the great persecutions against the Order come quickly to a favorable end, but the Order itself increased in honor, leading some rather surprised cardinals to remark, “Cavete a Litaniis Fratum Prædicatorum qui mirabilia faciunt” (“Be careful with the Litanies of the Friars Preachers — they work wonders”). Since then, the litany is included in the “preces” of the Order and it is being used in times of great danger and distress.
The fact that this was done in this time of pandemic and the world is in distress, adding the rains that happened that day, shows the Order and the devotees confidence to the powerful intercession of Our Lady to end the pandemic that killed many in all parts of the globe. The “dungaw” ended once the image went back inside the shrine and singing the famed La Naval hymns.
The devotees waited and prayed outside Santo Domingo Church despite the heavy rains for the duration of the Dungaw
Post mortem
We see that during this time of pandemic that numerous traditions of old are nicely mingling with the new ones in this digital age which shows how the devotion to the Virgin of the Rosary – La Naval de Manila is very much alive and it’s not just a relic of the past that most people would associate with the Old Intramuros. We see how the devotion further spread far and wide and how it not only captivates the modern day faithful from its rich tradition and history but also helped on re-discovering her maternal love and care for this nation, she was after all the “La Gran Señora de Filipinas”, by making herself known in times where the nation and the whole world is in darkness, uncertainty and fear and as we look to her beautiful and regal face, she gives us an assurance that she and her Son will never leave us and will always be with us.
Dagohoy, Herminio, The Saga of La Naval, Triumph of the People’s Faith, Dominican Province of the Philippines, Quezon Avenue, Quezon City.,2007.
Lomague, Mervin, G. Mapagaliw sa mga nagdadalamhati: “The Dungaw of Santo Domingo’s La Naval de Manila [Video file], 2020. Retrieved from https://fb.watch/1svCXImDUu/ on October 15, 2020.
Photos:
Daquioag, Michael
Guanlao, Eric Paul for EWTN Asia Pacific
Special thanks to Bro. Mervin Lomague, OP for the lecture that was given years after the La Naval de Manila festivities that sheds light on the old traditions of the Santo Rosario and to Mr. Michael Daquiaog and Mr. Eric Gunlao for the photographs used in this day.
Written by: Jose Franco Francisco and James Malabanan
In the quiet fishing barangay of Tuyan in Naga, Cebu, the people of the barangay took pride of their beloved miraculous patroness – Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario de Tuyan. The devotion to their beloved patroness goes leaps and bounds with a grand and elaborate festivities in her honor which showed the intense devotion that they cherished and became part of the history and culture of Barangay Tuyan, Naga, Cebu.
Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario de Tuyan
The image
The venerated image of Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario de Tuyan is a de vestir image of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary venerated in her parish in Tuyan, Naga, Cebu. The image has a wooden body with the Virgin’s head and hands were made of wood while the Child Jesus was made of ivory. The carving of the image was more of a typical style of the nineteenth century which gives its refined yet distinct look. The Virgin is vested in a folksy yet dainty manner from its veil and dresses that is typical to images in some parts of Visayas and Mindanao which gives it unique charm, along with its beautiful expressions. The Mother and Child are also decorated with precious jewels and metal works like crowns on their heads, a scepter and estrellas for the Virgin and a rosary.
During the Flores de Mayo rites, the Virgin became the Virgen de las Flores and the Child Jesus was kept for the duration of the season which this was also practiced in other provinces like those in Bantay, Ilocos Sur with the image of Apo Caridad (Nuestra Señora de Caridad de Bantay) where she is the Virgen de Alegria for the Salubong rites.
History
The devotion to the Virgin of the Rosary of Tuyan was said to began in 1915 when the residents of Barangay Tuyan decided to build a chapel in their area. due to the proximity of the Parish of St. Francis of Assisi in Poblacion, Naga, Cebu which the only convenient method of transportation was through sea which made the residents having difficulty to attend mass. Since the said barangay was under the jurisdiction of Poblacion, they decided to the parish in Naga and requested to lend them an image to be enthroned in the chapel as its patroness. The parish agreed and handed to them an ivory image of Our Lady of the Rosary which is said to be a replica of the famed image of Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario – La Naval de Manila as the priest compared the word Naval to most Tuyanons as fishermen.
