By Ronald O Reyes
PHILIPPINES – Catholics in the Philippines are elated after a 17th century cathedral was conferred with national shrine status.
The declaration of Maasin Cathedral as a national shrine symbolizes the “outpouring of graces to all of us devotees to the Mahal nga Patrona ,” said Monsignor Oscar Cadayona, vicar-general of Maasin diocese in Southern Leyte province in the central Philippines.
With its new title, the shrine will come under the rule of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Cadayona told UCA News.
Known as the Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of the Assumption, it will be the first national shrine in the Eastern Visayas region, comprising six provinces and housing four million people, most of them Catholics.
The announcement was made during the CBCP’s 128th plenary session in Cagayan De Oro City on the southern Island of Mindanao on Jul 6.
As a national shrine, the CBCP has recognized the significance of Maasin Cathedral as a “center of devotion and pilgrimage.”
“We expect pilgrims from all over the archipelago,” Cadayona added.
Mayor Nacional Mercado said the declaration has turned Maasin City, the capital of Southern Leyte, into the Eastern Visayas region’s “pilgrim capital.”
“We are honored and blessed that our cathedral has been awarded national shrine status,” Mercado told UCA News on Jul 7.
Aside from the Maasin Cathedral, the Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Mercy in Novaliches in Quezon City was also recognized as a national shrine by more than 70 bishops who attended the meeting.
Maasin diocese is planning a formal celebration soon.
Maasin, with over 85,000 residents, became a parish under the Jesuits in 1771. With the Franciscans taking over, the parish was dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption in 1843.
When the church was declared a cathedral in 1968, the new Maasin diocese took Our Lady of the Assumption as its patroness.
The image received its episcopal coronation at a ceremony led by former archbishop of Manila Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle on Aug 15, 2018, and Nuncio Archbishop Charles Brown officiated at its pontifical coronation on Aug 13, 2022.
Maasin has now become a pilgrim city, said Marcelo Pedalino, 62, a devout Catholic and a resident. – UCA News
