12/12/2025
Happy fiesta, Our Lady of Guadalupe!
𝐍𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀 𝐒𝐄Ñ𝐎𝐑𝐀 𝐃𝐄 𝐆𝐔𝐀𝐃𝐀𝐋𝐔𝐏𝐄 𝐃𝐄 𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐔
𝘓𝘢 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘯 𝘔𝘢𝘥𝘳𝘦, 𝘙𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘢 𝘺 𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘭 𝘗𝘶𝘦𝘣𝘭𝘰 𝘥𝘦 𝘊𝘦𝘣𝘶
December 12, 2025
𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙊𝙍𝙄𝙂𝙄𝙉
The Guadalupan image has a long history that reportedly dates back to the sixteenth century. It has been argued -- mainly by Mexican historians -- that the Augustinian Andres de Urdaneta brought along with an imagen of the Mexican Virgin of Guadalupe in the Legazpi expedition from Mexico to the Philippines in 1564-65 and that this image was left in Cebu.
Local tradition claims that Guadalupe had its beginnings at the time of Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi's arrival in the Philippines in the sixteenth century. The Spanish takeover of the port of Cebu in 1565 destroyed houses, scattered the population, and sparked a war in which Cebuanos carried out raids and tried to starve out the fledging Spanish camp. As time passed however, Tupas, the leading Cebuano chieftain, accommodated himself to the Spaniards and was baptized as a Christian. Cebuanos who remained unreconciled to the Spanish intruders fled to the foothills -- to what was then referred to as Tagoon ("hidden"), Tagoan ("hiding place"), or Banawan ("flood drain") -- and there built a community of "free men" outside the control of Tupas and the Spaniards, to suppress the community, Tupas and his warriors engaged the recalcitrants in a bloody battle. A Mexican account relates that after the Cebuanos fled to the foothills in the wake of the Spanish landing, Urdaneta and the missionaries went forth unarmed, bearing a standard with a painting of the Guadalupan Virgin of Mexico. Upon seeing the painting of "a chaste maiden dressed in a modest rose-colored tunic and a mantle the color of the sky, her face humbly inclined and her hands prayerfully put together," the Cebuanos lost their fear, came out of their hiding places, and slowly approached the friars. Thus, the Cebuanos were won to the faith. Augustinian missionaries baptized the people in the district and gave them a statue of the Virgin Mary as a reward and symbol of their new religion. Not long after, however, the people "forgot the statue." It was stored inside a "corn hut walled with carabao skin" and was only discovered because of a strange happening. At night, people saw light shining from the hut and, in the morning, found dogs that had died from trying to eat the carabao hide. This occurrence revived the people's fervor for Catholicism and they built a chapel for the statue. Subsequently, "Moro pirates" attacked the barrio and residents hid the image in a nearby cave but eventually again forgot about it.
The image was rediscovered when a trapper (mangangati) of wild c***s, looking for a lost fowl, sought shelter in a cave in the middle of a storm. In the dark of the cave, he found an image "illumined by a bright and mysterious light." The trapper brought the image to the Spanish priest in the town of San Nicolas, to which Guadalupe then belonged. It was enthroned in an ermita (chapel) in the barrio but when this chapel was destroyed by a typhoon, the image was transferred to the San Nicolas Church. For years, it was the practice of the people of Guadalupe, when celebrating their fiesta on the feast day of the Virgin (December 12), to take the image in a procession from the San Nicolas Church to the barrio at the beginning of the fiesta and then return the image at the end of the celebration. On one of these occasions, as the image was being taken back to San Nicolas on an andas, the statue fell. The people marveled that it fell standing on the ground, facing Guadalupe. They took this as a sign that the Virgin wished to remain in the barrio. Thus the statue came to be permanently enthroned in the barrio chapel.
𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙈𝙄𝙍𝘼𝘾𝙇𝙀𝙎
In 1902, there was a cholera epidemic outbreak. The epidemic hit the whole city but hardest hit was Barrio Guadalupe. Probably because the source of our drinking water then was the river, which was also renamed Guadalupe, and some open wells. It was devastating. Hundreds of residents died. It was said that those who buried the dead, did not return as they themselves died along the way or right on the cemetery while grieving for their dead relatives. The cholera outbreak was so bad in the barrio that there was burial everyday. Later, the burial had to be done en masse on a carabao cart.
It was sometime in the month of May. Anyway, the "mananabtan" Placido "Edo" Datan initiated a move and called on the barrio leaders to hold a penitential dawn procession to invoke the help of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Holy Cross of Jesus, and end the epidemic. The melody for the so-called "Antifon" was written by Silverio Gonzales, the catechist. One of the ardent supporters of the movement was Don Joaquin Labra, who, unfortunately, became one of the victims of the epidemic himself. The "Antifon" is actually the prayer Hail Mary in Spanish (Dios Te Salve Maria) but sung repeatedly in a very plaintive tune.
The Antifon was held for one month, from mid-May to Mid-June. What was placed on the andas (palanquin) and carried during the dawn procession was a small image of the Holy Cross and an estampa of Our lady of Guadalupe.
