Our Lady of Hope of Pontmain of Quezon City - Quezon City's Shining Ray of Hope

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Our Lady of Hope of Pontmain of Bagong Pag-asa, Quezon City
In the northern area of Quezon City where commerce is thriving with shopping centers, a rail transit, modern subdivisions and commercial buildings can be spotted, one could hardly image that there were two shrines dedicated to the Mother of God that can be found in that area of Norh Avenue, a chapel dedicated to the Virgin of Truth located in a Catholic Radio station, Radyo Veritas headquarters in front of SM North EDSA and a parish  located at the back of the aforementioned shopping center dedicated to one of the least known Marian apparition that took place in France sometime in 1871

The Parish dedicated to the Virgin of Hope of Pontamain is the only Parish in the country dedicated to this Marian title based from the apparitions in a quiet village of Pontmain, France who only appeared to innocent children and at the same time, halted an attack to France that resulted to the end of the infamous Franco-Prussian War.

The image of the Virgin

The image of Our Lady of Hope is quite a unique one for she sports an unusual appearance to the children. Our Lady wore a blue robe embroidered with numerous golden stars. On her head she had a black veil and a gold crown and on her feet blue shoes with gold ribbons. The Lady was tall and beautiful and looked about eighteen; "smiles of ineffable sweetness played about her mouth." When the cross with Christ appeared in her hands, Joseph Barbedette recalled that "her face was marked with a deep sorrow... the trembling of her lips at the corners of her mouth showed deep feeling... But no tears ran down her cheeks."
The orginal image of Notre Dame de Pontmain located
on the actual spot where the Virgin appeared
The Apparitions in Pontmain, France

During the devastation of the Franco-Prussian War, Mary appeared on a farm to students at the nearby convent school.  On the evening of 17 January 1871, Eugene Barbedette (12) encounters a beautiful lady suspended in air above a neighboring house. The Lady was wearing a blue gown covered with golden stars, and a black veil under a golden crown.

His father, brother, and a neighbour came out to look and Joseph immediately said he too could see the apparition although the adults saw nothing. Knowing that only children could see the Lady, his mother suggested that it might be the Blessed Virgin, and that they should all say five Our Fathers and five Hail Marys in her honour and later called Sister Vitaline, the local school teacher, was sent for. She couldn’t see the Lady, and so she went to fetch three young children from the school to see their reactions. Immediately they arrived the two older children, two girls aged nine and eleven, expressed their delight at the apparition, describing it as the boys had done.

The apparition of Our Lady to the children in Pontmain, France
The adults in the crowd, which had now grown to about sixty people including the priest, could still see nothing and began to say the rosary and other prayers that are accompanied several Marian Hymns led by their parish priest, Fr. Michael Guerin. During the prayers and singing of hymns, the children exclaimed that she keeps on changing her positions. The Virigin's message was to the people were written on a banner that unfurled from her feet: "But pray my children. God will hear you in a short time. My Son allows Himself to be moved by compassion." When the message was read, the people were convinced that it was the Blessed Virgin Mary who appeared to the children.

Our Lady stopping the Prussians to enter France
The children were beside themselves with joy at the beauty of the Lady and her smile, but her expression then changed to one of extreme sadness, as she now contemplated a large red cross that had suddenly appeared before her, with a figure of Jesus on it in an even darker shade of red.

One of the stars then lit the four candles that surrounded the figure, as the crucifix vanished and the group began night prayers. As these were being recited, the children reported that a white veil was rising from the Lady’s feet and gradually blotting her out, until finally, at about nine o’clock, the apparition was over.

During the apparitions, the  Prussian army halted their advance across France when the Prussian commander encounters an "invisible Madonna barring the way" and the astoundingly, the description of the Lady was the same as that of what the children in Pontmain saw in the sky. Months later in May 10, 1871, a peace treaty was signed between France and Prussia (now part of Germany) that ended the Franco-Prussian War.

The Visionaries of Notre Dame de
Pontmain
The Church Approval of the Apparitions

The following March 1871, a canonical inquiry into the apparition was held, and in May of that same year, the local bishop questioned the children, the inquiry being continued later in the year with further questioning by theologians and a medical examination. The bishop was satisfied by these investigations, and in February 1872 declared his belief that it was the Blessed Virgin who had appeared to the children.

Joseph Barbadette became a priest, a member of the Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, while his brother Eùgene became a secular priest. He was assisted by one of the girls who had seen Mary as his housekeeper, with the other, Jeanne-Marie Lebossé, becoming a nun. A large basilica was built at Pontmain and consecrated in 1900. In 1932, Pope Pius XI confirmed the decision of the Episcopal court and granted a Mass and Office proper to our Lady of Hope of Pontmain.

The devotion in the Philippines

Parish of Our Lady of Hope in Bagong Pag-asa,
Quezon City
The devotion to Notre Dame de Pontmain began through the efforts of the Oblates of St. Joseph. The origins, from the carver and prominence of the stattue in the country are unknown yet the image became a focal point of pilgrimages in the Metro for decades.

The Our Lady of Hope Parish church began as a small kubol on Road 1, with a few improvised wooden benches under a roof of  coconut fronds, housing San Isidro de Labrador, the patron saint of farmers. On the first Sunday of May 1956, the first mass was celebrated in the area by Fr. Delgado, OFM, on the occasion of the first barrio fiesta. In 1960, under the leadership of Msgr. Pedro Bantigue, then parish priest of Sta. Rita de Cascia Parish in Philam, and with the help of a  Catholic Action Group, a chapel was constructed on a 240-square-meter lot on Road 1.

The Archbishop of Manila declared, on March 19, 1966, Our Lady of Hope as the patroness of Bagong Pag-asa and the chapel on Road 1 was named Our Lady of Hope Parish Church. The territorial boundaries of the parish include Bagong Pag-asa, Teresa, Carmel Subdivisions, the present BLISS and SM City North EDSA.

The Feast of the Lady of Hope of Pontmain in Quezon City is celebrated on January 17, the Liturgical Feast Day in commemoration of the apparition and a "Pistang Bayan" every May 28, in thanksgiving to the miracles that the Lady gave to her devotees in the area.

Because of this apparition, devotion to Our Lady of Hope spread. The message of our Blessed Mother is that of hope: "But pray my children. God will hear you in a short time. My Son allows Himself to be moved with compassion." As we offer our prayers each day seeking the maternal care of our Blessed Mother, we must be mindful she, who stood at the foot of the cross filled with the hope of the forgiveness of sin and the resurrection to everlasting life, affords us hope also during our journey of life. With our Lady of Hope, we indeed have assurance of never being abandoned, and have hope of being united with our Lord now and forever in heaven.

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