NAGA CITY—For most Filipinos, September signals the start of the Christmas countdown. But for the people of Bicol, it means the beginning of a season of deep devotion and the celebration of the Peñafrancia festival here. The festival, one of the country’s most revered and renowned religious celebrations, is marked by the feast of the...
Tag: devotion
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Renewing faith and devotion to Our Lady of the Candles
ILOILO CITY—Years into her marriage, Maria Fe Villanueva Esquillo had been without a child. But her frustration and seeming endless waiting were eased somehow by her constant prayers and supplications to Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria (Our Lady of the Candles) at the Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral. “I asked for at least one child. Instead, the Lady...
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Our Lady is our mother for always
Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, is a special nonworking holiday nationwide by virtue of Republic Act. No. 10966. The law calls Our Lady “the principal patroness of the Philippines,” but more than that, she is the “mother” of millions of Filipinos who look to her as the fount of love...