Our Lady of Piat Shrine

MANILA, Philippines — The image of Our Lady of Manaoag in a procession with the images of Our Lady of La Naval, and Our Lady of Piat? In June this year, Cagayanos and visitors to Tuguegarao City witnessed anew the parade of 12 famous Marian icons from the northern part of the country during the “3rd Marian Voyage of Peace and Love” from June 28-30.

The said voyage was the fitting centerpiece event of the 428th “Aggao nac Cagayan” (Araw ng Cagayan) or Cagayan foundation day whose over-all celebration was presided over by Governor Alvaro T. Antonio playing up the theme “Fiesta ta Bannag,” which means “feast at the river.”

The Voyage was organized by the Cagayan North Convention & Visitors Bureau (CNCVB), the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao, and the Department of Tourism (DoT), in cooperation with the provincial government, as a project to bolster Cagayan’s campaign as a pilgrimage center.

Department of Tourism, Region 2 Regional Director, Blessida Diwa said that the 12 Marian Images have been stationed at the following Tuguegarao schools and are open for public devotion: Our Lady of La Naval from Antipolo, Rizal at St. Paul University Philippines; Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage from Antipolo, Rizal at University of Cagayan Valley; Our Lady of Manaoag from Manaoag, Pangasinan at Cagayan State University;  Our Lady of Namacpacan from Luna, La Union at the University of St. Louis Tuguegarao;  Our Lady of Badoc from Badoc, Ilocos Norte at Linao National High School; Nuestra Senora del Mar de Cautiva from Sto. Tomas La Union at Tuguegarao Northeast Central School; Our Lady of Charity from Agoo at La Union- Tuguegarao East Central; Our Lady of Fatima from Valenzuela City, Metro Manila at Medical Colleges of Northern Philippines; Nuestra Senora de Caridad from Bantay, Ilocos Sur at Tuguegarao West Central School; Our Lady of Guibang from Gamu National Shrine- Isabela at Cagayan National High School;  and Our Lady of Immaculate Conception from Malolos, Bulacan at Tuguegarao North Central School.

At the helm of the Marian icons is the brown-skinned image of Our Lady of the Visitation from Piat, Cagayan, patroness of the Cagayan province (the only other popular brown Marian image in the group is Antipolo’s Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage).

Now more known as Our Lady of Piat,, the image has been housed for the said Voyage at St. Peter’s Cathedral. Director Diwa shares a personal miracle she herself received from Our Lady of Piat. It involves her then six month old son John Paul who has been diagnosed as having leukemia. Describing the color of her son as “white as paper,” she lifted him up then towards the image of Our Lady of Piat praying for healing.

On the 7th day of blood transfusion, her doctor announces that her son’s blood has become normal. Her son, Director Diwa says, is now 17 years old.

One of the oldest Marian images in the country, the image of Our Lady of Piat is no stranger to travel. The image, according to the web site www.piatbasilica.org, was brought by the Dominicans in 1604 from Macau to Manila, then from Manila to Cagayan in Lal-lo, then to Piat, then to Tuguegarao until, finally, she was brought once again, and permanently to Piat.

The web site also says that the name of the town of Piat could be derivative of  the word “piya,” which in the Ibanag and Itawis dialects means “goodness,” “kindness,” “good health,” and was then one of the important towns in the Itawes region.

The St. Peter Cathedral is the seat of the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao, and together with its belfry, is the biggest Spanish built church in Cagayan Valley.  That afternoon, a sizeable crowd has already assembled at the left area of the Cathedral’s courtyard where a stage dressed up for the occasion sits at the far end.

The 12 Marian images have been mounted in vehicles stationed on both sides of the space fronting the stage. The vehicles are wreathed in mums, white orchids, even plastic sunflowers, on beds of ferns, or leaves of fishtail palms. An arch of white roses adorned the vehicle of Our Lady of Piat.

Despite the fact that these images are only the official replicas of the images, the locals walk up to each image as if each was the original one, carrying in hand a piece of white cloth, face towel or handkerchief, which they hand over to the small group of men and women cordoning off the image atop the vehicles.

The said cloths are wiped around the face, hands, or even the vestment of the image and are handed back to the devotee who then either kisses the cloth or wipes it back onto their forehead, nose, nape of chest while muttering a short prayer.

In looking for a store that sells bottled water right across church, one decides to make a quick visit to the Paseo Reale Mall along Rizal street to view the “Kamulatan III exhibit or the 3rd Annual Indigenous Peoples Visual Art” with the theme:  New Worlds, Ancient Wisdom: A Cultural Journey into the Indigenous Visual Arts.

Organized by the Kalinawa Art Foundation with the help of the Cagayan Museum and Historical Research Center, the exhibit  displays a total of 103 artworks or entries as Kamulatan, it turns out, is also a contest participated in by indigenous peoples artists.

In Piat, the Marian images were welcomed by a group of dancers re-enacting the “sambali,” a war dance of the indigenous populations in the area  that were united and converted to Christianity through the intercession, it is said, of Our Lady Piat.

Centered then on the “sambali,” the Piat townsfolk celebrate the “Sambali Festival” from June 23 to 30, This festivity flows into the celebration of the feast day of Our Lady of Piat from July 1 and 2. It is said that Cagayanos had a much easier time converting to the Catholic because of two reasons: one is that the Dominicans chose to preach in Ibanag, the major local dialect then, and two, because the Ibanags already have their concept of “Kako” or the “wise old woman” or the “Ancient One” in place prior to the coming of the Dominicans in the area.

With bags each of Piat’s delicacy called “pawa,” or steamed sticky rice cake akin to the Japanese mochi but with a signature filling made from crushed peanuts and brown sugar, the group headed to Tuguegarao for the flight back to Manila. Lunch was served at J Ren’s Panciteria, a curious eatery beside a carwash stall by the same owner along the Diversion Road.

There, the group got to taste another pancit fare called “batil patung,” a noodle meal served with hot “batil” (poached egg soup), and with ground carabao meat and pork liver placed on top (hence, “patung”), and served and eaten with lots of diced onions soaked in soy sauce and calamansi.

As one forkful of “batil patung” enters one’s mouth, one remembers a recently-learned Ibanag sentence: “Magayayya y futù megafu nikau (My heart is happy because of you). Whether it is solace of the soul or adventure one is looking for in Cagayan, visitors to the province are bound to find a thousand other reasons for their happiness here, along with a procession of dear memories in one’s mind long after one has left.

For more on Cagayan, go to http://www.cagayan.gov.ph/