Our Lady of Peñafrancia Pilgrim Image Visits CTK
The Pilgrim image of Our Lady of Peñafrancia arrived at Christ the King Parish Church last September 3 at 4:30 pm. In a fitting tribute, the 6:30 pm mass was officiated by Archbishop Tito Yllana, the Papal Nuncio to Australia.
Our Lady of Peñafrancia is a wooden statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary venerated in Naga City, Bicol, Philippines. The image comes from the original image enshrined in Salamanca, Spain. In the 1400s, a Frenchman and Mary devotee named Simon was roused from slumber by a voice telling him to go to Peña de Francia to the west where he would find the shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He sold everything he had, gave it to the church, then began his quest. For some time, no one could confirm that such a place existed and several times, he almost gave up the quest. Then, in 1434, near Salamanca, Spain, at a distance on a rocky hill, he saw a glaring and dazzling light and when he approached, he found the Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus in her arms sitting on a golden throne. Mary asked him to dig at that spot and he found embedded among the rocks, the most coveted image of the Holy Virgin with the Child in her arms.
Fast forward to 1712 in the Philippines, when a Spanish colonial official from Peña de Francia, Spain, settled with his family. The official’s son Miguel de Covarrubias, a seminarian, fell seriously ill and prayed to Our Lady of Peñafrancia for recovery, vowing to construct a church by the Pasig if he got cured. Miguel was miraculously cured and then ordained a priest not in Manila but in Ciudad de Nueva Cáceres, now Naga City. To fulfill his vow, Miguel built his nipa and bamboo church by the banks of the Bicol River and ordered a local artisan to carve an image patterned after the picture of Our Lady of Peñafrancia that he always carried with him.
Stories of miracles surrounding the image began circulating immediately. A letter sent by Miguel to the Dominicans in Salamanca, Spain in 1712 reported numerous miracles through the intercession of Our Lady. The number of devotees eventually increased beyond the Diocese of Nueva Cáceres, which comprised the Bicolandia and Marinduque, and in modern times the devotion has reached other parts of the world along with the Filipino
diaspora.
Starting September 8, the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, all roads and routes lead to Naga City in Camarines Sur where six million Bicolanos from both Bicol and abroad flock to that progressive city to pay honor to the Virgin of Peñafrancia, miraculous patroness of the Bicol Region. They will shout “Viva la Virgen” to the high heavens. On the last day, the image is returned to her shrine following the Naga River route where the colorful evening procession is lit by thousands of candles from followers in boats escorting the image back to the cathedral.
The Peñafrancia pilgrim image came from the Parish of San Isidro Labrador near East Avenue; the entourage was led by Isidro Labrador parish priest Fr. Arvie Bello. To welcome the Lady, the CTK parishioners waved their handkerchiefs upon her arrival at 4:30 pm.
After the 8 pm mass by Archbishop Yllana, the devout CTK parishioners stayed to spend an hour of adoration until 10 pm. The parish then said farewell to Our Lady of Peñafrancia the next day, Monday, September 4, after the 6 pm mass at the Divine Mercy Chapel.
