Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario de La Naval de Manila

Nuestra Senora del Santisimo Rosario de La Naval de Manila

The Image of Nuestra Señora del Santísimo Rosario de La Naval de Manila (colloquially known as Santo Rosario or Our Lady of La Naval de Manila), is dubbed as the La Gran Señora de Filipinas. As with the Battle of Lepanto of 1571, Filipinos credit her intercession for successfully repulsing Dutch invasion during the Battles of La Naval de Manila.

The image of Our Lady of La Naval, whose feast is celebrated every second Sunday of October, is a 16th-century ivory and wood statue enshrined at the Santo Domingo Church (formally, the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary) in Quezon City. The image, its regalia, and the Santo Domingo Church Complex have been designated National Cultural Treasure of the Philippines PH-16-0009-NCT by the government in 2009 as amongst the country's Cultural Properties.

Features of the Image

Measuring some 1.52 metres, the body is made of hardwood while the face and hands, as well as the entire Child Jesus in its arms, are made of genuine ivory. Since its creation, the statue -- considered the oldest dated ivory carving in the Philippines -- has always been decorated with elaborate garments and a crown. A medal was placed at the center of the base of the image, that medal is the National artist Medal of Nick Joaquin, a well reknowed Filipino writer and poet famous for his literary works for the Virgin of La Naval. The Quijano de Manila (as he is popularly called) expressed on his deathbed that his medal will be placed at the base of the image as his final offering. The medal can still be seen today.

The statue has merited several papal honours: Pope Pius X who granted it a canonical crown in 1907, Pope Paul VI who proclaimed her Patroness of Quezon City and Pope John Paul II who proclaimed her Patroness of the Philippine Navy. Pope Pius XII also sent her an Apostolic Letter on the occasion of the Tricentenary of La Naval de Manila while Pope Leo XIII issued an exhortation for people to come in pilgrimage to Santo Domingo Church and to pay respects to the Virgin which was then in Intramuros.

The Carving of the Image

History

In 1593, the new Spanish Governor-General Don Luis Pérez Dasmariñas, commissioned a statue of Our Lady of the Rosary for public veneration in memory of his recently deceased father. Under the direction of Captain turned priest Don Hernando de los Rios Coronel, the sculpture was made by an anonymous Chinese immigrant, who later converted to Christianity; this is the commonly cited reason for the statue's Asian features. The statue was later given to the Dominican friars, who installed it at the Santo Domingo Church.

Popular legend has it that while the Chinese carver was making the image, he heard a gentle female voice saying: " "¡No me des tan fuerte!" - "Do not chisel me too hard!, it hurts!" . This incident haunted the carver that when he was in Ilocos, he decided to be baptized and he willed that it will be done in front of the image he made. I a simple ceremony the infidel became a Catholic. The sculptor and the image were at last united in bonds that transcended mere earthly association.

Early Miracles

The miracle of the mother-o'-pearl

A Moro diver was doing his job to find precious pearls for trading and while he saw a great pearl in a giant clam, as he about to get the precious pearl, the mother-o'-pearl closed that his arm got stuck. The diver remembered about a preaching of a Dominican friar in Zamboanga about the Miraculous Image of the Santo Rosario in Intramuros and he later asked the Virgin to help him escape from a sudden death and he promised to offer the pearl to the Virgin, immediately, the mother-o-pearl broke into two and his arm was released  and got the precious pearl. The diver immediately went to Intramuros and with the permission of the friars, he gave the precious pearl to the image of the Virgin.

The Virgin reprimanding the thief

Not long after, a thief was lurking inside the church and wanted to rob the pearl of the Virgin, as he about to reach the image, the image spoke to him "¿Por qué me roba usted cuándo no le daño?" - Why dost thou rob me when I harm you not...?  The thief fell down and realized his sin, he repented and since then, the people now have high regard to the Lady's jewels.

Another miracle took place is the miracle of Francisco Lopez in 1613 who is known for his viscious deed, yet his saving grace was praying the Rosary. One day while he is on a voyage, the natives attacked the ship that left the Spaniards injured, some of them died. Francisco did not die yet he has wounds all over his body and bled profusely. Seeing his end is near him, he sincerely pleaded the Virgin to help him in his last hour. Then suddenly, the Virgin and the Child Jesus appeared to him, walking towards him and sustained him in his remaining hours. Then a ship came and his acquaintance, Gonzalo Salcedo saw him in his pitiful state and Lopez related his encounter with the Virgin and asked Salcedo for a priest for his last Sacraments. A Franciscan priest came and recieved his last sacraments and died in peace.

That same moment, the camarera, Doña Ana de Vera saw the the lower part of the dress of both the Virgin and Child were dirty with cake mud and wet. This alarmed her that she called the Padre Prior to report the incident. The conclusion to this mystery was later reached when an investigation took place and found out that the miracle of Francisco Lopez and the discovery of Doña Ana de Vera happened the same time. This miracle was probed in 1621.

A Mother went inside Sto. Domingo Church, then in Intramuros, with her dead 6 months old baby boy. She went to the feet of Our Lady and begged to bring his dead baby back to life. To the amazement of the mother, and the crowds inside the church, the baby was brought back to life to the rejoice of his mother. The miracle was duly recorded and perpetuated.

The Battles of La Naval

Poster for the Tricentennial Celebration of the
 Victories of La Naval

In 1646, naval forces of the Dutch Republic made several repeated attempts to conquer the Philippines in a bid to control trade in Asia. The combined Spanish and Filipino forces who fought were said to have requested the intercession of the Virgin through the statue prior to battle. They were urged to place themselves under the protection of Our Lady of the Rosary and to pray the rosary repeatedly. They went on to rebuff the continued attacks by the superior Dutch fleet, engaging in five major battles at sea and losing only fifteen members of the Spanish Navy.

