Nuestra Señora de la Paz y Buen Viaje - Our Lady of Antipolo

Nuestra Señora de la Paz y Buen Viaje - Our Lady of Antipolo

The miraculous image of Nuestra Señora de la Paz y Buen Viaje (English: Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage), more popularly known as the Virgin of Antipolo is one of the most famous Marian images in the Philippines and its Shrine is the most visited in the country, especially during pilgrimage season. People flock her shrine to ask for her guidance and protection especially for travelers here and abroad.

Features of the Image

The image is made of wood carved in Mexico upon the request of Governor-General Juan Niño de Tabora for Tabora is a Marian devotee and he would like to have an image of Our Lady to accompany him in his voyage to the Philippines and to help him govern the country.The statue (a Black Madonna) is a form of the Immaculate Conception, and is enshrined at Antipolo Cathedral in the city of Antipolo in the province of Rizal.

The statue is one of the most celebrated images of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Philippines, gaining devotees since the mid-19th century. From May to July each year, the image attracts millions of devotees from all over the country and abroad.

Arrival of the Virgin of Antipolo from Mexico

History

On March 25, 1626, Don Juan Niño de Tabora boarded the El Almirante galleon and left Mexico to go to the Philippines. He brought along the brown image of the Blessed Virgin. The “El Almirante” safely braved the dangers of the stormy seas and a fire aboard the ship for three months. It finally arrived in the ports of Manila on July 18, 1626. Governor Tabora credited the Blessed Virgin for the galleon's safe and successful journey and called for a celebration for the image's arrival.

A vintage estampa of the Virgin of Antipolo

A religious procession was held to transfer the image to the Manila Catholic Cathedral in Intramuros. It was believed that because the Blessed Virgin provided safe voyage for the galleon, she was named Nuestra Señora de la Paz y Buen Viaje. The Blessed Virgin assures that everyone will be safe in any voyage, any journey, any pilgrimage or trip for as long as the Way is Jesus, also the truth and the Life.

A royal decree from Isabella II of Spain on 19 May 1864 ordered that the curias of San Nicolas de Tolentino be turned over to the Jesuits in exchange for the curias of Antipolo, Taytay and Morong, which were given to the Augustinian Recollects, who thus came into possession of the image.

The Virgin's "trip" to the tipolo tree

An artistic depiction of  the Virgin
of Antipolo on top of Tipolo Tree

Upon Governor Tabora's death in 1632, the Blessed Virgin was turned over to the Jesuit fathers who were constructing a church in Antipolo. A church was to be built for the Blessed Virgin in the nearby barrio of Sta.Cruz although the Jesuit fathers found it hard to move it there from the Church of Antipolo. As if in protest of leaving the town, the image was always found on the tree trunk of Tipolo (breadfruit; Artocarpus incisa) which grew in the original site of the old church. Because of such, a pedestal was curved out of the trunks of that tree and the Blessed Virgin became locally known as the Virgin of Antipolo.

With this incident, the place called Antipolo to commemorate the miraclous event of the Virgin resting on the tipolo tree.

Chinese Revolt

When the Chinese community in Antipolo revolted, they burned the church as well as the image. However, the Blessed Virgin was recovered unblemished except for a slight streak on her right cheek. It was said that the image was stabbed by the Chinese non-believers but the image miraculously survived. The stab can still be seen to this day.

The image was transferred to Manila then to Cavite where it stayed for 14 years.It was brought on board the galleons of the Filipinas-Mexico trade route on round trips from Manila to Acapulco.

The Virgin of Antipolo and the Galleon Trade

Don Sebastian ordered the statue removed from its Cavite shrine in 1648, and its was shipped back to Mexico aboard the galleon San Luis. At the time, the image served as Patroness and Protectress of the Manila - Acapulco Galleon Trade.

The statue crossed the Pacific on Manila-Acapulco galleons six times from 1648 to 1748 aboard the: San Luis — (1648–1649) ,Encarnación — (1650), San Diego — (1651–1667), San Francisco Javier — (1659–1662) ,Nuestra Señora del Pilar — (1663) and San José — (1746–1748)

Saint Pedro Calungsod

Saint Pedro Calungsod and the Virgin of Antipolo

It is said that in one of the trips of the Galleon "San Diego" in  1667, Blessed Luis de San Vitores and Saint Pedro Calungsod went aboard to the ship along with other volunteer catechist and companion Jesuits for their evangelization work in Guam and made a stopover to Mexico to get the necessary funds and additional companions for their mission. Since the Virgin was also on board, it is believed that St. Pedro Calungsod and Blessed Diego venerated the Virgin to assist them in their missionary efforts.

