Our Lady of La Naval de Manila

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary - La Naval de

Manila (Spanish: Nuestra Señora del Santísimo Rosario
The Grand Lady of the
- La Naval de Manila; Tagalog: Mahal na Ina ng Santo Philippines
Rosaryo ng La Naval de Manila; commonly known as Nuestra Señora del Santísimo
Our Lady of La Naval de Manila, Santo Rosario, or Rosario
La Gran Señora de Filipinas) is a venerated title of the La Naval de Manila
Blessed Virgin Mary associated with the same image in Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary
the Philippines.

Filipino Catholics claim that the Virgin's intercession

under this title helped successfully repulse invading
forces of the Protestant Dutch Republic during the
Battles of La Naval de Manila in 1646, in a fashion
similar to the Battle of Lepanto of 1571. Pious believers
also credit the Virgin through the icon with maintaining
the Catholic faith in Philippines, which has the religious
moniker "El Pueblo Amante de María" ("The Nation in
Love with Mary").

Pope Pius X granted the image a canonical coronation

on 5 October 1907. The Philippine government in 2009
designated the icon and its shrine as a National Cultural
Treasure, making it one of the country's Cultural
Properties.

Contents
Description Location Quezon City, Philippines
Pontifical approbations Date 1593/1596
History Type Ivory, wood statue
Notable events Approval 5 October 1907 by Pope Pius X
Gallery Shrine National Shrine of Our Lady of
See also the Most Holy Rosary, Santo
Domingo Church, Quezon
References
Avenue, Quezon City, Philippines
External links
Patronage Philippine Navy
Quezon City
Description Feast day Second Sunday of October

Measuring approximately four feet and eight inches high, the body is made of hardwood in the cage or
Bastidor style. The face and hands, as well as the entire Child Jesus, are made of solid ivory. Since its
creation, the statue – considered the oldest dated ivory carving in the Philippines – has always been
decorated with elaborate garments and a crown.[1]

Some 310,000 individuals led by professors of the University of

Santo Tomas, donated their heirloom jewels, gemstones, gold and
silver to the image for its Canonical Coronation in October 1907.
These now form part of the icon's vast collection of elaborate
regalia, with some pieces dating to the 18th century.[2]

Pontifical approbations
The statue enthroned above the main
The statue has merited several papal honours, namely the altar during the month of October.
following:

In an undated 1903 letter to Archbishop of Manila Jeremiah James Harty, the "Rosary Pope"
Leo XIII issued an exhortation for people to come in pilgrimage to the Virgin's shrine in
Santo Domingo Church (then in Intramuros).

"...Go to the temple of Santo Domingo, to the sanctuary of the excellence of the Most Holy
Virgin of the Rosary in the Philippines, to the place where your elders bent their knees to give
thanks to her who liberated these Islands from Protestant heresy, to the spot consecrated by the
piety of one hundred generations who had gone there to deposit their piety and confidence in
Mary most holy...
Leone XIII, P.P. "

Pope Pius X granted the image a Canonical Coronation

through Archbishop Dom Ambrose Agius of Malta on 5
October 1907.
Pope Pius XII also sent an Apostolic Letter on the
occasion of the tricentenary of the Battle of La Naval de
Manila on 31 July 1946.
Pope Paul VI proclaimed her Patroness of Quezon City
(where the icon's shrine was built following the
destruction of Manila in the Second World War) on 13
October 1973.
Pope John Paul II dedicated the Asian continent to the
same title, using a replica of the icon on 18 February
1981. The Pontiff blessed the original image the next
day in another public Mass.

History The Santo Rosario wearing her

canonical coronation jewels and the
famed Manto de la Coronacion much
In 1593, the new Spanish Governor-General Don Luis Pérez known as the Numero I.
Dasmariñas, commissioned a statue of Our Lady of the Rosary for
public veneration in memory of his recently deceased father. Under
the direction of Captain Hernando de los Rios Coronel, the sculpture was made by an anonymous Chinese
immigrant, who later converted to Christianity; this is the commonly cited reason for the statue's Asian
features. The statue was later given to the Dominican friars, who installed it at the Santo Domingo Church.
In 1646, naval forces of the Dutch Republic made
several repeated attempts to conquer the Philippines in
a bid to control trade in Asia. The combined Spanish
and Filipino forces who fought were said to have
requested the intercession of the Virgin through the
statue prior to battle. They were urged to place
themselves under the protection of Our Lady of the
Rosary and to pray the rosary repeatedly. They went
on to rebuff the continued attacks by the superior
Dutch fleet, engaging in five major battles at sea and
losing only fifteen members of the Spanish Navy.
After the Dutch retreat, in fulfillment of their vow, the
survivors walked barefoot to the shrine in gratitude to
Procession before the enthronement of Our Lady
the Virgin.
of the Most Holy Rosary of La Naval.
Later, on 9 April 1662, the cathedral chapter of the
Archdiocese of Manila declared the naval victory a
miraculous event owed to the intercession of the Virgin Mary, declaring:

Granted by the Sovereign Lord through the intercession of the Most Holy Virgin and devotion
to her Rosary, that the miracles be celebrated, preached and held in festivities and to be
recounted amongst the miracles wrought by the Lady of the Rosary for the greater devotion of
the faithful to Our Most Blessed Virgin Mary and Her Holy Rosary.[3]

Pope Pius X authorized granting the statue a canonical crown in 1906, which was bestowed by the
Apostolic Delegate to the Philippines, The Most Rev. Ambrose Agius, O.S.B.. During the Japanese
bombardment in 1942, fearing that the statue would be destroyed, church authorities hid the statue at the
University of Santo Tomas until 1946, the 300th anniversary of the battles.

