The Mother of Cagayan

Our Lady of Piat · Cagayan, Philippines · since 1604

From Macau to the heart of the Philippines

In 1604, the Dominican missionaries who evangelized northern Luzon received from Macau an image of the Virgin with the Child Jesus on their left arm, probably carved by artisans of Goa (India) for mission use. Its features unmistakably mix Eastern and Western elements - which today makes it unique among the Filipino Marian images. His dark skin was worth the popular appeal of the Black Virgin.

The Dominicans first installed it in Lal- lo, then the episcopal seat of the New Segovia, and moved it along the itawes that evangelized: Tabang, Malaweg, Tuao and finally Piat, where it was definitely established. The missionaries called it "Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary," and used it as living catechesis among the new converts.

The drought of 1624 and the providential rain

The summer of 1624 was the most cruel that the Italian farmers remembered. A prolonged drought ruined three successive sowing. Hunger was already on the doors of homes. The vicars of Piat and Tuao - Juan de Santa Ana and Andrés de Haro - deliberated a long time on whether to organize public begging. They were concerned that if the rain did not come, the newly converted would lose their faith. They finally decided to trust God and the intercession of the Lady.

They organized processions, general confessions and songs of Marian hymns. That same night, the Dominican chronicles show that "the falls of the sky were opened": the rain fell without interruption for three days and the harvest was saved. The news ran all over the valley. The devotion to the Virgin of Piat has since been rooted in the soul of the Cagayan people.

Subsequent Miracles and pontifical Coronation

The colonial chronicles document other wonders attributed to the Virgin of Piat in the following centuries: the recovery of Captain José Ramos from a serious disease in 1730, the salvation of a ship in a storm in 1738, and the release of a man from a crocodile attack in 1739. The fame of the sanctuary attracted pilgrims from all over the Cagayan region, making it one of the most important pilgrimage centers in northern Philippines.

On 20 June 1954Pope Pius XII gave the image the canonical coronation, which was given by the Apostolic Nuncio, Cardinal Egidio Vagnozzi. On 22 June 1999, the Holy See raised the church to the category of Minor Basilica. Today the Virgin of Piat is venerated as patron of the province of Cagayan and patron of the people bearing her name - Yena ta múmin, "mother of all of us," in itawes language.

Our Lady of Piat, Yena tam ngamin,
the mother of all the people of Cagayan,
intercede for those who are hungry for bread
and those who are hungry for you.
Amen.