330. THE TRANSPORTED DEVOTION OF BACOLOR'S VIRGEN DE LOURDES TO CABIAO, NUEVA ECIJA

CABETICAN;S LOURDES IN CABIAO, N. E.

Cabiao is a town in Nueva Ecija where Kapampangan is still widely spoken. That’s because it used to be a part of the province of Pampanga, until it was annexed to Nueva Ecija, along with  Gapan, San Isidro, Cabiao and Aliaga around 1848.

As such, many original Kapampangan families can still be found there, still speaking their mother tongue and living the ways of their  own culture. The Kapampangans were clustered in a place called Likod—so named because it was located at the back of the church—and it was here that the extraordinary devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes of Cabetican, Bacolor was introduced and propagated.

 

THE RELIGIOUS PRINT OF LOURDES

In  barangay Maligaya, a chapel now stands, where, a small, antique print of the Cabetican Lourdes can be seen atop the altar, framed in silver. The story of how this revered object of veneration came to Cabiao is told and printed on a small tarpaulin poster that hangs on the iron grill gate of the chapel.

In the 1930s, a Kapampangan woman named Gertrudes Dizon-Castañeda, had a reputation for seeing visions. Her granddaughter, Lucita Castañeda-Vivas, recalls that her Impong Tuding was often seen talking to herself, or so it seems. But in fact, her Impo claims that she was conversing with an old woman, whom she alone could see.

THE LOURDES STORY AT THE CABIAO SHRINE

 One day, this old woman, as the story goes, asked her to go to Cabetican in Bacolor to look for a particular picture of a lady there —and to bring it to Cabiao. Impong Tuding obeyed her order, and even though she had no idea how to go to Bacolor by herself, she reached the barrio on the feast day of our Lady of Lourdes.

After walking all over the barrio, Impong Tuding found the picture of the lady. She was sure it was the right one, as she could not take single step after she had beheld it.  But by then, she had run out of funds to pay for the print, so she sadly returned to Cabiao without it.

To her amazement, when she got back to cabio and began unpacking, she discovered the small print of the Lady among her belongings, bearing the caption : ING MAPAGMALA NANG LARAUAN NING NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LOURDES. Daralangiñan da qñg Santuario Cabetican, Baculud (Pampanga)

 

VIRGEN DE LOURDES BY FLORES

Our Lady of Lourdes became the patroness of Cabetican in 1906, when the populace was hit by a pestilence. The devotion was brought to the Philippines by Capuchin fathers, who had a church built in 1892 in honor of our Lady of Lourdes. Sculptor Manuel Flores was commissioned to make  a statue of the Virgin, who appeared to shepherdess Bernadette Soubirous in a grotto in Massabielle, France in 1858.

 

         ANTIQUE PRINT BASED ON VIRGEN DE
         LOURDES OF THE CAPUCHINS

The people of Cabetican asked for intercession from Virgen de Lourdes for the healing of the sick and to end the plague, which resulted in many miraculous recoveries.  A religious book to mark the miracle was printed by the printing press of Proceso Pabalan Byron entitled: “ING MALA NING VIRGEN LOURDES 1906, CABETICAN, BACULUD, CAPAMPAÑGAN. Qñg Mipnung Lugud Ampon Pacamal Mecopia ya iti qñg Imprenta nang  Proceso Pabalan Byron a Sinulat nang Jose Crisostomo Soto a Metung Munaman Sacsi qñgMesabing Mala Iniang ing balen Baculud Mirasnan ya qñg Salut …Ñgening Ala ne qñg Tau ing Sucat Ipanulu qñg Dios carin Panintunan”

 

LOURDES PRINTS, bhy Byron, and an unknown lithographer

(Translation: “The Miracle of the Virgin of Lourdes, 1906, Cabetican, Bacolor, Pampanga. By all the goodness and love, we caused this story to be published in the printing press of Proceso Pabalan Byron, written by Jose Crisostomo Soto, one the witnesses to the miracle when Bacolor was hit by pestilence. Now that the cure is no longer in the hands of the people, it is in God that we search for a cure. ) 

THE ALTAR OF LOURDES AT BRGY, MALIGAYA

That’s how the religious print of the Virgen  de Lourdes of Cabetican found its way to Cabiao, and for awhile was kept in Impong Tuding’s nipa hut. She hanged it on her wall and the picture inexplicably began to get wet. The more she wiped off the wetness, the wetter the picture got. Word went around the barrio about this unexplained that was deemed as a miracle, and soon people began flocking to Impong Tuding’s hovel to pray to Virgin de Lourdes from Cabetican.

The duplicate image of our Lady of Lourdes and the sacred but tattered print are now housed in a shrine that was built through donations to accommodate the faithful and the pilgrims who go there. The roof and ceiling were added in 1993.

 

THE LOURDES SHRINE, FRONTAGE

Descendants of Impong Tuding are the caretakers of the shrine; they keep the premises clean, as well as sell candles for devotees to light. Cabiao and Cabetican, together with their Kapampangan faithful, have now been united by one Lady, who continue to shower them with blessings and graces, wherever they may be.

250. 50 Years After: VIRGEN DE LOURDES of BARRIO TALANG, CANDABA

VIRGEN DE LOURDES, patroness of Brgy. Talang, Candaba,
as she appear today, and in 1966.

In 1966, the barrio of Talang, in Candaba, Pampanga was featured on the December 25 issue of Sunday Times Magazine, then the country’s most popular weekend magazine, in an article entitled “Christmas in Huklandia”.

THE OLD VISITA OR CHAPEL, in 1966.

