THE VIEW FROM RIZAL
On March 25 of last year, many were elated by the news from the Vatican that Pope Francis had issued the Papal Decree elevating the Antipolo Cathedral to the status of an “International Shrine.” This coming Friday, Jan. 26, several members of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) will trek up to the Pilgrimage Capital of the Philippines to take part in formal and solemn ceremonies marking this important event in the history of the Shrine of the Lady of Peace and Good Voyage and of Antipolo which has been her home for nearly four centuries.
Based on statements by the CBCP, the Antipolo is only the third international shrine in the whole of Asia and the 11th in the whole world. “It is, however, the first Marian international in Asia and sixth in the entire world,” the CBCP said.
Following its elevation into an international shrine, the Antipolo Cathedral now joins the distinguished list of such shrines known all over the world. This includes the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France, the Shrine of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Fatima, Portugal, and the Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Poland.
We wrote about the significance of this event in one of our columns last year. We said that the elevation of the Antipolo Cathedral to an “International Shrine” is a recognition of its important place in the religious life of our countrymen, and serves as a renewed invitation to Catholics in our country and the rest of the world to come and visit Our Lady’s home by way of a pilgrimage.
Following this development, a number of our readers and friends have been asking us this question: how does a Catholic shrine qualify to become an “international shrine?”
We are not an authority on the subject matter so I asked some of my friends who are close to the Catholic hierarchy and who are devout Catholics. According to them, “international shrines” have two important elements: History and association with miracles. For the Vatican to declare them as such, they need to have historical, cultural, and religious significance.
History and miracles are, perhaps, the things that would best describe the Patroness of Antipolo. Based on history, her wooden image carved by Mexican sculptors had accompanied galleons plying the Mexico to Manila route in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Spanish officials and ship crews considered it miraculous that, in the journeys accompanied by her, their voyages had been safe, and free from the assault of pirates and marauders.
These journeys were marked by “peace.” They were “good voyages.” That must have been the reason why the image was eventually given the title “Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage.”
The miracles associated with Antipolo’s patroness may not have received as much global attention and publicity as those that have been claimed to have happened in Lourdes and Fatima. Despite that, the devotion of thousands of pilgrims to her is proof that the faith that she inspires in people’s hearts may have brought about miracles.
As mentioned in our past columns, one of the most famous pilgrims was the young Jose Protacio Rizal who, on June 6, 1868, was accompanied by his father on a visit to Antipolo. Some accounts say the future national hero and his father took a boat ride across Laguna de Bay from Calamba which, at that time, was an overnight trip. They must have landed in Binangonan from which they must have taken a journey by foot to Antipolo.
The pilgrimage by the young Rizal was said to be in fulfillment of a promise made by his mother to the Patroness of Antipolo. She is said to have had a difficult and perilous experience of giving birth to a future national hero, and she needed to plead for the intercession of Our Lady. She must have considered the safe delivery and survival of her child a miracle.
Each year, thousands of pilgrims coming from various points in Metro Manila and Rizal make a similar trek up to the Shrine of Our Lady. This happens on the evening of Holy Thursday, and the size of the pilgrim crowd is, perhaps, second only to the mass of devotees who show up at the procession for the Black Nazarene. It is safe to presume that the Holy Thursday pilgrims on foot make the difficult hike to pray for a miracle or to express gratitude for miracles that have already happened in their lives.
Last year, the Antipolo Cathedral released a photo of popular professional basketball player LA Tenorio praying before the image of the Patroness of Antipolo. According to the news accompanying the photo published by the media, LA was then starting to battle stage three colon cancer and had asked for the intercession of Our Lady for healing. The write-up added that LA has been a devotee of Our Lady since he was a child.
In September last year, LA issued a statement announcing he is now “cancer-free.”
We are not in a position to declare LA’s healing a miracle. What is miraculous to us is that someone like LA who has relied on his exceptional physical and mental prowess to carve a name in Philippine basketball should surrender his situation to the Patroness of Antipolo.
Perhaps, one miracle is Antipolo itself. The growth and prosperity of the city after the dismemberment of Rizal province in the 1970s can only happen with Divine Intervention.
The Patroness of the city has blessed her Home, as she had for nearly four centuries. ([email protected])