Santa Potenciana - the Forgotten Secondary Patroness of the Philippines
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| Santa Potenciana of Maquiapo, Guagua, Pampanga |
Little did most people in the country did not know that the real Secondary Patroness of the country were two female saints, namely Sta. Rosa de Lima - the First Saint of the Americas and the Early Christian Martyr and unfortunately, the lesser known Sta. Potenciana (Romanized as St. Pudentiana). Sta. Potenciana was strangely not that popular in the country, probably because there were hardly few images and churches dedicated to her in the country yet she played an important role in our country and she did enjoy fervent devotion in our country prior to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. So without any further ado, let me introduce our forgotten Secondary Patroness.
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| The mosaic of St. Pudentiana in their Basilica in Rome |
According to early Christian records and the Martyrology of Reichenau, she was a Roman virgin of the early Christian church, the daughter of Saint Pudens, friend of the Apostles, and sister of Saints Praxedes and Praxedes, together with presbyter Pastor and Pope Pius I, built a baptistry in the church inside their father's house, and started to baptize pagans. These sisters were also known to gather relics of the martyrs that will be venerated by early Christians.
Pudentiana, along with her sisters were later captured and executed for refusing to worship the Roman Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Antoninus Pius as deities at the age of 16. The sisters were buried next to her father Pudens, in the Priscilla catacombs on the via Salaria. A basilica was later built in their honor and it is considered the oldest place of Christian worship in Rome and it was built over their house probably during the pontificate of Pius I in 140–155 AD, Her feast day is celebrated every May 19.
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| Close-up detail of Santa Potenciana of Maquiapo, Guagua, Pampanga |
The Spanish Conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi, the founder of the city of Manila, gained possession of the territory in 1571 on 19 May, the feast of Santa Potenciana and declared her patron saint of what is now the Philippines.
According to the 1877 Historia de la Santa Iglesia Metropolitana de Filipinas based on the manuscript of P. Francisco Moreno, a presbítero, after Saint Pudentiana was proclaimed general patroness of these Isles in 1571, her cultus gradually disappeared and her patronage became forgotten until such time that the Cabildo decided to appoint a protector for the realm. They decided to cast lots with the names of many Saints into an urn, and had a very young boy draw a name from the urn. The name inscribed was Santa Potenciana. It was then that a regidor stood up and stated that Manila was taken possession on her feast day. Her cultus was then revived, and she once again became the principal patroness of the Islands, a title that was never abrogated. Governor General Dasmariñas had a church dedicated to her in 1591, and another in 1592. Her relics arrived in the Philippines on 12 January 1595, and were received with great jubilation, paraded through the streets of Manila. They are presumed lost or destroyed during World War II. Until September 1963, her feast was obligatory.
By the Apostolic Letter Impositi Nobis of 12 September 1942, Pope Pius XII, at the request of the bishops in the Philippines, declared the Virgin Mary under the title of the Immaculate Conception as principal patroness of the Philippines with Saints Pudentiana and Rose of Lima as secondary patronesses, mentioning that historical documents indicated Saint Pudentiana as Patroness of the Philippines from the 16th century and Saint Rose of Lima from the 17th.In Manila Metropolitan Cathedral, a chapel was once dedicated to her and it is said that some of her major relics were enshrined and venerated before its destruction during the Liberation of Manila in the 1940's.
The first school for girls was named after Santa Potenciana until it was later to be known as Colegio de Santa Potenciana established in 1589 until it was ruined by the 1645 earthquake. and later to be used as the site for the construction of the Palacio del Gobernador (which was destroyed by the 1863 earthquake). At present, the Philippine Veterans Building, Insurance Center Building, and the Philippine National Red Cross Main Office stand on its former site. At present, a street in Intramuros was named after her.
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| Santa Potenciana de Maquiapo |
Her feast day was once one of the most esteemed in Manila to commemorate the conquest of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and was invoked as the Patroness against typhoons and enjoyed much veneration until it was suppressed in the 1960's when the Philippine Bishops requested to abolish the Manila feast day in light of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and it was sadly granted in September 1963.
Despite this major setback, it seemed that her devotion flourished in other parts of the country, particularly in Maquiapo in Guagua, Pampanga where her fiesta is celebrated with much pomp and solemnity that she once enjoyed in Manila in the olden days and miracles were reported through her intercession and a parish was also dedicated to her in Palawan. The image of Santa Potenciana in Maquaipo was brought to the country sometime in the 16th Century and it is enshrined in her chapel in Maquiapo, Guagua, Pampanga. The traditional Kuradal, or the devotional dance in honor of one's Patron Saint in Pampanga is practiced and observed on the first day of Novena. It seemed that despite the "ungratefulness" of some Filipinos to her, she continued her protection to the Filipinos for her Basilica in Rome was designated as the Church for Filipinos in Rome.
Sta. Potenciana may not be known to many modern Filipino Catholics, yet let us not forget her importance in our history and her patronage in our country. Hopefully, the devotion to Santa Potenciana will be revived and ask for pardon for the ungratefulness that she received over the years.
Sta. Potenciana, Segunda Patrona de Filipinias, Ipanalangin mo kami!
References
Alarcon, Norma (2008). Philippine architecture during the pre-Spanish and Spanish periods. UST Publishing House, Sampaloc, Manila.
Annuario Pontificio (2013) Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1.
Cheney, David M. (23 November 2011). "Pudentiana". The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
Insularum Philippinarum Beatissima Virgo Maria Titulo Immaculata Conceptio Primaria Universalisque Patrona et Sanctae Virgines Pudentiana ac Rosa Limana Patronae Secundarias Declarantur - Acta Apostolicae Sedis (1942).
Protectresses of the Philippines, (2013), Retreived from https://deipraesidiofultus.blogspot.com/2013/05/protectresses-of-philippines.html?m=0.
“Saint Pudentiana of Rome“. CatholicSaints.Info. 24 February 2017. Web. Retrieved on 18 May 2017. <http://catholicsaints.info/saint-pudentiana-of-rome/>.
Photos of Santa Potenciana of Maquiapo, Pampanga courtesy of Mr. Kring Kring Santiago.
Ohh!! Thank the heavens there is a surviving devotion to her, I thought I was the only one who has an image of Santa Potenciana, Thank you for doing this write up about her!!
ReplyDeleteI am happy to see her. I hope that more blogs would be made in honor of Sta. Potenciana. We call her in our native dialect as Apung Putin. Apung Putin, Birhen at Patrona ning bansang Pilipinas, Ipanalangin mu kami.
ReplyDeleteI am interested to have an image of her, to be put along side Santa Rosa de Lima and our very own saints Lorenzo and Pedro. Thanks for this article.
ReplyDelete