Our Blessed Lady of the Visitacion of Piat
The image of Our Lady of Piat, known also as our Lady of Visitation of Piat (her feast is celebrated July 2), was originally called Our Lady of the Rosary, perhaps, because it was supposedly brought from Macao to the Manila, Philippines in 1604, by the devotees of the Rosary, the Dominican friars.
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| Our Lady of Piat image. |
The miraculous image of Our Lady was then moved to Cagayan and first venerated in Lal-loc, Cagayan, then the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Nueva Segovia. When the Dominican missionaries started the Christianization of the eastern region of Cagayan, called the Itawes region, they found the people quite wild and difficult to bring to the light of Faith so they decided to put that region under the protection of Mary. The image of our Lady was then brought from Lal-lo to one of the Itawes towns, Piat. Soon after our Lady took her place on a side altar of the Santo Domingo, Parish Church of Piat, the people began to experience her wondrous help in matters both material and spiritual. The people of Piat thereafter considered the image as their own, so that when the parish priest, Rev. Fr. Juan de Sta. Ana sent it to Tuguegarao in 1622 and a replica brought back from Tuguegarao to Piat where a separate chapel, away from the Parish Church, was constructed. This sanctuary was built near the bank of the river for the people wanted our Lady to protect them from the almost yearly inundation of the Rio Chico. Our Lady fulfilled this hope of the people to the letter for since she took her abode in the sanctuary overlooking the river, inundation have never been heard again to cause any danger to life or property either in Piat or the neighboring towns. The present sanctuary, about 800 meters from the Church, was started by Rev. Fr. Diego Pinero and later restored by Fr. Jose Gurumeta.
Due to numerous favors obtained through the intercession of our Lady of Piat, she has endeared herself not only to the people of the whole Northern Luzon. She has become the veritable refuge in all necessities of both body and soul. Some of the wonderful favors which our Lady of Piat has obtained for her children are the following:
- In the year 1624, a terrible drought came upon the Itawes region. The people feared certain famine for they had planted their fields three times, and three times the plants had dried up for lack of rain. The people then turned to their priest who advised them to call upon Mary and to make their peace with God by confession and Communion. The people then started a Novena in honor of Our Lady of Piat and approached the Sacraments. After they had gone to confession during the Novena, a torrential rain suddenly poured upon the region making it possible for the people to plant their fields again.
- In 1738, a certain army officer, Capt. Jose Ramos fell ill in Lal-lo. Every remedy which the physicians had prescribed failed to do him any good. Having given up hope in human help, he turned to our Blessed Lady of Piat. The patient made a difficult trip by boat to the sanctuary of our Lady in Plat. Upon arrival at the place, his condition grew worse and he was given the last Sacrament. Without losing hope in our Lady, however, he continued to pray for recovery. After a couple of days, the sick man was not only out of danger, but even out of bed and was soon on his way to his hometown, Lal-lo.
- About the same year, on the 2nd of June, a boat from Pamplona, Cagayan was heading for Aparri. As it neared the port, a sudden gale came up, and before they knew it, the twelve passengers in the boat were in the middle of the sea. No one could nor dared come to the rescue of the ill-fated boat, for heavy rains and strong winds made every attempt quite impossible. One of the passengers in that boat was on his way to visit our Lady in Piat. He therefore exhorted his companions to pray. He started the Rosary, the rest praying with him. Then all of a sudden, the rains stopped and the winds abruptly changed its course, bringing the boat safely to harbour.
These are only a few of the countless, wondrous favors, which, time and again, have proven Mary's power and special predilection for her children in the Valley. It must have been in recognition of Mary's special regard for this part of Catholic Philippines that the then Pope Leo XIII, already granted many indulgences to the faithful who, under the usual conditions, make a visit or pilgrimage to the sanctuary of our Lady of Piat:
- A plenary indulgence on July 2, Feast of our Lady of Fiat
- A plenary indulgence on the occasion of a visit or pilgrimage on any other day.
- 100 days indulgence to those who visit the sanctuary on any day.
Early in 1951, our Lady of Piat toured the Valley of which she is the beloved Queen. People from the different towns of Cagayan, Isabela, and Nueva Vizcaya turned out en masse and in their Sunday best to welcome her majesty who had come out to her people to bless their homes and their fields. For over three months, our Lady made her journey over bumpy roads and rivers, not unlike her journey over the hill country of Judea when she went to bless the household of Zachary. It was the first time our Lady had left her sanctuary in Piat. Even after four years, the people still talk of that visit full of blessings from the Queen of Heaven and the Cagayan Valley.
On the 20th of June 1954, the sojourn of our Lady in the Valley reached its climax when she was canonically crowned in Tuguegarao. The solemn occasion was preceded by a three-day congress in honor of Mary. High church dignitaries and other distinguished visitors from all over the country graced the event with their presence. The Most Reverend Egidio Vagnozzi, Papal Nuncio to the Philippines, celebrated the evening Mass on the 20th, after which he crowned our Lady of Piat amidst the splendour of church ceremonies and the presence of over a hundred thousand faithful devotees of Mary. A few eyes were dry, as the Pope's representative to the Philippines ascended our Lady's altar to place on her head the diadem as the Queen of the Valley. The memorable ocassion not only enhanced the glory of our Lady of Piat, it also put before the eyes of the Philippines, nay, of the whole world, her special role and protection for her children in this part of the Islands.
