By Christina Hermoso Thousands of devotees of the La Virgen Milagrosa de Badoc, the revered Patroness of Ilocos Norte, witnessed the Pontifical Coronation of her image last May 31, the Feast of the Visitation of Our Lady, at her shrine at the St. John the Baptist Parish in the town of Badoc. Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle led the solemn rites together with Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Cardinal Quevedo and Laoag Bishop Renato Mayugba. Bishops from across the country and priests from Ilocos Norte and neighboring provinces attended the event. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila, Cardinal Orlando Quevedo of Cotabato and Bishop Renato Mayugba lead the Pontifical coronation of La Virgen Milagrosa de Badoc at the St. John the Baptist Church in Badoc, Ilocos Norte, May 31, 2018.
(PGIN Communications via Facebook / CBCP News / MANILA BULLETIN) Cardinal Quevedo, a native of Ilocos Norte, recalled the story of La Virgen Milagrosa’s arrival in the Ilocos region together with the Santo Cristo Milagroso de Sinait. Quevedo, in his homily, said, “the wooden images came to Ilocos shores in a tightly sealed wooden box which was discovered by Badoc and Sinait fishermen four centuries ago. The sacred images are believed to have come from the persecuted Christians in Japan who had jettisoned these religious artifacts to the sea to avoid being implicated as Christians.” “The martyrs of this persecution include Blessed Justo Takayama Ukon and San Lorenzo Ruíz,” he added. Bishop Mayugba celebrated a Thanksgiving Mass in the afternoon, followed by a procession. “Crowning our Mother and our Queen with diadems finds its fulfillment and meaning through extending our help to the poor and the needy and particularly to those in the peripheries…to crown Mary is to love the poor,” the bishop said as he announced the setting up of the Caritas Badoc which is dedicated to helping the indigenous peoples and indigenous cultural communities in Ilocos Norte. It will also be dedicated to fund the training of future priests, particularly poor and needy seminarians. A Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) News post said, Rev. Fr. Ericson Josue, a priest historian from the Diocese of Laoag, celebrated a Thanksgiving Mass for the event at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome, Italy on the same day. It was attended by Filipino migrants who came in pilgrimage from various parts of Europe.