The afternoon was easing down from the height of activity early morning. From the Patupat factory at Pozorrubio, we drove to neighboring town of Manaoag to visit its famous church. I’ve heard about the Manoaog Church ever since I was little since it is one of the most visited churches in the country due to its many miracles. It’s about 400 years old since the arrival of the original Ivory Image of Our Lady of Manaoag which was brought in from Spain via Acapulco. We were given at least 15 minutes to go around the church.
It’s interesting to note how this church started. Legend has it that in the early 1600s, a young man on his way home heard a lady’s voice. When he looked around he say the image of a Virgin Mary holding a baby and a rosary enveloped in light. He told the towns people about the apparition and soon they started to build a church on this spot. The name Manaoag actually came from the local word “taoag” which means “call”. Our Lady of Manaoag was given because “She Calls”.
Our Lady of Manaoag has a list of miracles under its name which started from deflecting the flamed arrows or even the Japanese bombs hitting the roofs of the church causing no damage. Now the altar where the original ivory image is heavily guarded because of the crowned jewel on the lady’s head which were contributed by a number of devotees which were beneficiaries of the lady’s miracles and healing.
In the few minutes I was in the church grounds, I was observing the devotees in their solemn prayer. And interestingly there are other tourist in the area, which says it’s one of the tourist attractions in Pangasinan. We moved on to Tarlac for the night’s meeting and presentation with the Tarlac CVBs. The familiar but still reliably comfortable Microtel Tarlac was our home for the night. It was a long day and we’re gearing up for another day of adventure in Tarlac.
—
Join our Backpack Photography Workshop, Photography 101 at Banaue at March 4-5, 2011 and Island Hopping Photo Tour in Batanes on April 17-23, 2011.
Ferdz Decena is an award-winning travel photographer, writer and blogger. His works has found print in publications such as Singapore Airlines’s Silver Kris, Philippine Airlines’ Mabuhay, Cebu Pacific’s Smile and Seair InFlight. He has also lent his expertise to various organizations like the Oceana Philippines, Lopez Group Foundation, Save the Children and World Vision, contributing quality images for their marketing materials.
