60 Years of Abundance and Blessings Through the Icon of Love

Every last Saturday of June, the town of Maco, Davao de Oro, celebrates its annual Fiesta Celebration in Honor of the Our Mother of Perpetual Help. This year, the town celebrates its 60 years of abundance and blessings through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known as the Inahan sa Kanunayng Panabang.

Before the fiesta celebration, The Diocesan Shrine held a series of activities and Novena masses to prepare for the Diamond Jubilee. The activities include: Tree Planting, Marian Conference, Coastal Clean up and mangrove tree planting, Zonavena Novena Masses, Father’s Day Recollection, Awarding Night, ZumbaNay, Song Writing Composition and Harana para kay Maria.

During the bisperas of the fiesta celebration, The Diocesan Shrine organized the Fluvial Procession, a spiritual voyage of devotion and blessings in honor of the Our Mother of Perpetual Help and St. John the Baptist. The Fluvial procession started at 4:30 in the morning at Barangay Bucana to Barangay San Juan. In the afternoon, the shrine held the Grand Marian Procession, where the town folks brought their own icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. Hundreds of devotees flocked, joined the procession, and filled the streets with their lighted candles and burning flame of devotion to the Mahal na Ina.

On Saturday Morning, the day of the Fiesta celebration, there was a pamukaw sa kadalanan where a group of musicians roamed around the parish vicinity and ground to awaken the people to attend the Pontifical Mass at 6:00 in the morning.

Bishop of Tagum, Most Rev. Medil Aseo, D.D., celebrated the Pontifical Mass together with the 15 concelebrating priests from different parishes under the Diocese of Tagum.

Bishop Aseo shared a story about how the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help was discovered; from an unknown artist to a merchant, to the Augustinians, Pope Pius IX, and the Redemptorist Fathers. The tradition of Our Mother of Perpetual Help is traced back to 1495. Stolen from a Cretan monastery by a wine merchant a few years after its creation, it was brought to the church of St. Matthew in Rome. For 300 years, it resided at the church and even survived its destruction by Napoleon’s army in 1798. Eighty-eight years later, Pope Pius IX gave the icon to the Redemptorist congregation at the Church of Saint Alphonsus, where it remains today.

The icon shows the Blessed Mother protecting our Lord Jesus with her arms wrapped around him. Her solemn face isn’t looking directly at him but at us. The archangels, Michael and Gabriel, carry instruments of Christ’s crucifixion, a lance and sponge, a 3-bar cross, and nails. The letters beside each figure identify their names using the Greek alphabet.

Since 1866, the Redemptorists have spread the devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the icon and title of Our Mother of Perpetual Help (also known as Our Lady of Perpetual Help).

Together with the town of Maco, Davao de Oro, let us rejoice and be glad as we celebrate the Diamond Jubilee through the intercession of Our Mother of Perpetual Help.

Viva Maria!

(Paul Angelo Gastanes)