 Back then, Talang was a remote and impoverished barrio of Candaba, where Huk dissidence marred the quest for peace and progress of this rural place. But though mired in poverty, the faith of the barrio people remained unshaken. All because of their devotion to their patroness that they kept in a ramshackle “visita” or chapel that stood in the middle of the small clearing: Virgen de Lourdes or Our Lady of Lourdes.

VIRGEN DE LOURDES and Lourdesenian Youth Group.

 The Virgen de Lourdes in 1966 was described thus, by the writer of the article: “It is not a well-sculptured, richly-garbed, bejeweled icon that lords it over the rough-hewn archaic facsimile of an altar here. Instead, the four-foot image of our Lady of Lourdes, seemingly embarassed by the provincial touches of imitation,gaudy adornment, hides within the principal niche above the altar. There are no tall candles on gleaming candlesticks, to light up her sad-eyed, benign features with, and the flowers,still to be picked from some garden plot by her devotees, are conspicuous by their absence on the two-tiered facade flanking her post.” 

The people of Talang have their own pressing needs, but during the Christmas season, they put priority to the needs of their patroness first. In the days leading to Christmas day, the barrio folks unite to go on fund-raising initiatives; for 1966, the objective was to raise money for the Virgen’s carroza. 

DANCING FOR ALMS, Talang barrio folks go from town
to town, to raise funds by dancing.

 The Lourdesenian youth groups would organize themselves into carolers and venture out of their barrio, carrying the image of the Virgen with them as they sing for alms. Adults, on the other hand, become itinerant dancers, going from town to town to dance for alms for their church’s patron. For them all, the days are rich in love and goodness and goodwill, even as violence rage menacingly along the periphery of their private lives.

THE CHAPEL, then and now.

There is a happy postscript to the story of the Lourdes Virgin and the barangay Talang, after fifty long years.

VIRGEN DE LOURDES CHAPEL INTERIOR.

The once-decrepit wooden visita is now a modern concrete structure—now known as Virgen de Lourdes Parish Chapel-- with a floor area, many times bigger than the old chapel, carved pews and stained glass windows. It was established in 1983 through the efforts of Fr. Nolasco Fernandez.

VIRGEN DE LOURDES, in the chapel that was built
in 1983. Photo: Dr. Raymund Feliciano.

Bright and well-lit, it features main retablo and lateral altars, the right side of which houses the original Lourdes image, the same revered icon that was featured in a magazine over five decades ago.

VIRGEN DE LOURDES, Photo: Dr. Raymund
Feliciano

Virgen de Lourdes even sports a new globe base, and a kneeling figure of the visionary St. Bernadette has also been added.

 As for Barrio Talang, it has indeed, moved forward. Thankfully, the Huk unrest that plagued Candaba and the barrio in the 60s has abated. Today, the barangay has its own own barangay hall, elementary and high schools and is dotted with many leisure farms that attract visitors from Pampanga and beyond, especially during their February fiesta days (Feb. 10-11).

OUR LADY OF LOURDES, pray for us.

 Resident devotees will always attribute their changing fortunes to the workings of Virgen de Lourdes; but undeniably, it is also the people’s resilience and unwavering faith in a time of hate and discord that has served them well, as the once-lowly barrio continues its strive for lasting peace and enduring progress.

 SOURCE: “Christmas in Huklandia”, Sunday Times Magazine, by Gloria Garchitorena Goloy, Photographed by Dominador Suba, 25 December 1966

PHOTO CREDITS: 
Virgen de Lourdes: Taken by Dr. Raymund Feliciano
Virgen de Lourdes Parish / https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Virgen_de_Lourdes_Parish_Church_(Talang,_Candaba,_Pampanga)

104. RETRO-SANTO: Ntra. Sñra de Lourdes

On 11 February 1858, Our Lady appeared to a farm girl named Bernadette Soubirous in Massabielle, Lourdes in France. The Virgin appeared to her dressed in white, with a blue sash and holding a rosary. This was to be the first of 1b apparitions. When asked by Bernadette to state her name on the prodding of a church authority, the Lady answered, “I am the Immaculate Conception”. Thus started a universal devotion to our Lady of Lourdes.

On 28 July 1858, the Bishop of Tarbes formed a commission to study the apparitions and after 3 years, the supernatural events were deemed genuine, that it was indeed the Blessed Virgin that Bernadette saw. A pastoral letter was circulated in 1862 that announced the findings.

It was almost 25 years later that the Capuchin Fathers came to the Philippines to introduce the devotion. In 1886, Fr. Bernardo de Cieza, Superior General of the Capuchins, requested Filipino sculptor Manuel Flores to carve the statue of Our Lady. Assisting him was the Capuchin, Fr. Antonio de Valencia, whose father was a renown sculptor in Spain. The 1.5 meter image was carved in the round, painted and outfitted with a gilded aureola, a crown, and rosary. It was first publicly shown for veneration in 1892. The Capilla de Capuchinos was newly-finished in 1898 when the Philippine-American War began. The fathers promised to dedicate the church to Her if Manila was spared, and indeed, the city was left untouched by the siege.

By the 1900s, the devotion was entrenched in the country, and a confraternity was organized under the counsel of the Capuchin superior. One important aim was to promote the definition of the 1854 dogma of Pius IX.

At the height of the War, the image was stowed for safekeeping at the San Agustin Church, Intramuros, the only church that remained standing after the bombing of Manila. In March 1945, the Lourdes Virgin was brought from the chapel of Santisimo Rosario of UST to the chapel of Sta. Teresita in Quezon City. It was finally installed in Lourdes Church on Retiro, Quezon City.

Feast Day: 11 February
Shrine: Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Q.C.