Marian devotion had become so much part of the Filipino's heritage and
has created an enduring Christian atmosphere that builds communities and drawn
families together. These are the early Marian icons and a bit of their history
in the province of Cavite.
Our Lady of Assumption
Maragondon, Cavite 1627
It was in 1627 that Maragondon was established as a parish
with Our lAdy of Assumption as its patroness. Since 1611 the Jesuits had been
ministering the Maragondon as a visita of their parish in Silang. In 1646 the
Spanish government ordered the stone church demolished to prevent it from being
used by the Dutch as fortification. The reconstructed church has been declared
in 2001 as a National Culture Treasure.
Our Lady of Candelaria
Silang, Cavite 1640
The parish id Silang, Cavite was established in 1595 under
the care of the Franciscan missionaries and with San Diego de Alcala as patron
saint. A fore in 1603 destroyed everything, and a new start was made un er the
Jesuits at a new location where its baroque church would be completed in 1640,
under the patronage os Nuestra Señora de Purification or Virgen de Candelaria,
whose feast is celebrated on February 2. This cion of the Blessed Virgin Mary
is not to be confused with the one foot and a half image of our blessed Mother
found hidden or abandoned on the forest of Silang in early 1640 following the
Sangley uprising few months back. With her right arm hacked off and with her
left holding a book against her chest, according to the Jesuit historian Fr.
Pedro Murillo, the beautiful Morenita came to be known as Nuestra Señora de la
Anunicata or Our Lady of the Annunciation for her many devotees. A Tagalog
novena was last printed om 1884. The missing icon, the lost Blessed Virgin if
Cavite, was apparently misplaced (for the second and final time) during the
confusions of the revolution independence.
Nuestra Señora De La Soledad De Porta Vaga
Cavite City 1667
The small painting on cloth of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad
de Porta Vaga was found floating nin Cañacao Bay, Cavite City. “Inang Nag-iisa”
was apparently brought to the country from Acapulco, Mexico, where the same
presentation of our Lady is also in the cathedral. The image was initially
venerated in Porta Vaga, the entry point to the esplanade of the Cavite port of
the Spanish fleet. The icon was canonically crowned in 1978 in the name of Pope
John Paul II.
Our Lady of The Pillar
Imus, Cavite 1774
The image of Nuestra Señora del Pilar was brought to the country
from Spain by Martin Lumbrenas sanches Perez, ORSA in 1632 and was at first
placed in the Church of San Nicholas de Tolentino in Intramuros, Manila. In
11684, it was transferred to the Casa Hacienda de Imus of the Recolect parish
of Imus when it separated from the parish of Kawit (Cavite el Viejo) in 1795.
St.Ezequiel Moreno, ORSA, who was administrator of the Hacienda de Imus from
1882 to 1885, helped in the parish of Imus during the cholera outbreak that
devastated the town. On 1961, when the Diocese of Imus was created out of the Archdiocese
of Manila. Our Lady of the Pillar became the titular patroness of the diocese and
province of Cavite. “Nana Pillar” was canonically crowned on December 3, 2012
by Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle in celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the
diocese. Her feast is on October 12, enlivened by the distinctive
dance-procession called karakol.
Immaculate Conception
Naic, Cavite 1796
The Diocesan Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Naic is
the largest church in the province of Cavite, built in the neo-gothic style.
The parish was established by the Dominicans in1796. It was in Naic that their
parish priest, Fr. Modesto de Castro (1857-1864) wrote his famous “Urbana at
Felisa” the bestselling book ever written in Tagalog in the late Spanish era.
The church convent was used by Andres Bonifacio as his head quarters during
revolution.
Our Lady of the Rosary
Rosario, Cavite 1845
The town of Rosario used to be called Salinas, a barrio of
San Francisco de Malabon (now General Trias). A framed image of Our Lady of the
Most Holy Rosary is said to have been brought ashore in sitio Muzon of Salinas
by a boat captain and his crew after surviving a raging typhoon between Mindoro
and Manila, in fulfillment of their promise to build a chapel to the Virgen del
Rosario at the spot where they land safely. The painting has been identified as
probably by the Filipino painter Faustino Quiotang around 1810-1820. In 1845
Salinas became an independent town, under its first parish priest Fr. Mumerto
Ne Mariano, a native of Rosario.
Nuestra Señora De Guia
Magallanes, Cavite 1882
The last town of Cavite to be founded in the 19th
Century, Mgallanes was made a parish in 1882 under the patronage of Nuestra
Señora De Guia. Magallanes was at first under the Recoletos of Maragondon. The
original statue made of ivory was stolen, and replaced with a wooden one.
Source: Shaping The Filipino Marian Piety
Msgr. Sabino A. Vengco, Jr.
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