Manaoag Shrine (Our Lady of Manaoag) (Manaoag)

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Our Lady of Manaoag (formally: Nuestra Señora del Santissimo Rosario de Manaoag, literal translation: Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary of Manaoag) is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary, associated with a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary, said to be from the 16th century. She is the patroness of the sick, the helpless and the needy. This holy image is very popular among Roman Catholics in the Northern Philippines, and has been much popularized among the inhabitants of the Pangasinan provincial Area. It is covered by the Most Holy Archdiocese of the Lingayen-Dagupan district.

The province of Pangasinan is one of the Philippines' most widely visited Roman Catholic Pilgrimage sites. Many people from across the Philippine archipelago come and visit the town of Manaoag, where the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary is enshrined in a church dedicated to this name.


History
The origins of the Our Lady of Manaoag started with the holy Augustinian fathers who were in charge of the spiritual administration of the Manaoag town from the year 1590 to 1613 in accords to the sanctified decree of Spain. It was accepted as a vicariate by the Dominican Provincial Chapter in 1614, under the patronage of Santa Monica.

According to documented recorded legend dating back to 1610, a native man who was walking home heard a Lady's mysterious voice. He looked around and with great awe saw the radiant Lady with a Rosary on her right hand and a Child on her left as she stood on a cloud veiling a treetop. The man fell on his knees. He told the people of the apparition. And soon right on the spot where the Lady appeared a church was built. A town quickly flourished around it and was called "Manaoag".

Tradition has it that the town itself was born from the Virgin’s call, thus the term, "taoag" meaning "to call" was used to name the town. This is where the name Manaoag was derived from, which means "She Calls".


Miracles
The statue of Our Lady of Manaoag purportedly has a long history of miraculous and pious events that are duplicated in the murals all over the church. This is done so that the events will never be forgotten. Devotees, coming from all over the globe, have various reasons for visiting the place among which are pleas for health restoration, good voyage, or better fate.

The statue of Our Lady of Manaoag is considered to be priceless because of the great identity it brings to the province of Pangasinan, but more interestingly because of its jeweled crown. Many criminal attempts have occurred to burglarize the Manaoag Shrine. Several golden crowns and halos are owned by the Manaoag Shrine, which were donated by both Filipinos and foreigners who have visited it. In addition to this, a great display of perfumes are also displayed in the Manaoag museum, from which donations of devotees from all across the globe are presented as gifts to Our Lady of Manaoag.

Some of the miraculous accounts regarding Our Lady of Manaoag are the barbaric times when early pagans from the mountain tribes used to burn down newly converted Christian villages, by which the town of Manaoag was not spared. The city was set on fire. The church with its thatched roof was the last refuge of the people. But the leader of the pillagers, climbed over the fence and shot lighted arrows to all parts of the church. Not a single flame, however, set it on fire. This miraculous event was famously repeated and nationally reported during the Second World War. The Japanese army dropped several bombs on the roof of the Manaoag shrine, by which all landed causing no damage to the roof and the shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Because the statue is heavily guarded and secured through bulletproof glass panels within the high altars of the Church, the Archdiocese of Pangasinan has opened an opportunity for people to have a chance to be able to touch the statue of Our Lady of Manaoag by climbing up to the second floor through a stairs located at the back of the church. The soft velvet gown worn by the Lady of Manaoag has a faded spot from where the devotees streaked their hands. After a devotee makes a quick prayer, touches the back of the Lady of Manaoag, and makes a sign of the cross, they move across a souvenir store and on their way out of the church building.

The hilltop location of the Our Lady of Manaoag's shrine stands up to this day where thousands continue to flock every year. Huge crowds attended the day the image was canonically crowned by his Holiness Pope Pius XI using his papal power of Papal Nuncio in April 21, 1926. She celebrated the Diamond Jubilee of her coronation on January 1st, 2000.


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