Our Lady of Peñafrancia (, ) is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary venerated in the Catholic Church. A miraculous copy is enshrined in the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Peñafrancia (Basílica Menor de Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia) in Naga, Camarines Sur, Philippines.
Spain The devotion to Our Lady of Peñafrancia originates from the province of Salamanca, Spain.Valderama Fortunado, Arnulfo et al., "Peñafrancia Festival & Divino Rostro feature novenas and fluvial procession", Catholics & Cultures
In the 1400s, Simón Vela, who came from a rich family, gave up his inheritance to become a laybrother of a Franciscan convent in Paris. He journeyed to the mountains of Peña de Francia ("Rock of France") in Salamanca, after hearing a voice instructing him to look for a sacred image of Mary; this is where the title "Peñafrancia" came from.
The statue had been hidden with other images and church bells to prevent them from falling into the hands of Moors and Saracens."History of the Devotion to Our Lady of Peñafrancia", Archdiocese of Caceres In 1434, Vela rediscovered the statue buried under a rock on the mountain of Peña de Francia."Nuestra Señora de la Peña de Francia Sanctuary", España
When reports of miraculous healings began circulating, Vela built a chapel for the image. Later, a larger church, the Santuario de Nuestra Señora de la Peña de Francia, was built on the plains at the top of Peña de Francia and entrusted to the Dominicans. In the fifteenth century, they built the church, the convent, and a hospice to accommodate pilgrims, with the tower built in 1767."Sanctuary of the Peña de Francia", Turismo Castilla y Leon The Spanish image was canonically crowned in 1952.
The Philippines
In 1712, Miguel Robles de Covarrubias, a seminarian at the Universidad de Santo Tomas in Manila and whose father was a Spanish official from Peña de Francia, fell seriously ill. He had a holy card of the image found by Simón Vela and placed it on the parts of his body which greatly pained him. This gave him relief from his suffering, and in gratitude he built a small church of nipa by a brook near the Pasig River, and housed a circa 1690 canvas copy of the Spanish image. The painting is now at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia de Manila in Paco.
Covarrubias was ordained to the priesthood in Ciudad de Nueva Cáceres (now Naga City), where he became parish priest of the cathedral. He had a local artisan carve a statue replicating the painting of the Virgin, and built a stone church for it. Many miracles were attributed to the intercession of Our Lady of Peñafrancia, which popularized the devotion among both natives and immigrant Chinese.
The devotion spread outside the Diocese of Nueva Cáceres, which then comprised the Bicolandia as well as Tayabas (now Quezon), Marinduque, Laguna, and up to Palanan, Isabela along the Cordillera Central range. It also reached many parts of Palawan and Mindanao, where Bicolano migrants settled and introduced the devotion.
When Francisco Gainza arrived in Naga in 1863 to take possession of the See of Nueva Cáceres, one of his priorities was spreading the devotion. On September 1, 1864, Gainza initiated the Traslación on the Friday before the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary, having the image was brought from Our Lady of Peñafrancia Shrine to the cathedral for a solemn novena, then on the afternoon of the ninth day, a Saturday, returned through the "Traslación por el río" (now called the Fluvial Procession), for her feast on Sunday.
Canonical coronation On 20 September 1924, the image was canonically crowned by the Apostolic Delegate, Monsignor William Piani, at Naga Cathedral. As part of preparations for the coronation, there was a contest for Best Musical Composition. The winning piece, Himno a la Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia, was composed by the Spanish priest Máximo Juguera, C.M., and became the anthem of the coronation and the feast itself.
In 2024, the Archdiocese of Cáceres celebrated the centennial of the image's canonical coronation. The theme of the celebration was ¡Se siempre la Reina! ("Be always the Queen!"), from the end of the chorus of Juguera's hymn."Centenary of the Canonical Coronation of the Image of Our Lady of Peñafrancia", Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cáceres
Theft of the image
On August 15, 1981, at around 4:30 in the morning, the caretaker of the Peñafrancia Shrine discovered the image of Our Lady of Peñafrancia had disappeared. The police reported the culprits had sawn the iron grilles behind the church and stole the image. The identity of the thieves remained a mystery, with the leading theory being they were selling it on a black market for valuable items. The manto and steel bar which held the image were found in the graveyard of Peñafrancia Shrine, without the image. In May 1982, an antiques dealer and devotee, Francisco Vecin, obtained information suggesting a man based along A. Mabini Street in Malate, Manila, was selling the image, which at the time was allegedly in the hands of a friend. He reported to Florencio Yllana that the missing image was located in Cebu. On September 3, 1982, the image was handed to Vecin in a sealed box, and returned to Naga on September 8, 1982 – the Feast of the Nativity of Mary. Following the theft, Church officials commissioned a replica for use in the 1981 celebrations. Today, the original image is enshrined in Peñafrancia Basilica along Balatas Street in Naga, which was built to accommodate the growing numbers of devotees starting in the late 1970s. The replica is instead used for all major processions.
Basilica
In 1960, the first Archbishop of Cáceres, Pedro P. Santos, dreamt of building a new and bigger church to be a basilica and permanent shrine of the Lady of Peñafrancia in Bicol. The task was assumed by his successor, Teopisto V. Alberto.
