The Veneration of Our Lady of Peñafrancia,
How it Started in Los Angeles

by Hermito San Jose, Jose Factora and Alice San Andres-Calleja
Excerpted from the Silver Jubilee Souvenir Program, September 1999, United Bicolandia Los Angeles

In reading the tales of Granada and the Alhambra (remember the story of Zayda, Zorayda Zorahayda and the epic of El Cid), we usually take the readings as pure literary enjoyment of romance and adventure in old Spain. Scarcely have we paused to consider that those goings-on of yore have led to important consequences in our lives as Bicolanos, particularly in so far as our veneration of Our Lady of Peñafrancia has shaped our religious and cultural orientation. For without the Mohammedan invasion of Spain, we would not be celebrating the Peñafrancia fiesta.

The Mohammedan Connection

When the Moors threatened to overrun all of Spain and to supplant the Cross with the Crescent, some now unknown devotees of the Blessed Virgin Mary buried a prized statuette of hers under the rocks, high on the slope of Sierra de Francia, a mountain range between the provinces of Salamanca and Caceres. There, it lay hidden for years and years, spanning the period of Moorish occupation through the battles for liberation in which Rodrigo Diaz de Vibar, El Cid, played a legendary role with his heroic exploits.

Even after Spain was safely back in Christian hands, the statuette remained buried and forgotten for long years more, UNTIL -- with Divine inspiration but after an arduous search, one Simon Vela on May 19, 1534, unearthed the statuette, blackened but well preserved.

Then and there, Vela and his search team were the beneficiaries of the first miracles: each of them was instantly cured of some ailment. News of the discovery and miracles spread, the statuette was housed in a chapel (now a cathedral) on or near the site of discovery, and a new appellation was added to the Virgin Mary - Nuestra Senora de Peña de Francia.

The Philippine Connection

In the early 1700s, a family of devout Catholics from San Martin de Castanar, a village at the foot of Sierra de Francia, migrated to Cavite in the Philippines. A son of the family, Miguel Robles de Covarrubias while studying for the priesthood in the University of Santo Tomas, was called to Nueva Caceres (now Naga City) where he had his ordination shortly thereafter. Persuaded to stay, he soon became the parish priest of Naga and vicar general of the diocese.

A long time devotee of Our Lady of Peñafrancia, Father Covarrubias commissioned a local sculptor to carve a statuette of Our Lady which lie installed in a chapel he erected in 1711 near the banks of the Naga River. The veneration Of Our Lady of Peñafrancia then spread throughout the Bicol Region.

This year 1999 is the diamond (75th) anniversary of the coronation of the Peñafrancia image in Naga when the Blessed Mother was acclaimed and hailed as the Patroness of Bicolandia. At the coronation rites in 1924, the official Spanish hymn, Resuene Vibrante, was sung for the first time.

Neither the devotee Miguel de Covarrubias nor the discoverer Simon Vela nor those who buried the statuette in the mountains of Francia, perhaps ever dreamt that their pious deeds which arose from their personal devotion to Our Lady would start a distinct Marian following that would gird the globe. Throughout the Philippines and all over the world, wherever Bicolanos have migrated and have found new homes, they have carried with them their love and devotion to their Patroness, Ina. They invite Catholics of all regions and races to join them, for the the Mother of God is the universal mother. This is true across the United States, in cities big and small, not the least of which is the City of Los Angeles.

The original carved image of Our Lady of Peñafrancia, before it was stolen in 1981, and after it was recovered in 1982. Photo courtesy of I Love Ina Penafrancia.

The Los Angeles Connection

This large multi-faceted city was named in honor of Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula.With a hovering of angels, the Blessed Mother is the queenly protector of this city by the river Porciuncula. To the Bicolanos here she is the Patroness known by another title -- Nuestra Senora de Peñafrancia -- whose shrine stands by yet another river, the Naga River, back home.

Bicolandia Takes the Lead. The veneration of our Lady in private homes has been going on since the first Bicolano family settled in Los Angeles. But the L.A. Bicolanos as a community started celebration of the Peñafrancia Fiesta in 1975. That was after they formed in 1974 the organization BICOLANDIA (later reorganized as United Bicolandia Los Angeles - UBLA).

Since then, with the enthusiastic participation and support of the Bicolanos in the area, the organization has sponsored the annual festivals, following as closely as possible the traditions from home: the novena, the Masses, the processions, the voyadores, the shouts of “Viva La Virgen!,” the singing of the Resuene. The novena starts on the second Friday of September and culminates on the third Saturday.
The fiesta celebration in Los Angeles like most projects that recall homeland traditions had a rather awkward beginning. The first fiesta was held in St. Columban Parish Church. A nine-day recitation of the rosary took the place of the novena because of the absence of the prescribed novena prayer. It was the following year that these novena prayers were said. The melody and lyrics of the Resuene were recalled from memory by Peping Factora, (while he and the other organizers were going about the fiesta food preparations), and who also led the shouts of Viva la Virgen! during the first procession around the block of St. Columban.

The Fluvial Procession. Up until 1984, the devotees of Our Lady in Los Angeles only had the foot procession on the feast day. In 1985 when Oscar Tandog was Fiesta Chairman, they finally succeeded in launching a fluvial procession, the aquatic event (sakay) complete with the pagoda, a well-decorated ferry that carries the image of Ina. The sakay is a big and colorful feature of the fiesta back home and here the LA Bicolanos are making an effort to make the event as spectacular. The all-male retinue of the Virgin called voyadores in their very colorful uniforms shouting VIVA LA VIRGEN!, add to the spectacle. Since 1986 in recognition of the Bicolanos' contribution to L.A.'s cultural enrichment, Mayor Tom Bradley has declared the festival period as Our Lady of Peñafrancia Week in this city.

