| Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary – La Naval de Manila | |
|---|---|
 The image enthroned on the baldachinno for the annual La Naval festivities | |
| Location | Quezon City,Philippines |
| Date | 1593, 1646 |
| Type | Ivory, wood statue |
| Approval | Pope Pius X 5 October 1907 Pope Paul VI 13 October 1973 |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church |
| Shrine | National Shrine of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary,Quezon City,Philippines |
| Patronage | Philippine Navy Quezon City |
| Feast day | Second Sunday of October |
Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary – La Naval de Manila (Spanish:Nuestra Señora del Santísimo Rosario – La Naval de Manila;Tagalog:Mahal na Ina ng Santo Rosaryo ng La Naval de Manila) is a veneratedtitle of theBlessed Virgin Mary associated with the same image in thePhilippines.Pious believers believe that the Virgin'sintercession under this title helped to defeat the invading forces of theProtestantDutch Republic during theBattles of La Naval de Manila in 1646.
The Philippine government in 2012 designated the icon and its shrine as aNational Cultural Treasure, making it one of the country'sCultural Properties.[1]
Measuring approximately four feet and eight inches high, the body is made of hardwood in the cage orBastidor 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.[2]
Some 310,000 individuals led by professors of theUniversity of Santo Tomas, donated their heirloom jewels, gemstones, gold and silver to the image for itscanonical 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.[3]
In 1593, the newSpanish governor-general,DonLuis Pérez Dasmariñas, commissioned a statue ofOur 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 anonymousChinese immigrant, who later converted to Christianity; this is the commonly cited reason for the statue's Asian features. The statue was later given to theDominican friars, who installed it at the Santo Domingo Church.
In 1646, naval forces of theDutch 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 theintercession 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 therosary 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 the Virgin.
Later, on 9 April 1662, thecathedral chapter of theArchdiocese 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.[4]
Pope Pius X authorized granting the statue a canonical crown in 1906, which was bestowed by theapostolic delegate to the Philippines,The Most Rev.Ambrose Agius,O.S.B. During theJapanese bombardment in 1942, fearing that the statue would be destroyed, church authorities hid the statue at theUniversity of Santo Tomas until 1946, the 300th anniversary of the battles.
The image was transferred in October 1954 to a newshrine built to house it inside the new Santo Domingo Church inQuezon City–the sixth Santo Domingo Church since its erection in the late sixteenth century inIntramuros. 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 theCatholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.[5]In October 1973,La Naval was formally declared thepatroness 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.
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During thePeople Power Revolution of February 1986, a replica of the statue was brought in procession to theMalacañan Palace by the Dominican friars, in a peaceful protest of the state ofmartial law instituted by PresidentFerdinand Marcos. The replica was also brought to the eastern gate ofCamp Crame, the police headquarters where the rebel forces headed byJuan Ponce Enrile andFidel V. Ramos were confined during the uprising. Many Filipino Catholics attribute the revolution's peaceful victory to the miraculous intervention of theBlessed Virgin Mary.[6]
Filipino historianNick Joaquín attributed one of the red jewels in one of the statue's crowns to an old legend of a giant serpent found in thePasig River; the local folktale is more likely a metaphor of the triumph of Christianity over paganism.[citation needed] The other crown was supposedly inscribed and donated by KingNorodom 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.
In December 2011, theEternal Word Television Network featured the image as the "Grandest Marian Icon in the Philippines" on an episode of the programmeMary: Mother 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 theNational 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 theCatholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines and by the National Museum.[1][7]
The statue has merited several papal honours, namely the following:
"...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 Protestantheresy, 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. "
| Feast of Our Lady of La Naval de Manila | |
|---|---|
 La Naval de Manila at the baldachin after the enthronement rites | |
| Also called | Procesion de las Procesiones |
| Observed by | Quezon City |
| Type | Religious / Cultural |
| Date | Second Sunday in October |
| 2024 date | October 13 (2024-10-13) |
| 2025 date | October 12 (2025-10-12) |
| 2026 date | October 11 (2026-10-11) |
| 2027 date | October 10 (2027-10-10) |
| Frequency | Annual |
The feast of Our Lady of La Naval de Manila is on the second Sunday of October, having been celebrated on that date since 1646. Since 2023, the feast day of the image has been observed as aproper solemnity inQuezon City.[8]
The first procession was held in October 1646 inIntramuros to commemorate the Spanish victory in theBattles of La Naval de Manila.[8] The procession in Old Intramuros is once known as the "Procession of All Processions", and is known to be the grandest feast of Old Manila.[8]
In 2020 and 2021, the image's procession was cancelled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines. Instead, the image was enshrined outside the shrine for devotees to venerate.[9][10]
In 2023, city-wide celebrations were held in Quezon City to commemorate thefiftieth anniversary of the declaration of the Marian title as patroness of the city.[11]
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