Lady of Fort’s existence affirmed by UST paper

A document has validated the historical journey of an image of the Virgin Mary called Our Lady of the Fort in Cebu.

The wooden image used to be enshrined in Fort San Pedro in the 16th century.

The Spanish document from the University of Santo Tomas titled “La Virgen Maria Denerada en sus Emagenes Filipinas” was written by Fr. Lorenzo Perez O.M. dating back to Dec. 8, 1904.

Translated by Azucena Pace into English, the document affirmed the existence of an altar dedicated to the Virgen de Remedios, also known as Our Lady of the Fortress, which was found inside a well in Fort San Pedro between 1570 and 1575.

It also said that the locals venerated the image because of the miracles it provided through the water from the well where it was found.

“The image is small, with a child being carried in the arms, a European sculpture,” the document said.

It said the image was the same little Virgin that Lombardo Pigafetta aboard the Magellan expedition gave to Rajah Humabon, who was designated to  perform the first baptism in the Philippines.

Over 50 years after the image disappeared in the wartime ruins of the Cebu Cathedral, a replica of Our Lady of the Fort was blessed and enshrined by devotees beside a newly discovered well in the Spanish fort where her feast was celebrated last Sunday.

“As a Cebuano Marian devotee, it is gratifying and edifying to note that our Marian devotion might have begun earlier than the Tagalogs Nuestra Señora de Guia, which was found atop a pandan bush on May 19, 1571,” said Louie Nacorda, a heritage advocate and manager of an online company.

Researchers previously said that the Nuestra Senora de Guia or Our Lady of Guide is the oldest known in the Philippines.

However, Nacorda noted Lorenzo’s research that said that Our Lady of the Fort in Cebu may be a year ahead or the same two to four years later with the Our Lady of Guide.

He said the 1904 publication proved that the missing image of the Our Lady of the Fort, also known as Virgen dela Cotta, was the Marian image brought by Magellan along with the Sto. Niño and the Ecce Hommo to Cebu, and not the Virgen de Guadalupe de Cebu.

Nacorda said this is the first time that they found a firsthand document with information about the Our Lady of the Fort.

During the feast celebration last year, Nacorda donated a two-foot-tall replica of Our Lady of the Fort made by a woodcarver in Mactan.

The original image is believed to be the second oldest icon of the Virgin Mary in the Philippines.

The small statue of the virgin with an infant in her arms was venerated in the Chapel of Cotta until the mid-19th century when it was transferred to the Cebu Cathedral. The image was lost when the cathedral was destroyed in World War II. Candeze R. Mongaya, Reporter