From there, they would take the image from Naga before the novena days by boat going to Tuyan, and return the statue after the fiesta. For years, the lending of the venerable image of Our Lady of the Rosary became a venerable tradition until years later, the parish priest of Naga decided to donate the image to the barangay as their permanent patroness, with the condition that before the festivities, the Virgin would visit her first home at the St. Francis of Assisi Parish at Naga through a fluvial procession. In October 12, 1986, the chapel was elevated into a parish by the then Archbishop of Cebu, His Eminence, Ricardo, Cardinal Vidal.
Theft of the image
In 1984, the unthinkable happened when the ivory head and hands of the Virgin was stolen form her chapel and only the image of the Child Jesus, the Sto Nino was left. Afterwards, the headless image of the Virgin went on procession around the streets of Tuyan as a call to the thief to return the missing pieces. Everyone who witnessed the procession went into tears as they look upon their patroness. After which the image entered the doors of her chapel, strong wind and rain poured out from the skies. Soon after, a wooden replacement of the missing parts were made and as of this writing, the original ivory head and hands of the Virgin are not yet found.
The procession in honor of Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario de Tuyan
The festivities in honor of Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario de Tuyan
The festivities in honor of Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario de Tuyan is a huge celebration in Barangay Tuyan which is held every very third Sunday of December before her fiesta on December 30. The fluvial procession is known as “Sakay-Sakay” as a nod to the fishing culture of the barangay where the folks would use a “sakay-sakay” boat (a local type of a boat) for fishing, yet with the developments of technology and livelihood, they people switched to modern motorboats. The feast was then celebrated on October 7, the Liturgical feast of Our Lady of the Rosary yet it was moved to its current date to to coincide with the end of the year celebrations.
On the day of “Sakay Sakay” (the fluvial procesion), in the early morning every 3rd Sunday of December, the image is brought to her altar after the Simbang Gabi Mass to venerate the image upclose. At 8:00 am, a farewell mass was held and a procession follows afterwards to begin the fluvial procession. At this time, the Virgin is placed on a pall in an andas. Once the image is on the sea vessel, the fluvial procession begins with the rosary. Those who joined the fluvial will circle around the boat bearing the image while going to Naga and back.
The Fluvial procession
After the image spent its day at Naga, the image once again rides the sea vessel to be returned to Tuyan. Once the image returns, the image will go on procession throughout the barangay until it returns back to her parish. Before returning to the parish, she will be placed outside the parish grounds and devotees get to dance and shout their petitions to Our Lady with the beat of drums while shouting their loudest “Viva!”
The devotion at present
We see here in the history of the devotion to Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario de Tuyan the great and immense expression of love and devotion to their patroness. Through the years, the devotion have grown and strengthened. Miracles and grnted answered prayers were continues to be reported up to this day. The devotees would participated in the fluial procession and other devotional activities, including a foot procession, as their panatain thanks of answered prayers and miracles granted as an act of profession of their love and devotion to their Mother and Patroness.
References:
Francisco, Jose Franco, Repollo, Yries John, History of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Parish of Tuyan (unpublished manuscript), 2020.
Photos:
Francisco, Jose Franco
Special thanks to Mr. Jose Franco Francisco for this great collaboration in introducing the miraculous Virgin of the Rosary of Tuyan, Naga, Cebu.
Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario – La Naval de Manila
Blogger’s note: While doing a research for writing a new blog entry for a certain venerated image, I came across this piece of a gem on the annals of literature dedicated to the Virgin of La Naval written by its foremost devotee – the Quijano de Manila Nick Joaquin, National Artist for Literature. It’s just imperative for me to place it in my blog so that our future generation can appreciate this masterpiece dedicated to La Gran Señora de Filipinas.
HISTORICAL NOTE: The battle of Lepanto was a naval engagement between the combined fleets of Venice, Spain, and the Papal States, commanded by Don John of Austria, natural brother of the King of Spain, and a powerful Turkish armada under Ali Pasha. After a desperate and sanguinary engagement, the Christian fleet routed the Turks. Some 8,009 Christians were killed, but 20,000 Turks were killed, wounded, or taken as prisoners. The Christian victory broke the Turkish naval power in the Mediterranean and ended the last Crusade. Locale of the conflict was near the Cursolari Islands at the western entrance to the Gulf of Patras, Greece.
