Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe De Cebu
By: Vic Alcuaz
Tags: Life Lessons, Inspiration, Miracles, Blessed Virgin Mary, Catholic

Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe De Cebu

Cultural Historian from the Philippines, Louie Nacorda shares this beautiful story in her honor

Patroness of the Archdiocese of Cebu and of Barangay Guadalupe and Parish.

The 33inch tall image of the canonically crowned Our Lady of Guadalupe de Cebu is the fourth and latest canonically crowned (July 16, 2006) image of the Blessrd Virgin Mary under this title.

The oldest Guadalupe Marian title is in Extremadura, Spain circa 700AD; followed by the one in Gomera, Canary islands, Spain; third is the Mexican Guadalupe in Tepeyac, Mexico City, with an apparition in 1531; and the fourth and latest one is the 17–18th century image in Cebu, The Phillipines.

Our Blessed Mother Mary must like Guadalupe title so much that four different versions are canonically crowned in the world.

Guadalupe is an archaic Arabic word that translates to “Beautiful River” and true enough, wherever this Marian title is venerated, torrents upon torrents of graces and spiritual blessings run abundantly, as in a wide, crystal clear waters of a river, where Our Lady’s ardent devotees can draw sweet spiritual water to quench their spiritual thirst for Jesus, Her Son and our Elder Brother.

From Spain in the Old World, to Mexico in the New World, and to the Philippines in the Third World, Our Lady of the Beautiful River makes God’s blessings continously flow abundantly.

While the two Guadalupe titles in Spain are feted on September 8 (Extremadura) and on the Third Sunday of October (Gomera), the two other Guadalupes in Mexico and in Cebu are both feted on December 12.

The discovery of the Cebu Guadalupe image is shrouded in mystery.

Popular oral Cebuano history narrates that a native Cebuano wild chicken hunter was lured by a colorful and unusually colorful chicken into a bush covered and unknown cave by a river, in a place where Lunas (Japanese bamboo) grew abundantly, and was called Kalunasan.

Upon entering, the man did not see the chicken but found the Marian image, carved from Molave wood, in the style of the Spanish Imaculada (standing alone, hands gathered in prayer), with the two ends of a quarter moon protruding from each side of the base, where three cherubs were carved.

The image is obviously of local make, and suffers from certain anatomical imbalance (the hands are too big for the body, the torso is twisted) but the face of Our Lady is very well sculpted, portraying a compassionate and motherly looking woman.

A small chapel was built beside the cave because as soon as the news of its founding spread, people started going to the cave to pray for healing and drink from the water that slowly drips from the roof of the cave, beside where the image was found.

Because of the image’s similarity to the Mexican Guadalupe, the Cebu image was also called Virgen de Guadalupe.

La Guadalupana Cebuana’s greatest miracle was the cessation of the cholera epidemic that hit Cebu in 1902, and killed thousands of Cebuanos. But thousands of other Cebuano devotees are ready to narrate how they experienced God’s mercy through Our Lady of Guadalupe de Cebu’s powerful intercession.

In 1933, Guadalupe was made a separate parish from San Nicolas (est. 1584).

In 2006, by decree of Pope Benedict XVI, upon the representation of Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, Archbishop of Cebu, during the curacy of the Rt Rev Msgr Carlito Pono, the Virgen de Guadalupe de Cebu was canonically crowned on July 16th.

This year 2020, the parish celebrates its 87th annual fiesta, but long before it was made into a parish, the whole barangay and other devotees from different parts of Cebu, already celebrated her fiesta on December 12, preceeded by a nine day novena and a 3-hour foot procession around Guadalupe, the biggest barrio or barangay of Cebu City with about 80,000 residents.

¡VIVA LA VIRGEN MARIA GUADALUPANA CEBUANA!