Yesterday, the first Tuesday of May, Antipolo marked the official start of the annual pilgrimage season to the Pilgrimage Capital of the Philippines. This is also acknowledged as the longest pilgrimage season for a Catholic pilgrimage site in the country. It peaks this May and lasts until July.

When Antipolo’s pilgrimage season is mentioned, history buffs will always mention the visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage made by the then-seven-year-old Jose Rizal.

The intention was to thank the Patroness of Antipolo for helping the future hero’s mother through an extremely difficult childbirth, which brought him into the world.

The story must be retold: The future national hero made the pilgrimage to the Antipolo Shrine with his father, Don Francisco Mercado. They crossed Laguna de Bay by boat. We presume that their journey across the lake must have begun from the shore of Calamba, and they may have landed in the town of either Binangonan, Angono or Taytay.

The father and the seven-year-old son may then have taken a carretela or carromata to Antipolo, passing through Taytay. The possibility is not remote that they may have traveled to the Shrine on foot, joining other pilgrims from nearby provinces, some of whom were carried in hammocks called “hamaka” in the vernacular.

That brief visit to Antipolo must have made a lasting impression on the young Rizal. The impact must have been so significant that he was inspired to write the poem titled “A la Virgen de Antipolo.” In this early work, he calls the Virgin “pure rose,” “queen of the sea,” and “faithful iris of peace.” He expressed his faith that “from evils mortals, your image will deliver us.”

He was only 14. The poem reveals the future national hero’s deep spiritual fervor and devotion to the Catholic tradition. He will seriously question this later in his adult life.

The impact of his pilgrimage on the future national hero when he wrote his first one-act play at the age of 19. He was then a student at the Ateneo Municipal in Intramuros. The title of the play was “Junto Al Pasig” (‘Beside the Pasig River.’)

That play begins with a scene featuring a fluvial procession. The centerpiece of that event was the Virgin of Antipolo, and a group of students waiting along the riverbank was singing hymns of praise to her.

The play climaxes with the struggle between one of the main characters and an “angel of darkness” named “Diwata” by the author. Diwata introduced himself as the “true god” whom the natives worshipped before the Spaniards came to the country. He mocked the character, a young man named Leonido, for being “foolish enough to worship the false gods introduced by the colonizers. Diwata demands allegiance from the young man and bars him from attending the religious event honoring the Virgin of Antipolo.

As the play continued, the “angel of darkness” told Leonido that before the conquerors came, the islands were beautiful. There was no hunger nor pain. The fields brimmed with harvest; the land was fertile. Animals freely roamed and were provided with abundant food. It was paradise. When the conquerors came, Paradise was lost.

Ms. Gemma Cruz-Araneta, writer, columnist, and Rizal descendant, explored the mind of the young author. She said Rizal used an “ingenious device” to share ideas with peers without getting into trouble.

What was the “thought-provoking idea?” Was it that we lost paradise because of the conquerors? Was Rizal pushing Filipinos to examine their conscience and allegiance? Was he urging them to regain “lost paradise?”

Was he asking his peers to question how they understood and practiced their faith?

Ms. Cruz herself wondered how a man as young as the 19-year-old author would have an idea of a “lost paradise.” Dr. Rizal would use this phrase again in his “Last Farewell,” the masterpiece he wrote in his cell, hours before he was executed in Bagumbayan. In this poem, he described his “Patria Adorada” (beloved Fatherland) as “Nuestro perdido eden” – our “lost paradise.”

We share Ms. Cruz’ question. How would someone as young as 19 have such a profound understanding of the state of his people’s heart and the condition of his country’s soul?

It is possible that his pilgrimage to Antipolo when he was 19 years old was related to the raging debate that formed in Dr. Rizal’s heart and mind. He may have later on realized that he – and the rest of the nation – are, indeed, “pilgrims.” We are on a journey, and where we are right now is a temporary stop. “Pilgrims” are not “wanderers.” “Pilgrims” travel with a clear purpose: To discover, to understand, to see beyond the proverbial cloud of unknowing.

As a nation, our shared pilgrimage is our journey which leads us forward – or back – to our “lost Paradise.”

Dr. Rizal’s visit to the Shrine of the Lady of Peace and Good Voyage when he was seven years old was not in vain.

It opened his eyes. His voyage through life was fruitful and meaningful. He must have found peace in having given it up for his Patria Adorada, for his Perdido Eden.

Come, visit Antipolo this summer. Make it a pilgrimage like what Dr. Rizal had.

(The author is a Doctor of Medicine, an entrepreneur and the mayor of Antipolo City, former Rizal governor, and DENR assistant secretary, LLDA general manager. Email: [email protected])