The Wise Friar

Throughout the centuries, the Church has honored the Blessed Virgin Mary in many ways.  Among the most solemn and celebrated expressions of this reverence is the canonical coronation - a papally authorized act of crowning a Marian image that has been the object of long-standing and widespread devotion.  The sacred rite is more than a ceremonial crowning; it is a recognition of the deep faith of the people and the enduring presence of Mary in their spiritual lives.  The roots of canonical coronation go back to the early Church when crowns and precious ornaments were offered to images of the Virgin as tokens of gratitude and honor.  Over time, this devotional practice gained formal recognition.  The first officially recorded canonical coronation was that of La Madonna della Febbre (Our Lady of Fever) in 1631 in St. Peter's Basilica, Rome.  Canonical coronation is granted by the Holy See based on specific criteria: a long history of devotion to the image, re...

Fr. Francis Vernon G. Douglas (May 22, 1910 - July 27, 1943) 78 years after the gruesome death of Fr. Francis Vernon Douglas in the Philippines, his name continues to reverberate and to be remembered in the local Church of New Zealand, whose faithful regard him with deep affection and considers him a source of inspiration because of his dedicated life as a missionary and his heroic death. Many New Zealanders have long thought that his heroic death was a martyrdom that should be recognized officially by the Church.  As a matter of fact, the story of Fr. Douglas has entered into the traditions of New Zealand Catholicism. He is honored for his steadfast devotion to his religious duties, and stands with Mother Mary Joseph Aubert and Emmet Mchardy as one of the local Church’s three great inspirational models.  As a testimony of the high regard New Zealand Catholics have for this great priest, a boys’ Secondary School was named Francis Douglas Memorial College in 1959 in New Plymo...

Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage (Spanish: Nuestra Senora de la Paz y Buen Viaje ,  Tagalog:  Mahal na Ina ng Kapayaapaan at Mabuting Paglalakbay ) or more popularly known as Birhen ng Antipolo is an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary venerated in the city of Antipolo, Rizal in the Philippines.  The brown image of the Blessed Virgin of the Immaculate Conception is enshrined in the International Shrine dedicated to her, also known as the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, at the foot of the Sierra Madre mountains, east of Manila. The revered image travelled across the Pacific Ocean from Mexico to the Philippines aboard the galleon El Almirante , arriving in the Philippines in 1626 through the generosity of Governor General Juan Nino de Tabora. The peaceful and safe voyage of the El Almirante was attributed to the image of the Blessed Mother, named Nuestra Senora de la Paz y Buen Viaje.  The powerful intercession of the Blessed Virgin was further proven by th...

Short History The Church of San Geronimo in the historic town of Morong, Rizal province was one of the first built by the early Spanish missionaries who set out from the center of the colony in Manila in their desire to spread the Catholic faith throughout the island of Luzon.   However, the first to reach Morong were not the missionary religious orders but members of the Spanish Army.  On January 16, 1572, a military expedition led by Captain Juan Maldonado went eastward from Manila, barely a year after Miguel Lopez de Legaspi founded the capital city.  They reached a highly civilized native settlement on the shores of Laguna de Bay.  They called it Moron, which later became Morong from a Spanish town of the same name.  This settlement became the center of their administration in those lands and was called Rinconada de Morong or Pueblo de Morong .   Six years have passed before the first missionaries arrived to spread Christianity.  The Fra...

Ang Simbahan ng Sta. Ursula sa Binangonan, Rizal Brief History of Sta. Ursula Parish Church The parish of Sta. Ursula was established when the town of Binangonan was separated from Pueblo de Morong , the center of the province which is now Rizal, in the year 1621, when Christianity had already taken root in the town through the mission of the Franciscans who were the first group of missionaries to evangelize this part of Luzon in 1578.  The virgin and martyr Sta. Ursula was chosen to be the titular patroness of the newly established town and parish. After establishing a mission in Morong, the Franciscans Fray Juan de Plasencia and Fray Diego de Oropesa began to spread Christianity among the settlers around Laguna de Bay, and established  visitas in places where they gathered people to teach them catechism. One of the visitas was built near the shores of the lake, at the foot of Sierra Madre Mountains.  Around this visita , the community grew and the faith spread through...