With five battles to face against the Dutch, the Filipino and Spanish forces led by Commander Lorenzo de Orella y Ugalde won despite being shorthanded: they had only two merchant galleons: The "Encarnacion" and the "Santo Rosario" against 18 Dutch warships.

After the Dutch retreat, in fulfillment of their vow, the survivors walked barefoot to the shrine in gratitude to the Virgin.Later, on 9 April 1662, the cathedral chapter of the Archdiocese of Manila declared the naval victory a miraculous event owed to the intercession of the Virgin Mary, declaring:
"Granted by the Sovereign Lord through the intercession of the Most Holy Virgin and devotion to her Rosary, that the miracles be celebrated, preached and held in festivities and to be recounted amongst the miracles wrought by the Lady of the Rosary for the greater devotion of the faithful to Our Most Blessed Virgin Mary and Her Holy Rosary.”

Since then, the tradition of walking barefoot to her shrine later evolved to the iconic Grand Procession of the Santo Rosario that gathers thousands to millions of devoteed every year.

The Canonical Coronation

A rare photo of the Canonical Coronation of
Our Lady of La Naval on October 5, 1907 in Intramuros, Manila

Pope Pius X authorized granting the statue a canonical crown in 1906, which was bestowed by the Apostolic Delegate to the Philippines, The Most Rev. Ambrose Agius, O.S.B.. The canonical coronation of the Santo Rosario is the first in Philippine Church history and in Asia.
For the canonical coronation of the image, some 310,000 individuals lead by the professors of the University of Santo Tomas, donated their heirloom jewels, precious gems, gold and silver to the for the Canonical Coronation of October 1907. These form part of the image's large collection of elaborate jewels some of which date to the 1700s.

In 2007, she celebrated the Centenary of the Canonical Coronation with much rejoicing and pomp as the people relived the memory of the said event, especially during its re-enactment.

The Virgin of La Naval on her procession at
the University of Santo Tomas

World War II and its transfer to Quezon City 

During the Japanese bombardment in 1942, fearing that the statue would be destroyed, church authorities hid the statue at the University of Santo Tomas until 1946, the 300th anniversary of the battles. During these times, the novenas and processions continued despite the tragic times of the war.

The statue was transferred in October 1954 to a new shrine built to house it inside the new Santo Domingo Church in Quezon City–the sixth Santo Domingo Church since its erection in the late sixteenth century. For this journey, devotees constructed a Carroza Triunfal (a boat-shaped carriage) to carry the image to its new home, which was declared her National Shrine by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines. In October 1973, La Naval was formally declared the patroness of Quezon City, at that time the national capital.


La Naval in Philippine Modern History

St. John Paul II and the Virgin of La Naval in 1981

The funeral service of former senator Benigno Aquino Jr. was held in the image's shrine after his assassination in August 1983. Other notable funerals held in the shrine include renowned Filipino actor Fernando Poe Jr. in 2004 and Doña María Ejercito, the mother of former President Joseph Estrada in 2009.

During the People Power Revolution of February 1986, a vicaria of the statue was brought in procession to the Malacañan Palace by the Dominican friars, in a peaceful protest of the state of martial law instituted by President Ferdinand Marcos. The replica was also brought to the eastern gate of Camp Crame, the police headquarters where the rebel forces headed by Juan Ponce Enrile and Fidel V. Ramos were confined during the uprising. Many Filipino Catholics attribute the revolution's peaceful victory to the miraculous intervention of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Virgin of La Naval during her visit in UST

During the Visit of St. John Paul II to the Philippines in 1981, at the presence of the crowd and the orignal image of the Virgin of La Naval, she was proclaimed as the Queen and Protectress of the Philippines and the whole of Asia.

In December 2011, the Eternal Word Television Network featured the image as the "Grandest Marian Icon in the Philippines" on an episode of the programme "Mary: Mother of the Philippines". That same year, after many years, she returned to the University of Santo Tomas for the celebration its 400th Anniversary with much delight of the Thomasian community for she is the Patroness of the Royal and Pontifical University that became her temporary home during the Japanese invasion.

"Procesion de las Procesiones"

At present, devotees continue to flock Sto. Domingo Church to ask for the help of Our Lady and millions attend her Grand Procession every 2nd Sunday of October. The La Naval Procession is dubbed as the "Procesion de las Procesiones" (English: The Procesion of all Procesions) for it gradeur, pomp and solemnity. The format of the procession dated back to the Spanish period and it is still being followed up to the present, particularly the procession of the original image that is still being processed for centuries.

The Image of the Virgin is flanked with 27 Dominican Saints led by the first Filipino Saint, St. Lorenzo Ruiz who said to have served and venerated the Image as a member of the Confratenity of the Holy Rosary before his martyrdom in Japan.

Santo Domingo Church and the Virgin of La Naval as National Cultural Treasure

The Present Santo Domingo Church in Quezon City

The Santo Domingo Church, also known as National Shrine of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of La Naval de Manila (Spanish: Santuario Nacional de Nuestra Señora del Santísimo Rosario de La Naval de Manila), is the largest church in Metro Manila and one of the biggest churches in Asia. It is a massive church complex that includes the mother house of the Filipino Dominicans, which is the center of Dominican activities in the archipelago and the Filipino Dominicans who have been sent to other parts of the world.
 The image, its church and convent, along with the other objects stored in the complex were declared a "National Cultural Treasure" by the National Museum of the Philippines on 4 October 2012. This declaration is in accordance with Republic Act 10066 ("National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009") announced officially by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines and by the National Museum.