St. Pius V miraculously witnessing the Battle of Lepanto
The History
When on the first Sunday of October, 1571, Cross and Crescent grappled at Lepanto, the Cross won a signal victory. Gilbert Chesterton has, in a famous ballad, celebrated the victory for what it is: the farewell gesture of Christian Chivalry. Wherefore, the break in his voice. Lepanto was the last act of the medieval drama, and Chesterton, being a Christian, lets the curtain fall, not upon the vivas and banners of Success, but rather upon the silence, the stark waste of a Castilian plain, upon the figures of the Sorrowful Buffoon, the Crusading Skeleton, the Knight Ridiculous.
His cast, though, is incomplete: Selim the Sot, Don John of Austria, Felipe II, St. Pius V, Cervantes—there is a grave omission, an omission the latter Chesterton would surely not have made. For it is well known how firmly the Christian soldiery at Lepanto believed that the Queen of Heaven herself had participated in the battle, that she had appeared in the midst of the fighting with a rosary in hand and a sword in the other, exhorting her champions and confounding her foes.
Certainly, St. Pius V, then pope, and father of this crusade, had ordered that on the day of the battle the rosary be publicly offered throughout Christendom in spiritual support of the Christian navies; himself though aged and ailing, presiding on foot the rogative procession in Rome. Being a Dominican, he was naturally to invoke most fervently the aid of the great Patroness of his order and to place his confidence in her rosary, those holy beads the continuous recitation of which he and the entire body of the faithful were to lift to her all that day —now meditating on the various mysteries of her life (the happy, the tragic, the victorious), now chanting the graceful invocations of her litany— while out upon the embattled Mediterranean the “last knight of Europe” chopped down the arrogance of the Sot.
The Battle of Lepanto
The Miracle of the Battle of Lepanto
The Church was quick to acknowledge the role of Mary at Lepanto; October 7, the date of the victory, has ever since been her feast as Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, a feast and an avocation of hers around which maritime traditions consequently clustered: the Virgin of the Beads is popularly a Virgin of Sea Battles, a Virgin of Naval Victories. Some eighty years after Lepanto, she was again to justify those titles, to manifest her power in the faraway Orient of the conquistadores, to wield her mighty beads in favor of a handful of islands: the small necklacelike archipelago that had been named after the brother of the Lepanto hero.
Among those islands Spanish Chivalry was being granted a long and active indian- summer. Indeed, if the Manco of Lepanto had come over instead of moping behind in Andalusia, this sufficiently tearful world would have been spared his Quijote: all dressed up and no place to go. For in the Philippines the breed of hidalgos still had its Moors to face, its turreted towns to defend, its unknown lands to conquer. If Lepanto was its last act, our colonial history may be termed an oriental epilogue to the miracle play of the West.
The Battle of La Naval de Manila
The Battle of La Naval de Manila
Besides Moors, there were also the heretics — those Dutch and English buccaneers who had long harassed the Manila galleons. It was the Age of Pirates. The notorious Drake had dared set sail on Philippine waters and Thomas Cavendish once all but captured Iloílo. As crusader and visionary had founded the Spanish empire under the banner of the Cross, so now, pirate and buccaneer were unconsciously founding the empires of the future—under the banner of the Skull and Bones.
One such marauding expedition, a Dutch fleet of five, threatened Manila on March 15, 1646, when there happened to be but two galleons ready to defend her: the said galleons sallying forth undaunted nevertheless, trusting to win (as the chronicles say) “more by spiritual weapons than by weapons of war”; and while riding to face the enemy, “the members of the said armada did with much devotion recite the Holy Rosary, on their knees and in two choirs, all trusting that by such means they might be found worthy to succeed against the foe.”
The two forces met in the bay of Bolinao, the battle beginning at two in the afternoon and ending at six in the evening, with the Dutch fleeing in panic, “their lights covered and much damage done to their ships, but of our side not a man was lost.”
