MARIAN DEVOTION. Catholics in Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur witness the pontifical coronation of La Virgen Milagrosa de Badoc at the St. John the Baptist Parish in Badoc, Ilocos Norte on Thursday (May 31, 2018). (Photo by Leilanie Adriano)
BADOC, Ilocos Norte -- Residents here sang and danced for joy while chanting, “Viva La Virgen Milagrosa”, following the crowning of the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary carrying the Infant Jesus in her arms on Thursday, by mandate of the Holy Father Pope Francis.
More than a liturgical ritual, the people of Ilocos Norte, mostly Catholics, acknowledged the significance of the pontifical coronation as a show of love and devotion to the Virgin Mary, who is revered as “queen of heaven and earth, protector and inspiration” to mankind.
For a church historian like Father Danilo Laeda, who is also a native of Badoc, Ilocos Norte, devotion to the miraculous image of the Blessed Virgin Mary began in the 1980s.
It is believed that she chose to be enshrined at the St. John the Baptist Parish here when fishermen found the image in a wooden box said to have drifted ashore from Japan.
Since then, several accounts of miraculous healing were told and the people of Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur -- among them government officials, ecclesiastical dignitaries, and people from the different parishes -- gathered to witness the May 31 pontifical coronation.
According to Laeda, the solemn coronation of the image of the Blessed Mother in 1980 and in 2018, or 37 years later, shows that the Church recognizes the image as a center of devotion.
“Both coronations in 1980 and 2018 are canonical, the first one of the Diocese of Laoag and the Metropolitan See of Nueva Segovia with the presence of the late Archbishop Juan Sison and our very own Bishop Edmundo Abaya,” he said.
“The second or the 2018 is the ultimate with no less than the Holy See through Cardinal Robert Sara, the Prefect of the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in the name of the Holy Father Pope Francis giving the permission,” he added.
On Thursday, Archbishops Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle and Orlando Cardinal Quevedo led priests and thousands of parishioners in a mass held at the St. John the Baptist Church.
On the same day at 9 a.m., Father Ericson Josue, a priest historian from the Diocese of Laoag, also a native of Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte who is on a study mission in Rome, also presided a thanksgiving mass at the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, the Mother of all Marian Churches in the world.
In his homily, Cardinal Quevedo, who is a son of Sarrat, Ilocos Norte, enjoined God’s people of Ilocos Norte to emulate in words and in deeds the example of La Virgen Milagrosa.
“Hers is an example of a God-fearing maiden of Israel. An example of servanthood, the lowly maiden, of humility, of obedience to God’s will, of total love over son Jesus. In other words, she is the prime example for us -- of a genuine and faithful follower of the Lord and a true disciple of her son,” Quevedo said. (PNA)