Escape of the Virgin of Antipolo

Antipolo during World War II

In 1944, the Japanese Imperial Army invaded the town and turned it into a garrison, with the shrine being used as an arsenal. To save the image, the church's head sacristan, Procopio Ángeles, wrapped it in a thick, woollen blanket and placed it in an empty petrol drum, which he then buried in the kitchen.

Fighting between Imperial troops and the combined American and Filipino forces drove Ángeles and other devotees to move the image to Kulaiki Hill between Antipolo and Angono. From there, it was spirited away to Barangay Santolan in Pasig, and then to the main area of Pasig itself. The statue was then housed to the residence of Rosario Ocampo, one of the prominent ladies of Manila, in Quiapo, Manila, before it was enshrined inside Quiapo Church for the remainder of the Second World War.
On 15 October 1945, the statue was returned to its church in Antipolo, where it resides today.


Miracles

A cholera outbreak was spreading the Philippine Islands and several people died during the outbreak and Antipolo was not spared. The people were alarmed with the situation that they decided to seek the help of the Virgin of Antipolo to eradicate the plague. The people went in procession and held a mass on top of a hill. After the mass, the plague was gone and this became a practice to bring the Virgin to the hill in special times of  need.

The Hill is now called the Pinagmisahan Hills and today, on the first Tuesday of May, the image is brought to Pinagmisahan Hills to signal the beginning of the Pilgrimage season.

Our Lady of  Antipolo on her Canonical Coronation
in Luneta

In June 6, 1868, a young José Rizal and his mother Dona Teodora Alonzo went to the shrine in thanksgiving after the boy and his mother survived his delivery in 1861 as to fulfill the vow made by his mother to take the child to the Shrine of the Virgin of Antipolo should she and her child survive the ordeal of delivery which nearly caused his mother’s life.

Canonical Coronation

With much miracles that are attributed to the miraclous image of Our Lady of Antipolo, The statue was canonically crowned by the Archbishop of Manila, Rev. Michael J. O'Doherty, on 26 November 1926 in Luneta, Manila with much rejoicing.

Antipolo Cathdral

The Cathdral Shrine

The first missionaries in Antipolo were the Franciscans, who arrived in the vicinity in 1578. The Jesuits then followed and administered the church from 1591 until 1768, when the Jesuits were expelled from the Spanish colonies. The church was greatly damaged during the Chinese uprising of 1639, the 1645 Luzon earthquake, and the earthquakes of 1824 and 1883. Notable Filipino historians such as Pedro Chirino and Pedro Murillo Velarde ministered at the church.

The Diocese of Antipolo was created on 24 January 1983 and was canonically erected on 25 June 1983 at the "Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage" or the "Shrine Parish of the Immaculate Conception".

"Alay Lakad" from Quiapo Church to Antipolo is
held every April 30

Pilgrimage

Pilgrimages to the image's shrine begin and peak in May, the month dedicated to the Virgin Mary. On 30th of  April—the eve of May Day— thousands of devotees from Metro Manila customarily spend the night travelling on foot to Antipolo, where they are greeted at the shrine with a dawn Mass. This custom is known as the "Alay Lakad" where the the starting point of the pilgrimage is the Basilica Minore of the Black Nazarene, popularly known as Quiapo Church in Quiapo, Manila.


Sources:

Aviado, Lutgarda. ; "Madonnas of the Philippines". Quezon City:Manlapaz Publishing Co. 1975
Barcelona, Mary Anne. Ynang Maria: A Celebration of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Philippines. Edited by Consuelo B. Estepa, Ph.D. Pasig City: Anvil Publishing, Inc., 2004.
 "Diocese of Antipolo". CBCP Online.
 "Our Lady of Antipolo (Birhen ng Antipolo)". Ministry to Filipinos, Diocese of Orlando.
 "Antipolo History". Antipolo City, the Pilgrimage City. Retrieved on 2013-03-02.
 "Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage". Antipolo, Pilgrimage City. Retrieved on 2013-02-22.
Jose Rizal University (2004). "In Calamba, Laguna". JoseRizal.ph. Retrieved 1 May 2015.