On July 29 of the same year this armada of two was again to sally forth in defense of the City, enemy having in returned; this time on seven large vessels “which carried such powerful artillery and some eight hundred men, not including the sailors — and this battle (fought between Bantón and Marinduque) was one of the fiercest and bloodiest in our day, lasting from seven in the evening till four at dawn — at which time, seeing how grievously maltreated their ships were and one on fire, they did retreat and seek shelter, and would not give battle though we called them to it.”
La Naval de Manila by Botong Francisco
Two days later the enemy reappeared with six ships, and hostilities were resumed off the coast of Mindoro, this conflict enduring from noon to the Angelus, when the Dutch fled a third time, one ship lost and another crippled — “and our armada did acclaim that victory as miraculous and did attribute it to Our Lady saying that she herself had fought and not men; and many did testify how, during the battle, voices moved in the air crying: Viva the Faith of Christ and the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary!” Before the initial battle, moreover, the commanding general, seeing the great disparity between forces, “did make a vow to the Virgin of the Rosary, promising her a feast of thanksgiving should the victory fall side, and with every man in the armada to come on bare feet and offer thanks at her shrine in Manila; which vow and promise, when laid before the soldiery, they did accept and ratify.”
This vow, still unfulfilled, was to be renewed at the express order of the governor-general of the Philippines, for hardly had the two triumphant galleons reached Cavite when news came of a fresh Dutch fleet approaching Mariveles. Though much battered and in need of repairs, the armada of two had once again to go and grapple with a superior force, this fourth encounter taking place between the islands of Luban and Ampil, and raging steadily for ten hours, “until seeing themselves hard-pressed, the enemy did escape and take flight, our ships pursuing and giving fire still, though one, our Capitana, had been hit in the side and was much feared for and yet did not sink.”
About a week later three of the Dutch ships, repaired and re-equipped, returned to the scene and found the disabled Capitana alone, her sister ship having sailed ahead, “and they did surround and fiercely set on her and did fire so close that there was long a danger of their boarding the ship; but our men, calling on God and Our Lady, did rise to the contest in such manner that they wrought a woeful destruction among the enemy, and did totally destroy one ship and scatter the others, which, fleeing, were discovered and severely punished by the Galera, a ship dispatched to our assistance — and though our Capitana had been engaged on such close quarters that for hours it seemed to rain bullets, nevertheless we had but four men dead.”
Our Lady of La Naval stained glass art at Colegio Filipino in Rome
Only fifteen men, in fact, had been lost by the defenders in all five battles. And these victories were decisive: the Dutch were to trouble the islands no more, were never again to overcast with Calvin’s shadow the tiny Rome growing up by the Pásig. This last attempt of theirs to besiege it had but furnished that “noble and ever loyal city” with one more festival, its most traditional one. For the armada heroes were not to be content with the simple fulfillment of their vow. True to that age-old courtesy towards heaven, with which the hidalgo has ever insisted that any victory of his arms is not so much a victory of his courage as of his faith, they were urgently to demand from the cathedral-chapter of Manila an official recognition and declaration of those five victories as miracles wrought by the Mother of God.
The ecclesiastics were, however, not to be hurried: the witnesses must first be heard, the evidence examined; only after six years did they pronounce a decision, declaring “that the five victories achieved by Catholic arms over the enemy Dutch in the year 1646 were and must be considered as miracles, vouchsafed by the divine Majesty of God through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, Our Lady, and the devotion to her Holy Rosary; wherefore it is authorized that, as miracles, the said victories be commemorated, preached, and celebrated.”
And commemorated, preached, and celebrated they have ever since been among us, in a feast which is purely ours, yet spaciously historical too, kept always on the second Sunday of October, and popularly known as the “Naval de Manila.”
La Naval de Manila during her visit at UST in 2011
The Image
The institution of this feast was, of course, to enhance the fame of that marvelous Virgin of the Rosary enshrined at Sto. Domingo church; was indeed to focus on her the Marian devotion of the City. But even before all this, votive gifts that covered her chapel from floor to ceiling and the ever increasing splendors of her cult, shrine, and wardrobe could testify to the effectiveness of her thaumaturgic powers, to the volume of her clients, and to the faith and gratitude she inspired. It needed but these naval successes of 1646 for the devout to see in her truly the great Lady of Lepanto, giver of sea victories.