The cholera epidemic stopped but not immediately. As the dawn procession went on, the number of deaths decreased until there were no more deaths in the barrio. The devotion and strong faith of our elders to the Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe and to the Holy Cross of Jesus saved them from death. As an act of thanksgiving to God and to the Virgin of Guadalupe, Silverio Gonzales and the other people involved, decided to hold a thanksgiving novena from July 8 to 16 1902, with a grand procession of the Holy Cross and the imageof the Virgin. Melchor Abella paid for the brass band that accompanied the procession Since then, July 16 has always been celebrated as the second fiesta of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
During the World War 2, the church was bombed. Fortunately, the image was saved because it was kept in Amado Gabutan's house in a place called Nabongturan, what is now the Petron Gasoline Station along V. Rama Avenue. Unfortunately, Amado Gabutan’s house was hit by a bomb and burned down. What was really strange and surprising was that the image escaped unscathed from the bomb and the fire.The stories of Lt. Ambrosio Gacayan and a Capt. Navarro of the Philippine Army, said that every time the J**s would attempt to raid their camp, a vision of a woman would be seen prancing along the hills of Babag mountain. The J**s got scared of the vision because she would just vanish into thin air, then show herself again. The army and the Gabutan Family also believed it was the Virgin of Guadalupe whose image was with them.
More miracles were also reported through the intercession of the Virgin of Gudalaupe of Cebu.A miraculous cure happened to Aniana Sacamay. She developed breast cancer but she was miraculously cured after praying to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Another was when the image of the Virgin would be brought inside the cave for the post December 12 Mass, it would be placed in the exact place where the estampita was found, where the water drips from the ceiling of the cave. Despite the image is being placed directly in the water's way, it would remain dry.
The slowly dripping water inside the cave reportedly had curative powers. A long queue of people used to wait for their bottle to get full. Some devotees used the water from the cave to cure disease, and that there were a lot of cures that happened.
The water in the cave stopped dripping during the time of Mons. Esteban Binghay as parish priest of Guadalupe (parish priest 1975-1987), after he ordered the renovation of the cave with tiles and an overhead tank of water was placed atop the cave with the tube descending down the cave. People stopped gathering the water because they realized it was already water piped from the river and not from the original source.
𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙎𝙃𝙍𝙄𝙉𝙀
It is only in the 1920's, after the Labra and to lesser extent, the Lopez families, donated a sizable portion of their lot (which is now the present church and plaza) to the diocese, that the chapel was transferred from Kalunasan to the present site. In 1927 or 1928, an inexplicable event occurred that prompted the permanent enshrinement of the image in Guadalupe.
On the Sunday after the December 12 fiesta of that year, the image was, as usual securely tied with ropes to the andas for her return trip to San Nicolas, accompanied by a huge number of people. upon reaching a place we used to call Gucro, short for Guadalupe Crossing, along what was called Calamba road, now V. Rama Avenue, near the corner of M. Velez Street, near the Suzara property, the image suddenly fell from the andas, feet first to the ground but instead of tumbling, it remained standing and made a 180 degree turn by itself, facing the direction of the chapel where she came from. This happened in full view of many people who joined in the procession, including Florencio Tabal and Maximo Gabutan. (an area where a huge acacia tree is, right across Lacto PAFI office, as the place where the image fell. The spot was pointed by Mr. Maximo Gabutan who was an eye witness of the event).
The people secured the image back to the andas and brought it to San Nicolas. There they told the priest, Fr. Emiliano Mercado what happend in the procession. Fr. Mercado was the one who decided that the wooden image of the Virgin of Guadalupe should already stay in the newly-built chapel. So in 1929, the image of Our Lady was permanently enshrined in Guadalupe. In 1933, four years later, Guadalupe became a parish with Fr. Emiliano Mercado himself acting as concurrent parish priest until 1936. Then Fr. Sancho Abadia took over in 1937.
𝘾𝙃𝙐𝙍𝘾𝙃 𝙍𝙀𝘾𝙊𝙂𝙉𝙄𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉
In 2002, then Cebu Archbishop +Ricardo Cardinal Vidal declared the Our Lady of Guadalupe de Cebu as the patroness of Cebu.
Due to the numerous miracles that were attributed to her intercession, on July 16, 2006, the image was canonically crowned through solemn rites held at the Shrine of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Cebu at Guadalupe, Cebu City by virtue of a pontifical decree which was issued on May 9, 2006 issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. The coronation symbolized the official and formal recognition of Our Lady of Guadalupe as the patroness of the Archdiocese of Cebu.
𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘿𝙀𝙑𝙊𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉
There are two feast days celebrated in honor of Cebu’s Patroness. The first being held every July 16, her feast as Cebu’s Patroness to commemorate the anniversary of the ceasing of the epidemic through her intercession, and the anniversary of her canonical coronation. The second is celebrated every December 12, the liturgical feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The image also participated in the annual Sinulog festivities every January. The images of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Cebu and El Glorioso Patriarca san Jose de Mandaue of the National shrone of St. Joseph of Mandaue City joins the Santo Niño in the annual translacion or transfer. The event reunites the image of Mary and Jesus with St. Joseph. The images of the Holy Family will stay the night before the images of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Santo Niño will board a yacht for a fluvial parade along the Mactan Channel.
The devotion to Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Cebu continues to grow strong everyday with more pilgrims visiting her shrine to ask for her help and for the favors granted through her intercession and the devotion soon spread outside of Cebu. The story of the miraculous protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Cebu demonstrates once again how powerful her intercession and protection is we need her more than ever in these times, a mother who cares, protect and leads her children to her Son.
Source:
- Stalking the Virgin: The Genealogy of the Cebuano Virgin of Guadalupe. Philippine Quarterly of Culture & Society. By: Dr. Resil B. Mojares, Filipino Historian and Critic, and National Artist for Literature
- https://pintakasi1521.blogspot.com/.../nuestra-senora-de...
