THIS Sunday, September 22, thousands of us, particularly Kapampangans, will gather at the Cathedral of Los Angeles to celebrate the 63rd Canonical Coronation Mass of Virgen de Los Remedios.
We will come to this annual Marian celebration to express our love and devotion to Mary, the Virgin of Remedies, and to ask for her powerful intercession.
You may ask why the title Virgen de Los Remedios (Virgin of Remedies) and how this devotion started?
The title dates back to the late 12th century in France. The Order of Trinity and Captives, founded by St. John of Mata and St. Felix de Valois, started to invoke this Marian title and promoted its devotion throughout Europe.
In the 1500s, when Spain began their exploration of the Americas, the New World, it became the favorite devotion of Spanish conquistadores. Juan Rodrigues de Villafuerte, one of Hernan Cortes’ men, for example, brought an image of Virgen de Los Remedios to American territories “for comfort” and to invoke her name in times of danger at seas and battles. It was the image that the Spanish conquistadores and friars would introduce to natives to convert them to Christianity from their worship of pagan idols.
Consequently, the Spanish conquistadores also brought this devotion to the Philippines. In 1624, Rev. Juan Guevara, O.S.A. installed a statue of Virgen De Los Remedios from Andalucia, Spain in Malate Church. Devotions to the Virgin spread, especially faithful, especially mothers. To this day, every year, on the third Sunday of November, mothers recovering from childbirth or with sick children would flock to Malate Church to ask for the Virgin’s intercession and blessings.
How did this popular devotion start in Pampanga?
In 1952, the bishop of San Fernando, Pampanga, Most Rev. Cesar Guerrero, started a crusade of peace and penance in a province that was ridden by conflicts between poor farmers and wealthy landowners and terrorism from communist bands who wandered all over towns of Pampanga. The bishop was disgusted at the lack of mutual understanding and friendly relation between different social classes that he often uttered in Spanish: “Aqui en la Pampanga hay mucho piedad pero poca caridad, which means, “Here in Pampanga, there is so much piety but less charity.”
Consequently, Bishop Guerrero founded the Crusade of Charity and Goodwill and placed it under the patronage of Virgen De Los Remedios. He looked around for an image of Virgen De Los Remedios in the diocese and found it in Baliti, a barrio parish of San Fernando. He borrowed it from the parish priest and the parishioners so that the Virgin could be used to visit different towns. The priest and the people happily consented with the agreement that the image would be brought back to their parish church.
In every crusade, the bishop would appoint seven reputed women of charity that represented the seven sorrows of Mary to be in charge of collecting “Lamac” (offerings in kind for the poor). The “lamac” awakened the generosity of the Kapampangans that even the poor shared the little blessings they had.
The cruzadas for peace, charity, and goodwill were successful that many Pampangueno Catholics credited the end of social unrest and communist threats in their province to the powerful intercession of Virgen de Los Remedios.
For decades years now, the people of Pampanga, continue to hold the Cruzada and celebrate the Canonical Coronation of Virgen de Los Remedios.
In the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and other U.S. dioceses, we have been propagating this devotion to Virgen de Los Remedios.
At the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angles this Sunday, we will the dedicate the Mass in honor of Mary, the Virgin of Remedies, to pray for the Catholic Church in the Philippines, her clergy and religious, particularly those under persecution. We will also pray for mutual understanding and respect among government and church leaders, between the State and the Church, to work harmoniously in uplifting the dignity of every person. We will pray for the nurturing and preservation of the Catholic faith as we joyfully anticipate the celebration of 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines.
Virgen De Los Remedios, pray for us!
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Fr. Rodel “Odey” Balagtas is the pastor of Incarnation Church in Glendale, California.