The statue was transferred in October 1954 to a new shrine built to house it inside the new Santo Domingo
Church in Quezon City–the sixth Santo Domingo Church since its erection in the late sixteenth century. For
this journey, devotees constructed a boat-shaped carriage (Spanish: Carroza Triunfal) to carry the image to
its new home, which was declared her National Shrine by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the
Philippines.[4] In October 1973, La Naval was formally declared the patroness of Quezon City, at that time
the national capital. Filipino Archbishop Mariano Gaviola declared her Patroness of the Philippine Navy in
1975, a patronage invoked until this day.

During the People Power Revolution of February 1986, a replica of the statue was brought in procession to
the Malacañan Palace by the Dominican friars, in a peaceful protest of the state of martial law instituted by
President Ferdinand Marcos. The replica was also brought to the eastern gate of Camp Crame, the police
headquarters where the rebel forces headed by Juan Ponce Enrile and Fidel V. Ramos were confined
during the uprising. Many Filipino Catholics attribute the revolution's peaceful victory to the miraculous
intervention of the Blessed Virgin Mary.[5]

Filipino historian Nick Joaquín attributed one of the red jewels in one of the statue's crowns to an old
legend of a giant serpent found in the Pasig River; the local folktale is more likely a metaphor of the
triumph of Christianity over paganism. The other crown was supposedly inscribed and donated by King
Norodom of Cambodia in 1872, one having disappeared after a burglary in 1930 while another one was
simply two pearls adorning the orbs of the statue.

Notable events
The funeral service of former senator Benigno Aquino Jr. was
held in the image's shrine after his assassination in August
1983. Other notable funerals held in the shrine include those
of renowned Filipino actor Fernando Poe Jr. in 2004 and
Doña María Ejercito, the mother of former President Joseph
Estrada in 2009.

Journalist and television personality Korina Sanchez married

then-Senator Manuel A. Roxas II in a televised Spanish-style
wedding in front of the image on 27 October 2009.

In December 2011, the Eternal Word Television Network A replica of the image at the 76th
featured the image as the "Grandest Marian Icon in the Anniversary of the Court of Appeals of the
Philippines" on an episode of the programme Mary: Mother Philippines in 2012.
of the Philippines.

The image, its church and convent, along with the other objects stored in the complex were declared a
"National Cultural Treasure" by the National Museum of the Philippines on 4 October 2012. This
declaration is in accordance with Republic Act 10066 ("National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009")
announced officially by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines and by the National
Museum.[6][7]

In 2020, for the first time in the shrine's history, the feast of Our Lady of La Naval was simplistic, lasted for
15 days, and did not involve the usual enthronement and other festivities, due to the threat of COVID-19
and prevailing quarantine policies in the Philippines.

Gallery
Enthronement of the Pulpit of the shrine Mass celebrated by Choir (orchestra)
image in use during a Fr. Giuseppe Pietro
service V. Arsciwals, O.P.
(Rector) and Fr.
Gerard Timoner
(Prior Provincial of
the Dominican
Province of the
Philippines).

Historic Declaration Nave and high altar Faithful during the Processional banner
of Santo Domingo of Santo Domingo Declaration Mass of Our Lady of the
Parish as a National Most Holy Rosary of
Cultural Treasure on La Naval. Below the
4 October Virgin's image are
2012. [8][9][10][11] the arms of Vatican
City, the arms of the
Republic, and the
arms of the
Dominican Order.

See also
Catholic Church in the Philippines
Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception
Santo Niño de Cebu
Our Lady of Manaoag
Roman Catholic Diocese of Cubao
Quezon City
References
1. The National Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary, La Naval de Manila (http://www.lanavaldema
nila.com/)
2. La Naval de Manila Online: The Story of La Naval (http://lanavaldemanila.blogspot.com/200
7/02/story-of-la-naval.html)
3. Shrine
4. Shrine
5. La Naval Online
6. CBCP: Sto Domingo church to be named 'national treasure' Oct 4 (http://www.gmanetwork.c
om/news/story/275610/news/nation/cbcp-sto-domingo-church-to-be-named-national-treasur
e-oct-4), GMA News.
7. Sto. Domingo Church to be declared national treasure (http://www.cbcpnews.com/cbcpnew
s/?p=4413), CBCP News.
8. In photograph: Joy Belmonte (Quezon City Vice Mayor), Rep. Vicente Crisologo, Jeremy
Barns, CESO III, Director IV [1] (http://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/nationalmuseumbeta/Dir
ector's%20Message.html), National Museum of the Philippines, Senator Edgardo Javier
Angara, Rev. Fr. Giuseppe Pietro V. Arsciwals, O.P., Rector "Archived copy" (https://archive.i
s/20121206041901/http://www.lanavaldemanila.com/messages/). Archived from the original
(http://www.lanavaldemanila.com/messages/) on 6 December 2012. Retrieved 29 October
2012., and Fr. Gerard Timoner, Prior Provincial of the Dominican Province of the Philippines.
9. [2] (http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/276356/news/nation/lack-of-funds-hounds-future
-national-cultural-treasure) (10th)
10. CBCP: Sto Domingo church to be named 'national treasure' Oct 4 (http://www.gmanetwork.c
om/news/story/275610/news/nation/cbcp-sto-domingo-church-to-be-named-national-treasur
e-oct-4), GMA News.
11. Sto. Domingo Church to be declared national treasure (http://www.cbcpnews.com/cbcpnew
s/?p=4413), CBCP News.

External links
Shrine of Our Lady of Guidance (https://web.archive.org/web/20120420180211/http://www.n
uestrasenoradeguia.com/)
Shrine of Our Lady of Manaoag (http://www.manaoagshrine.org)

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