And yet, of all the famous Virgins of the Philippines, this one alone has not been seafaring, has never guided a galleon safe into Acapulco, or come sailing from some old shrine in Spain to occupy a new one in the Islands. A “native Virgin,” she was sculptured in Manila in 1612, the joint masterpiece of a Chinese catechumen and an officer of the Spanish garrison, the work being commissioned by Don Luis Pérez Dasmariñas, then governor-general, by whom the image was presented to the Manila Dominicans for their newly erected church and priory at the mouth of the Pásig.
Life-size, of combined wood and ivory, the image is arrayed as a royal lady at the court of the Felipes — just such a figure, in fact, as John of Austria and his men would have imagined heaven’s Queen. In the pronounced majesty of her aspect and bearing, she exemplifies the transition from the simple gothic Virgins, where it is Mary’s motherliness that is most stressed, as the emphasis, in these more elaborate images of the seventeenth century (the Spanish “golden age,” and the period of the great monarchies), has shifted to her dignity and power, the properties of queenship; while a still later phase of devotion (for the firmer the creed, the more flexible and progressive the devotion) would seek out what is most maidenly, most virginal, most girlish in her, turning piously from Maria Theotokos to Mary the person, and progressing from the Murillo madonnas, through the cult of the Immaculate Conception, to such purely modern concepts of her as the Lourdes apparition and the Virgin of the Medal.
Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario – La Naval de Manila
In our Santo Rosario (as she is popularly called), though very much of the “golden age,” there are both gothic and modern elements. The posture is a stiff and conventional as any feudal Virgin’s: the Child on one arm, the other outstretched; but the face is individualized, is warmly human, and was surely chiseled by the Chinese catechumen. The features strike one as oriental (now, especially, when time has mellowed the ivory to a delicate brown), the cheekbones set high, the eyes small and slanting. Around her famous jewels (tributes of three grateful centuries), three hovers as brilliant a cluster of legend, each rare stone having a romance behind it — the great one, especially, blazing on her forehead (a “carbuncle,” the old people called it, and which they will further tell you, a monstrous snake that once haunted the Manila walls had carried about in its mouth, but would greedily lay aside for a bowl of milk; its greed serving at last to trap and kill the monster, its treasure being despoiled to adorn, quite appropriately, the image of her whose feet had crushed the serpent’s head). Her annual novena has become almost as legendary for its splendor, and the earliest memories of many a Manilan of devout family are of October evenings at these rites — of the blaze of chandeliers within the gothic and crowded vastness of Sto. Domingo, with a black sky looming and a windy rain whipping through the windows; the dramatic quality of the music, the prayers, the sermons; the sound and smell of corn popping and chestnuts crackling on coals outside on the patio and the acute loveliness of the Despedida, that haunting song with which the ceremonies have always closed and which, once heard, is not to be forgotten, ever evoking afterwards the atmosphere peculiar to these evenings; their indefinable excitement and vague joyousness.
Indeed the twin feasts of the Naval de Lepanto and the Naval de Manila on the first and second Sundays of October have imparted to that month so intimate and traditional a flavor of festivity that it has become the month most truly special to Manila, the month when in full typhoon season, the City broke out into the biggest celebrations: these of the Naval; besides the fiestas of San Miguel, Sta. Cruz, and Binondo; the month that started the display of hams and cheeses among its grocers and of turrones among its sweetshops, when her markets overflowed with apples, grapes, oranges, pomelos, and her sidewalks with chestnuts and lanzones; the month when back in our childhood, the very air turned festive and the Circus came to town and the season opened at the old Opera House.
The Definition
The story of the Naval having identified itself with Manila, it can yield a full pertinence only to the Manilan with a pious eye for the past; but equivalent traditions are embodied for, say, the Visayan in Cebú’s historic image of the Holy Child, or of the Bicolano in Naga’s famed Virgin of Peñafrancia. There is indeed no Philippine town or village, however humble, that does not feel peculiarly itself, as belonging to that spot of ground and no other, because of some patronal cult traditional to the locality, some holy image there venerated and investing the site with legend and association. When we talk today of the need for some symbol to fuse us into a great people, we seem to forget that all over the country there lies this wealth of a “usable past,” of symbols that have grown through and through the soil of the land and the marrow of its people.