On October 30, 1973, the shrine was made a parish with the Auxiliary Bishop of Cáceres, Concordio Sarte, as its first parish priest.
The new church was completed in 1981 and dedicated as the "Church of Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia". The original statue commissioned by Covarrubias, recovered from theft in 1982, was moved to the new church, which in 1985 was elevated to the rank of minor basilica.
Tercentenary Celebration
In 2010, the devotion marked its 300th year. The Archdiocese of Caceres outlined a three-year preparation for the tercentenary, with each year focused on a particular theme and objective. Year 1 (September 2007 to September 2008 ) – the theme was "Remembering the Gift of the Devotion to Ina", dedicated to revisiting the history of the devotion in view of deeper understanding. Year 2 (September 2008 to September 2009) – the theme was "Renewing the Faith through Ina", dedicated to appreciating devotees' giftedness towards a more vibrant and relevant faith life. Year 3 (September 2009 to September 2010) – the theme was "Sharing the Future in Hope", dedicated to envisioning the future with the intent of sharing fruits of the devotion with subsequent generations.
In Year 4 (September 2010), the Church in Bicol celebrated the tercentenary itself with the theme, "A Gift Received, a Gift to Share" (Balaog inako, Balaog itao).
Feast day
In Spain, the Feast of Nuestra Señora de la Peña de Francia is September 8.
In 1895, Pope Leo XIII, acting on the petition of the clergy and members of the Diocese of Nueva Cáceres, issued a rescript fixing the feast day of Our Lady of Peñafrancia on the first Sunday of July, and declaring her principal patroness of the city of Nueva Cáceres. Pope Pius X, through a rescript dated April 8, 1905, reassigned the Feast of Our Lady of Peñafrancia to the Sunday after the Octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
To determine the annual date of celebrations in Bicol, the main reference point is the Nativity of Mary (September 8), then its Octave day of (September 15), with the actual feast day on the Sunday immediately after. The Traslación which opens the novena is held in the afternoon of the Friday ten days before, and the Fluvial Procession is held on the Saturday or vigil of the feast day.
The Peñafrancia Festival
The Peñafrancia Festival, which has been described as one of the biggest Marian events in Asia, is a celebration of two feasts: that of the Divino Rostro (Holy Face of Jesus) on the second Friday of September; and that of Our Lady of Peñafrancia on the third weekend of September.Yee, Jovic. "Church, Naga City cancel Peñafrancia Festival", Philippine Daily Inquirer, June 29, 2020
Considered one of the biggest and most popular religious events in the Philippines, the Peñafrancia festivities open the long celebrations of Christmas in the Philippines for Bicolanos. Tens of thousands of pilgrims and tourists visit Naga every September for the novena and subsequent events.
Feast day
The feast day of Our Lady of Peñafrancia is on the third Sunday of September. Filipinos at home or abroad gather with relatives and friends to share food and drinks, and together give homage and thanksgiving to the Virgin."Feast of Our Lady of Peñafrancia", Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Beaverton, Oregon
The feast day is preceded by a novena to the Virgin. On the first day, the replica of the Virgin is brought to the Metropolitan Cathedral and Parish of Saint John the Evangelist, where the novena is held. On the last day, the image is returned to the shrine on a barge sailing the Naga River. The evening procession is lit with thousands of candles held by devotees in boats escorting the barge. When the image reaches its destination, devotees shout "¡Viva la Virgen!" ("Long live the Virgin!"), and the image is carried back to the cathedral in a land procession. Devotees with lit candles will often kneel on the ground and bow their heads in prayer as the fluvial procession carrying the Virgin travels on the Bicol River through the city centre.
A multicoloured barge carries both the Virgin of Peñafrancia and the Divino Rostro on the river from the Metropolitan Cathedral to the basilica. Upon arrival, the Virgin is received in formal rites by Catholic prelates of the Bicolandia, led by the Archbishop of Nueva Cáceres, the local ordinary.
Devotion to the Divino Rostro The celebration begins with the Feast of the Nativity of Mary on September 8, which is marked by Masses in the image’s former shrine of the Metropolitan Cathedral.
The feast of the Divino Rostro (Holy Face), kept locally on the second Friday of September, is the first highlight of the celebrations. The festival begins with a novena to the Divino Rostro, first venerated in Naga in 1882 after a cholera outbreak. According to legend, the epidemic subsided after the Divino Rostro – a painting of Saint Veronica holding her veil with an imprint of Jesus’ Face – was placed on the cathedral altar.
The Divino Rostro icon is brought in procession from the Peñafrancia Basilica to the old Peñafrancia Shrine, where it stays for the novena with the usual focus on the sick. Generally, the first devotees begin celebrations, singing the "Hymn to the Divino Rostro" at the end of services.
Traslación The second Friday of September marks the feast day of the Divino Rostro, following the novena at the shrine. During the Traslación, the images of Our Lady of Peñafrancia and the Divino Rostro are brought by barefooted male voyadores from the basilica through the main streets of the city to the cathedral. This procession, which usually lasts four hours, sees thousands of devotees from all over Bicol and other parts of the country.
The image of the Our Lady of Peñafrancia is processed at dawn from Peñafrancia Basilica to her old home for the Traslación in the afternoon. After the procession is a pontifical Mass concelebrated by the Archbishop of Cáceres, bishops, and clergy from dioceses nationwide.