Antipolo Cathedral, also previously known as the National Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, was promoted to the status of "International Shrine" by the Vatican on Friday (Jan. 26).
According to local media, a procession was held at the cathedral grounds, which was followed by a coronation rite of the image of the Virgin Mary under the title "Nuestra Señora de la Paz y Buen Viaje" "Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage."
After the ritual coronation, a Mass was offered inside the cathedral, with Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines Archbishop Charles Brown and Antipolo Bishop Ruperto Santos as principal celebrants.
Also in attendance during the ceremony was Philippine First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and local officials from Antipolo and the rest of Rizal province, state news site PNA reported.
Papal Nuncio Reflects on Filipino Devotion
During his homily, Brown reflected on the role of the Virgin Mary in the history of the Philippines and the Catholic Church in the country.
"The phenomenon of popular piety, the religiosity of the masses ... is so evident [here] in the Philippines," he said. "Indeed, it was only last month that all were gathered for the 'Simbang Gabi' ... in anticipation of Christmas, a beautiful example of the Philippine popular piety."
He also reflected on popular pieties such as the Nazareno event in Manila and the Santo Niño festivities in Cebu, as well as contemplated the "Alay Lakad" foot procession from Manila to Antipolo from the evening of April 30 to the early hours of May 1 which marks the beginning of the town's annual pilgrimage season from May to July.
A Brief History of Antipolo Cathedral
Prior to being the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Antipolo - which is composed of the province of Rizal and the eastern Manila suburb of Marikina - the church was popularly known as a local pilgrimage site since Spanish times as it enshrines the miraculous image of the Virgin Mary. The "Virgen de Antipolo," as she was called since then, was an image brought by Spanish Governor-General Juan Niño de Tabora from Acapulco, Mexico to Manila in 1626.
According to local tradition, the image was first enshrined within Manila's old city, Intramuros, but repeatedly disappeared only to be found on top of a "tipolo" (breadfruit) tree in the eastern hills overlooking Manila. Because of this, church officials at the time took it as a sign from heaven to let the image stay in the town and have the wood of the tree be made into its pedestal. This also established the name of the town as Antipolo.
Throughout the centuries, millions of Filipino Catholics have flocked to the church. One of the speculations for such was due to the miraculous image's native appearance as it was carved out of dark wood, similar to the image of the Black Nazarene of Manila's Quiapo district.
One of its most popular historical pilgrims was the 19th-century ophthalmologist and intellectual Jose Rizal and his father Francisco, who came to the town when the prominent figure was still a little boy, as fulfillment of his mother's pledge.
The current structure was the second of its kind. The original church survived several uprisings and earthquakes but was destroyed by bombs during the Filipino and American attempt to liberate the town in 1945 after the Imperial Japanese used the church as a fortress.
After the war, the image was miraculously evacuated by the people of Antipolo into the Pasig River valley, and eventually found its way to Manila's Quiapo Church, forming a bond between the two devotions. At the same time, there were efforts to rebuild a new church from the ruins of the old one, with a fundraising campaign headed by Aurora Quezon, the widow of Commonwealth-era president Manuel Quezon.
The current church was completed in 1954 and was immediately named a national shrine, the first in the Philippines. It became a cathedral when the Diocese of Antipolo was canonically erected in 1983 by Pope John Paul II.
In 2022, the CBCP petitioned the Vatican to name the Antipolo Cathedral an international shrine and Pope Francis approved it a year after in 2023, making it the first in the Philippines and only the third across Asia.