The angels keep their ancient places,
Turn but a stone and start a wing;
’Tis ye, ’tis your estrangéd faces
That miss the many-colored thing.
But the past can become “usable” only if we be willing to enter into its spirit and to carry there a reasonably hospitable mind. As long as we regard it with hatred, contempt, and indignation, so long will it remain hateful and closed to us. Like a mirror (to borrow Aldous Huxley’s image of the Future), it will meet us with spears if we advance towards it with spears. And as long as we remain estranged from it, so long will we remain a garish and uncouth and upstart people, without graces because without background. Henry James has noted what an infinite amount of history it takes to form even a little tradition, and what an infinite amount of tradition to form even a little taste. Merely from his viewpoint, the aesthetic one, it should be instantly apparent how little we can afford to spare a single one of our four hundred years of conscious history. Towards our Spanish past, especially, it is time we became more friendly; bitterness but inhibits us; those years cry for a fresher appraisal.
To accuse the Spanish, over and over again, of having brought us all sorts of things, mostly evil, among which we can usually remember nothing very valuable “except, perhaps,” religion and national unity, is equivalent to saying of a not very model mother that she has given her child nothing except life. For in the profoundest possible sense, Spain did give birth to us — as a nation, as an historical people. This geographical unit of numberless islands called the Philippines — this mystical unit of numberless tongues, bloods and cultures called a Filipino — was begotten of Spain, is a Spanish creation. There is as great a gulf between the pre-Spanish drift of totem-and-taboo tribes and our present existence as one people as there is between protoplasm and a human creature. The content of our national destiny is ours to create, but the basic form, the temper, the physiognomy, Spain has created for us. If she had managed, for instance, to conquer Borneo along with these islands, we would have had four stars in our flag and (possibly) that swaggering self-confidence a big territory is apt to foster. Or Spain might have succeeded in holding only the island of Luzón, in which case we would have found ourselves a group of very minor islanders to whom the Visayans would be, not brother-“Filipinos,” but peoples as strange and remote as the Borneans now seem to be.
The Virgin of La Naval at her Carroza Triunfal
For three and a half centuries we lay within the womb of Spain; the Revolution was our violent birth; and in the bitterness with which we have ever since regarded the great and tragic nation to whom we owe so much, Freudians may read a parallel to that obscure enmity that haunts the relations of even the most loving son with his father—an enmity that perhaps voices the resentment of matter that has been wrenched out of its sleep and burdened with consciousness. It is just such a resentment—most vividly expressed in the poetry of Houseman (“Oh, why did I awake? When shall I sleep again?”) —that underlies much of our present vengefulness towards the Spanish. It should also help to explain the sluggishness of which we have been accused, and which, along with the equally famous “fatalism” of ours (so blankly accepted as native to us, being oriental, with no attempt to explain its presence or locate its source) may be no more than our blood’s memories of the communal tribe-house, where custom and taboo lay heavy upon life, pre-determining all event, all action, all speech even (we still dimly recall the taboo on uttering the chief’s or parent’s name); within whose rigid circle— everything being pre-ordained, pre-established—men moved as in a trance, without having to exercise their wills, and, therefore, without creating history. The dreaminess thick in our nature, our incapacity for decisive thought or action (as in the see-saw character of our politics) may, if analyzed, be found to derive from our failure so far to break loose completely from primeval carry-overs, from those submerged longings for the tight, fixed web of the tribal obedience—the mechanicality, the drift, the “even tenor” of passive vegetation as against the pain and effort of responsible and personal existence.
The prime work of Christianity for us (as for all the peoples of its information) has been this awakening of the self, this release and expansion of the consciousness, a work undoubtedly still in progress, we being not yet fully awake nor perfectly conscious; immature Christians at best; Catholics but not catholic; enclosed within the Faith as within a sect; having still to realize that to open oneself to this, “one of the great, conjoint, and—so to term it—necessary products of the human mind… rich in the world’s experience,” is to let in “a great, tide of that experience and (to make), as it were, with a single step, a great experience of one’s own, and with great consequent increase to one’s sense of color, variety, and relief, in the spectacle of men and things.”
