Devotees celebrate Wednesday, Feb. 2, the feast day of the highly revered Our Lady of Candles (Nuestra Senora dela Candelaria), the patroness of Western Visayas and Jaro, Iloilo.
Feast masses will be celebrated at the Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral in Iloilo City in observance of the event. The traditional blessing of candles, which are brought home by devotees like the palms (palaspas) on Palm Sunday, in the belief that the blessed candle will protect them against evil, harm, and misfortune, will be held.
Saint John Paul II canonically crowned the miraculous image of Our Lady of Candles on his first visit to the country on Feb. 21,1981, thereby making it the only Marian image in Asia crowned by a Pontiff in person (by a papal saint). It is now enshrined at the Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral which was declared a national shrine during the Feast of Our Lady of Candles in 2012.
The devotion to Our Lady of Candelaria of Jaro was derived from the original Virgin of Candelaria (Our Lady of Candles) enshrined in the Basilica of Candelaria in Canarias, Spain.
According to stories, the image of the Blessed Mother, carrying the Infant Jesus on her right arm and a green candle on both hands, was found by fishermen on a riverbank in Iloilo in 1587. It was later placed in a small church in Jaro and was transferred to the Jaro Cathedral in 1864.
Meanwhile, devotees of Our Lady of Candles in Metro Manila traditionally visit and pray before her image enshrined at the Presentation of the Child Jesus Parish in BF Homes, Paranaque City and at the San Fernando de Dilao Parish in Paco, Manila.
A fiesta mass will also be held at the Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Candelaria in Silang, Cavite at 7 a.m.
Coinciding with the feast Tuesday is the commemoration of the Solemnity of the Presentation of the Lord. Also known as Candlemas Day, many Catholic churches will also hold the blessing of candles to remind the faithful that “Jesus is the Light of the world, who, by His birth, saved the human race from eternal damnation and expelled the darkness of evil and death.”
A fiesta mass will be celebrated at the Presentation of the Lord Parish in Filinvest, Quezon City at 7 a.m.
Mass readings and reflections will focus on an early episode in the life of Jesus when He was brought to the temple in Jerusalem by His parents, St. Joseph, His foster father, and the Blessed Mother, to be consecrated to the Lord in accordance with the Jewish Law.
The Virgin Mary also offered a pair of turtledoves for her own purification. As was customary, a Jewish woman was in semi-seclusion for 40 days after childbirth and an offering was necessary for her ritual purification.
Considered as one of the most ancient feasts of the Christian church, this day is also regarded as an important day for those in humble service. Saint John Paul II consecrated the feast with the renewal of religious vows.