Since 1988, the center of the novena prayers and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament during the first eight nights is the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church on Santa Monica Boulevard, where a Bicolano, Rev. Mateo "Tim" Hicarte, is the assistant pastor. In the years before, the novenas, mass and procession were done either at Our Lady of Loreto Church or St. Columban's.

Echo Park and Lake has become the regular venue for the culminating activities of the Fiesta - the kaaldawan (from the Bicol word aldaw meaning day) - which includes the ninth day novena prayers, the floral offering, the Holy Mass (usually a concelebration by Bicolano priests), and the foot and fluvial processions.

Some volunteer family devotees have taken on certain tasks, literally becoming the "permanent committees" for the fiesta. Every year these devoted Bicolanos give their time, talent and treasure to the annual fiesta preparations. Tom and Coring Torres construct the one-day main stage and altar usually in the afternoon before the kaaldawan at the park. Raul and Beth Torres see to it that the andas (mobile altar) for Ina is well decorated and even sometimes provide the chairs for the park event while Emil and Femy Araneta spruce up the main stage altar with their homegrown plants and numerous floral arrangements. The pagoda is painstakingly done till the wee hours by Badong Sabocor's family, assisted by Vic and Cielo Arroyo and Doming and France Adversario who give it the finishing touches. Many, many others undertake the physical details of the fiesta celebration and bisperas (vigil) has become a real fun time for these volunteer workers, who now even make it like the real Filipino tradition of feasting on dinuguan at puto while at work at the park on the eve of the kaaldawan.

Every year this Echo Park event has seen the numbers increase from a mere hundred to now some five thousand people of all ethnicity, all devotees of Our Lady, congregating for the Fiesta. Of all Filipino cultural events in Los Angeles, it seems that the Peñafrancia Fiesta holds the prospect of rivaling the Hispanic Cinco de Mayo sometime in the future.

Opportunity to Fraternize. The religious observance of the Peñafrancia fiesta is a time for Bicolanos here to gather and fraternize. Back home, this socio-cultural event is one of the biggest Marian festivals of the country. For many years here in LA, after each evening's novena prayers, the Bicolanos partake of food and drinks provided by the volunteer kabanggihan support groups, usually made up of the various Bicol provincial, town/city and school organizations in the area. A musical entertainment program also followed the dinners.

Another occasion to socialize during the celebrations is the grand Peñafrancia Night and Fellowship Ball held in hotels in the central downtown area. In previous years, these dinner-socials were held at the Fil-Am Community Center, the Elks Club or the Friendship Hall. But as the attendance increased, the organizers moved the venue to the larger ballrooms of the big hotels. These culminating socials also served as fund-raising affairs to generate seed money for the Peñafrancia Shrine project. Another big fund-raiser is the Miss and Mrs. Peñafrancia Contest which pageant is done during the fiesta dinner socials. This project has been successfully initiated by committees headed by Zeny Sabocor and Gene Leaño, where the beauty and brains candidates work mainly to promote the Shrine Project and to augment its funds.

The Fiesta Management

The yearly celebrations are managed by an officer who acted as chairman and an executive committee. But as the so-called support groups became more active, UBLA began to look into possibly incorporating these groups into the Fiesta Management. In fact, for a couple of years, organizations were designated at the helm of it. However, due to lack of proper understanding into its mechanics, the scheme met some difficulties in its implementation and reverted back to single chairmanship, although there remains the strong support of the Leaders-at-Large, the working group composed of all the heads/representatives of the various Bicol groups.

This year's overall chair is Board Director Jose "Peping" Factora, one of the Founders and the first inducted president of UBLA. He is ably assisted by former president Emma Z. Garcia and Louie Betito. Peping also recruited the Alumni & Alumnae of Ateneo de Naga and Colegio de Santa Isabel as support organizations.

The Present Statuette

In the first three years, Bicolandia used the stampa, a framed picture of the Virgin's image, owned by Badong and Bibay Sabocor. In 1979, while on a visit in Los Angeles, Mrs. Nena B. Sibulo learned the Association needed a statuette. Immediately she and her husband, then Naga City Mayor Vicente P. Sibulo, donated one to the Bicolanos here. Msgr. Sofio Balce, then the chaplain of the Peñafrancia Shrine donated two mantos (mantles) and estandartes (banners) of our Lady and the Divino Rostro (Divine Face).

The present image, a replica of the original icon that was recovered from the rocky slopes of Peña de Francia in Salamanca, Spain was donated by Dan and Perlita Robles. The statuette was carved in Naga City, the center of devotion to Our Lady of Peñafrancia in the Philippines.

A special affinity of Bicolanos and Los Angelenos is the fact that both Cardinals Jose Sanchez and Roger Mahoney were elevated together as Princes of the Church in the same year on June 28, 1991 in Rome. And how about our Ina, the Lady of the Rock (Peña de Francia), watching over the shaky rocks underneath Los Angeles?

Yes, to the Bicolanos of Los Angeles, the Virgin of Peñafrancia provides strong bonds with one another and with their homeland the Bicol Region. Now their consuming dream is to build a chapel in this metropolis for Ina. Donors and sponsors must now come forward and center if this project is to be realized during this generation. And if this shrine, however small and modest, is erected, if this become yet another basilica for our Lady, this time in the City of the Angels.

With the zeal of the devotees of Our Lady, a new notch to the worldwide devotion to Our Lady will have been etched in this continent, near to circling the globe back to Spain in Europe where it all began.