That passage from Pater will ring with special accuracy to the Manilan who has grown up on the story of his city’s principal feast, and who, year after year, from earliest childhood, has participated, with pious “attentiveness,” in its popular celebration—in the culminating pageant especially: that of the procession (Manila’s “procesión de las procesiónes”), where in her triumphant march through the streets of her city, the miraculous image has for glittering escort the flower-and-fruit of the Dominican sanctoral: St. Vincent Ferrer, who could move the very stones to penance, and St. Rose of Lima, first bloom of American faith; Aquinas, who took all knowledge for his province, and the ecstatic Catherine of Siena, “that intellect of a man’s ablaze within the quintessence of womanhood”; the founding father, St. Dominic, terror of the troubadours; and, of course, St. Pius V of Lepanto, and St. Joseph.
Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario – La Naval de Manila
Our Manilan will realize that such practices, such pieties, have developed in him—long before the possibility of books—a “sense of infinity,” of being “at home in history”; so that no page of Aquinas, however profound, no ecstasy of St. Catherine’s, however mystical, but strikes him now as intimately clear and long familiar, for a feeling that he has known those people all his life and has often seen them strolling along the streets of his city. The Battle of Lepanto will always smell to him of rain and popcorn and roasting chestnuts; upon mention of the Elizabeth pirates he hears the high tremolo of a boy’s voice keening the Despedida. And, conversely, the most local, the most native objects will, like windows in a tower, open out for him upon immense vistas, upon the whole crowded spectacle, in fact, of “men and things.”
Many an October evening, while watching this procession of the Naval, and having divined, by a general excitement, the approach of the Image, he has heard the cries and trumpets of the passing concourse dissolve into the cries and trumpets of battle — that battle being, confusedly, now the medieval one against the Albigensians (when Our Lady, through St. Dominic, instituted the Rosary), now the Lepanto debacle, now the Philippine skirmishes with the Dutch; and he has understood afresh how these various wars were really one, that, in this particular avocation of hers, Our Lady has been concerned with the same conflict: the supreme and eternal one between pagan fate and Christian freedom; that, whether it be the Albigensian cult of suicide, the kismet of Islam or the predestination of Calvin, her beads have ever been wielded against the same foe; despair — and in defense of the same article: spiritual unction. And the trumpets of battle dissolving again into the trumpets of the procession, he has then seen her blaze into vision against the skies of his city, borne upon cloud on cloud of incense and music, her face on fire with jewels and mysterious with the veneration of centuries, with gleaming rainbows forming and falling all about her and silken doves bobbing whitely among her flowers of gold and silver—Oh, beautiful and radiant as an apparition! —the Presence at Lepanto, Lady and Queen and Mother of Manila, the Virgin of the Fifteen Mysteries.
Quijano de Manila
October 1943
Reference:
Joaquin, Nick, La Naval de Manila and Other Essays, De La Salle University Press, Manila, January 1, 1998.
About Quijano de Manila
Nicomedes “Nick” Márquez Joaquín (May 4, 1917 – April 29, 2004) was a Filipino writer and journalist best known for his short stories and novels in the English language. He also wrote using the pen name “Quijano de Manila.” Joaquín was conferred the rank and title of National Artist of the Philippines for Literature. He has been considered one of the most important Filipino writers, along with José Rizal and Claro M. Recto.
Before becoming one of the leading practitioners of Philippine literature in English, he was a seminarian in Hong Kong – who later realized that he could better serve God and humanity by being a writer. This is reflected in the content and style of his works, as he emphasizes the need to restore national consciousness through important elements in Catholic Spanish Heritage. In his self-confessed mission as a writer, he is a sort of “cultural apostle”, whose purpose is to revive interest in Philippine national life through literature – and provide the necessary drive and inspiration for a fuller comprehension of their cultural background. His awareness of the significance of the past to the present is part of a concerted effort to preserve the spiritual tradition and the orthodox faith of the Catholic past – which he perceives as the only solution to our modern ill.
In his last will, he offered his National Artist medal to the miraculous image of Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario – La Naval de Manila and it can be seen at the peaña base) of the image up to this day.
Pintakasi 