HISTORY OF OUR LADY OF PIAT
PIAT, CAGAYAN
The miraculous image of our Lady of the Rosary, popularly known today as our Lady of Piat, for brevity, was sculptured in Macao, then a colony of Portugal. Presumably, upon the request of the Dominican Missionaries, the image was brought to the Philippines sometime in the year 1604, and placed in Lallo, then the Episcopal See of Nueva Segovia, for the veneration of the people. When the Dominican Missionaries started the Christianization of the Itawes region, they found the natives of a very rebellious character, and they thought it valuable for their work to introduce the devotion to our Lady among the people. Eventually the image was taken to Piat, and erected on a side altar. It was not long when the people felt special manifestations of divine favors through Our Lady. Their love and devotion to Our Lady had grown with the years, and attachement to her image bordered fantacism. This was clearly seen when Fr. Juan de Santa Ana sent the same image to Tuguegarao in 1622 and ordered another one more beautiful from Manila to replace the image. In no time, the people rose up in public protest and asked to the point of insistence that the original image be returned to them. Knowing the peculiar character of the people, Fr. Juan de Santa Ana finally gave in, and the image was brought back amid great rejoicing of the people. There arose, however, a dispute between the people of Piat and Tuao as to where the sanctuary should be constructed. Happily, solomonic solution was found, and it was agreed to have the sanctuary built between Piat and Tuao. The people worked with great enthusiasm on the sanctuary and in 1623, the edifice was ready. On Dec. 26, 1923, the image of Our Lady was brought in a solemn procession from the parish church of Sto. Domingo to the new sanctuary. The following morning, a High Mass was sung and the sanctuary solemnly blessed with a great concourse of the faithful present. For the first time, the care of the sanctuary was given to the charge of a certain lady by the name of Dra. Ines Maguillabbun. It was she who introduced the pious custom of keeping a votive light burning day and night before the Lady's image, a custom which is kept up to this date. Many years later, the people suffered great losses due to the inundations of the Chico River. Their deeply-rooted devotion to Our Lady prompted them to move her sanctuary near the riverbank in the hope that Our Lady would spare them from the scourges of the yearly inundations. As a result, the people built a more spacious church of more durable materials on a hill about a mile from the parish church of Sto. Domingo. Fr. Diego Pinero, later restored by Fr. Jose Gurumeta in 1875, began the present sanctuary.
One who sees the image of Our Lady of Piat for the first time will be surprised by its natural charm and appeal. This might be explained by the fact that the image is life-size, and has features very similar to our own. It is made of carved wood, and with the passing of time, it has taken a natural brown color so peculiar to Filipinos.
Before the missionaries arrived in the valley, the people had surely no idea about Our Lady, but once brought to their knowldege their love and devotion for her was spontaneous. Originally placed on a side altar in the church of Sto. Domingo in Piat, the people nevertheless, never failed to kneel before her image in silent prayer. Their simple faith and confidence in Our Lady won for them her all-powerful intercession. Her sanctuary is veritably the Mecca of the whole Cagayan Valley.
A few silent wonders wrought by Our Lady will be of great interest. In 1624 there occurred a drought throughtout the whole Itawes region. Three times the people planted their fields, but the plants dried up due to lack of rain. Frs. Francisco de Santa Ana and Andres de Haro, parish-priests of Piat and Tuao, respectively, decided to implore Our Lady's help in behalf of the oppressed people. From the pulpit, the priests exhorted the people to go to confession and communion warning them that this calamity was a just punishment for their sins. The people humbly complied with the exhortation of the priests, and promised the sanctuary of Our Lady, and there offer a Mass in honor of Our Lady. Our Lady was so much pleased with their faith, and humble disposition that on that very night she sent a copious rain. Thinking that the rain fell throughout the whole region, the parish-priest of Piat announced to the people the following morning that it was no longer necessary to go in procession to the sanctuary of Our Lady, in as much as she had answered their prayers, and the way made impassable due to the heavy rain the night before. But the people wanted to prove their gratitude to Our Lady, and they insisted that the procession finally reached the sanctuary (which as we noted before was equidistant form Piat and Tuao) the people of Tuao already gathered there, and to hear that not a drop of rain had fallen on their fields. Those devotess of Piat immediately concluded that they had not complied with the exploration of penance for their sins. However, those devotees of Tuao repented for what they had done and all went to following the good example of the people of Piat. After having religiously fulfilled their promise to the letter, Our Lady did not delay the heavens gave intermittent heavy rains. Since then, the sanctuary of Our Lady became a center of devotion, and a refuge in all trials and tribulations.
Another outstanding wonder, which our Lady of Piat worked, was that in behalf of the nephew of Dra. Ines Maguillabbun, first caretaker of the sanctuary. The child of five years was suffering from a swollen arm for four days, and because there were no medicines, neither did anyone know how to cure it, the child was simply left to his fate not without great danger of losing his life. It was then that Dra. Ines brought the child with her to the sanctuary not precisely to ask for his cure, as she confessed later. The child was left asleep at the altar steps of Our Lady's image, and when he woke up he was not little surprised to find his arm entirely whole and cured. The news of the wondrous cure went like wildfire in town, and the parish priest wanted to ascertain that it was Our Lady's work. Dra. Ines denied having gone to the sanctuary for the purpose of asking Our Lady to cure her nephew, but when the child was questioned he admitted having asked Our Lady to cure him with just this simple words: "Holy Mary, have mercy on me."
The cure was so instantaneous and so effecacious that everybody believed it was Our Lady who miraculously saved him.
P. Andre recalls another wonder of Our Lady. A couple in Iguig, Cagayan lives for so many years without bearing a child. They decided to ask the advice of the priest about the matter. The priest had no other advice to give them except to make special devotions to our Lady signifying their great desire to have a child and to offer that child in a special way to her. Both man and woman complied as they were told by the priest, and in a year, a child was born to them and was baptized Juan de Santa Maria in fulfillment of the promise they made to dedicate their child to Mary.
As early as 1883, Pope Leo XIII, the Pope of the Holy Rosary, granted several indulgences to the faithful who under the usual conditions make a visit of pligrimage to the sanctuary of Our Lady of Piat.
A. Plenary indugence can be gained on July 02, feast of Our Lady of Piat.
B. Plenary indulgence on the occassion of a visit or pilgrimage on any other day.
C. 100 days indulgence to those who visit the sanctuary or any day.
