Our Lady of Pampanga

THE ANNUAL crowning of the image of the patroness of Pampanga, Virgen de los Remedios (Indu ning Capaldanan in Kapampangan), will be held in Angeles City this September 8, the traditional date of the Blessed Mother's birth.  I said traditional because no one knows for sure; when the Church, in the 19^th century, set December 8 as the feast of the Immaculate Conception I think the Church merely used common sense by counting nine months between the date the Blessed Mother was conceived by her mother St. Anne and the date of her birth.

There are actually four images of the Virgen de los Remedios in Pampanga.  One is the original image in Baliti, San Fernando.  The first Bishop of San Fernando Cesar Ma. Guerrero, allegedly was looking for an image which he wanted Kapampangans to venerate as a symbol of their religiosity and unity.  In a chapel in Baliti, he instantly recognized the image of Virgen de Los Remedios, having been a parish priest of Ermita whose patron saint is also Virgen de Los Remedios.   On April 15, 1952, this image was brought to Masantol, thus starting the tradition of taking the image to every village and town all over the province.

The second image stays in the Chancery of the Archdiocese; it is dressed and taken out only during the canonical coronation by the archbishop.  The identical third and fourth images of the Virgen de Los Remedios are the traveling images, one for the northern towns of Pampanga and the other for the southern towns.  (Even the archdiocese recognizes the two geographical units within the province.)

A few years back there was a move to build a shrine in Baliti with the objective of popularizing the cult of Virgen de los Remedios ala-Our Lady of Manaoag, which draws hundreds of thousands of devotees every year.  Fr. Raul de los Santos, former parish priest of Baliti, told me that when he proposed the idea to Archbishop Aniceto, the latter told him, "Ing Birhen ya ing pupunta kareng tau, aliua yang pupuntalan da."  Fr. De los Santos was deeply moved by that response and has dropped the idea since.

As a small boy I remember participating in nightly processions and rosaries when the image of Virgen de Los Remedios (together with that of  Sto. Cristo del Perdon or Crucified Christ) came to Mabalacat.  I remember being drawn to the statue's lovely face; night after night I came to pray but really just to gaze at that face, like a boy having his first crush.   When she was taken to various barangays in Mabalacat I followed her; on her last day I joined the dawn procession that accompanied her to her next stop (Dau, I think).  I remember being overcome by sadness and a sense of abandonment after she left Mabalacat.

Bishop Guerrero's vision of the Virgen de los Remedios as the rallying point of Kapampangans may have already come true.  Whole villages are electrified by her visit; people suddenly become prayerful and are filled with thoughts of God and goodness.  Kapampangans living in a landscape of lahar and despair are deeply moved that the Mother of God would come down and honor them with a visit.   Virgen de los Remedios is unique in the sense of what Archbishop Aniceto has said, that it is she who comes and brings the Good News to the people, instead of the other way around.  She is truly a Queen of the people.

Her uninterrupted and relentless visits all over Pampanga, from parish to parish and village to village, since 1952 may have gradually strengthened the moral fiber of  Kapampangans which enabled them to survive the turbulent years of social unrest, political storms, martial law, calamities and the Pinatubo eruptions.   On September 8, Kapampangans, Catholic or non-Catholic, should express their gratitude to God for this great religious and cultural treasure.
 
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We would like to request those who will be using the information above, especially for publication, to properly cite the author and the Kapampangan Homepage.  The above column was published in The Voice.