‘Tug-of-war’ over Marian image

THE LADY IS BACK The original image of the Our Lady of Caysasay is back in its shrine in Taal town in Batangas province, five years after being kept out of public view. —ERICO BIONA DELA CRUZ / CONTRIBUTOR

The more than 400-year-old image of the Our Lady of Caysasay found its way back to the Taal Shrine in Batangas province, after years of being kept out of public sight.

The 20-centimeter-tall (8-inch) sacred statue, which according to church history was found in the Pansipit River in 1603, and was installed at the Shrine of Our Lady of Caysasay in Barangay Labac on Feb. 12.

News that the original image was returned quickly spread, drawing thousands of devotees from Taal, its nearby areas and other provinces to the traditional “beso manto” or the kissing of the statue.

But while elated to see the original image back in the shrine, Marian devotees were wary of losing the statue, said to be one of the oldest Catholic Church treasures, again. The Advocates for Heritage Preservation (AHP) started an online petition, called “Return the Original Image of Our Lady of Caysasay to Taal,” urging Catholic Church officials to keep the image on public display.

Kept for safety

Heritage petitioners said Taal lost the image sometime in 2012, when former Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles ordered it kept away for safety reasons.

They believed that the original image, with accessories made of gold and diamonds, was hidden in the archdiocese’s office in Lipa City. They later learned that the image was being lent to Chinese Catholic devotees in Candelaria town in nearby Quezon province once a year, usually after the celebration of the Chinese New Year.

“People come every year [to Taal] for the fluvial parade. Devotees were made to believe [that they were venerating the] the original image, only to find out that what was being paraded was just a replica,” said Mye Atienza of AHP.

Taal has one of the most unique and solemn rites in honor of the Holy Mother. Every Dec. 8, devotees join a fluvial procession of the Caysasay image, with men pushing a paddle boat through the waist-deep Pansipit River at night.

Atienza said there had been efforts since 2013 to reach out to church officials, even to the Vatican, to have the original image back.

The image’s return to the Taal Shrine came unexpectedly.

Lolit Perez, 75, one of the camareras (keepers of the shrine), said devotees from Candelaria on Feb. 12 were bringing the original image to the religious nuns in Labac when they got wind of its return.

“People started coming in so we decided to hold a vigil that night and the ’pahalik’ (kissing of the statue) until the next day,” Perez said.

She said about 500 people were still waiting in line when the nuns came, attempting to take the image. When they failed, Msgr. Alfredo Madlangbayan of the St. Martin de Tours Basilica, also in Taal, stepped in, but the camareras stood their ground and refused to give the image away.

Guarding the image

Since then, devotees have been holding nightly vigils at the shrine to guard the image.

“Are we supposed to listen to the nuns or to the… people wanting to see the image?” Perez said.

In a text message last week, Arguelles said the issue on the Caysasay image was one of the “false accusations I suffered silently.”

“The [original image] was never kept in Lipa. True, the images in Labac (shrine) and in San Martin (basilica) were replicas to preclude… theft and desecration,” he said.

Arguelles, who recently resigned from the archdiocese, said the idea of replacing the original image with replicas came before he served as Lipa archbishop in 2004.

He said the Licup family from Candelaria, in 1982, had started a “tradition” of borrowing the image for their town’s annual fiesta.

“[It is] antique and valuable and must be protected from profanation by those who hate the Blessed Virgin Mary,” Arguelles said.

Asked where the image was kept all along, he said: “We keep [its location] a secret because many want to see the original. But the original image has always been in Taal.”