Our Lady of Peace and Good Journey of Antipolo

Origin of the image: the trip from Mexico

The story of Our Lady of Antipolo begins in 1626, when Don Juan Niño de Tabora, appointed Governor General of the Philippines, left the port of Acapulco (Mexico) on board the galleon The Admiral. Following a custom rooted among Spanish sailors, he carried with him an image of the Immaculate Conception, a dark wood size of 1.20 meters high, to protect the journey. The three-month trip across the Pacific was plagued with dangers: storms unleashed, a fire on board and the constant threat of pirates. However, the galleon arrived safe and sound to the port of Manila on 18 July 1626.

Governor Tabora attributed miraculous protection to the image of the Virgin. He called for a solemn procession to transfer it to the Cathedral of Manila in Intramuros, and the archbishop gave it the title of Our Lady of Peace and Good Journey. During the following years, the image accompanied the Galleon of Manila- Acapulco on six other trips to and from the Pacific, always being venerated as patron of navigation. The sailors called her Queen and Governor of the Navy Admiral.

At the death of Governor Tabora in 1632, the image passed to the Society of Jesus. The Jesuits decided to take her to their church in Antipolo, a small city in the mountains east of Manila. It tells the tradition that when they tried to move it, the image mysteriously disappeared on two occasions and was found in a tree's cup. Type (from which the name of Antipolo derives). The Jesuits interpreted the sign as a desire of the Virgin to remain there, and there they built the first sanctuary.

The miracle of the plague and the tradition of the Lay Lakad

In the 18th century, a cholera epidemic devastated the Manila region. The people of Antipolo, terrified, raised the image of the Virgin in procession to the top of a nearby hill. There they celebrated a solemn mass and begged the intercession of the Virgin. The epidemic was miraculously stopped. Since then, each year the tradition is repeated: on the first Tuesday of May, the image is carried in procession to the hill Work ("where Mass was said") to mark the beginning of the pilgrimage season.

The most famous pilgrimage is the Taking the Way ("walking offering"), which takes place on the night of 30 April to 1 May. Thousands of devotees walk 25 kilometres from the Basilica of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Manila, to the shrine of Antipolo. They arrive at dawn for the first mass, fulfilling promises and asking for favors. It is one of the most impressive manifestations of faith in Asia.

International Sanctuary

On January 25, 2024, the Vatican raised the Cathedral of Antipolo to the rank of International Sanctuary, the first in the Philippines and throughout Southeast Asia. There are only three international sanctuaries in Asia: the Church of St. Thomas in Kerala (India), that of the Martyrs in Haemi (South Korea) and now Antipolo. The proclamation took place in a solemn celebration presided over by the Apostolic Nuncio, Monsignor Charles John Brown, along with the Bishop of Antipolo and 80 bishops from all over the country.

The image is especially loved by Filipino immigrants around the world, who consider it their patron. Before taking any important journey, it is Philippine custom to visit the Virgin of Antipolo to ask for her blessing and protection. Pope Francis granted the full indulgence to the faithful who pilgrim to the sanctuary on the specified dates.

The image and its iconography

The size, made of dark wood (ivory and silver según las crónicas de la época), representa a la Inmaculada Concepción: María de pie, con las manos juntas en oración, vestida con una túnica blanca y un manto azul adornado con estrellas de oro. La imagen fue coronada canónicamente el 26 de noviembre de 1926 por el arzobispo de Manila, Michael J. O’Doherty, en una ceremonia multitudinaria en la Luneta de Manila. La corona, de plata dorada, fue donada por los fieles filipinos.

During World War II, when Japanese troops occupied Antipolo in 1944 and turned the cathedral into an arsenal, the sacristan Procopio Ángeles saved the image by hiding it in an empty gas tank buried underground. She was then moved to the church of Quiapo in Manila, miraculously escaping the bombing. The cathedral was rebuilt after the war, raised to national sanctuary in 1954 and to cathedral in 1983.

Prayer to Our Lady of Antipolo