Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de Batong Paloway

In our country where the Catholic faith is still predominant in the archipelago, one cannot deny that it miracle stories can be heard in almost every town from answered prayers that were granted through the help of their respective patron, up to the unusual occurrences from images that were found in stones, plants or any mundane objects that would soon be subject for public veneration in the future.

One of the most popular Shrines that houses such holy objects was in San Andres, Catanduanes where its Chapel enshrines the miraculous Paloway stone were an profile of the Virgin of Sorrows was said to appear in that stone and the stone, as per the local devotees, grew as years passed by and details of the Virgin slowly appears.

The Lady in Stone

The image of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores of Batong Paloway is that of a profile of the Virgin of Sorrows on a three inch stone. The visage was indeed smooth with glossy surface as. The image is currently adorned in a glass frame with metal accessories like the diagnostic Heart with Seven sorrows, a 24-Star halo-like rafaga with a Cross in the middle. The image of the Sorrowing Virgins strikingly resembles the Madonna of the Thumb by Carlo Docci where the Virgin of Sorrows showing her thumb.

The providential find

Details from of the Virgin

Sometime during a harvest season that fell around October and November, a certain Pacio Socao, together with his companion, was herding carabaos in the Culapnit, a few kilometers away from the Poblacion. After placing their carabaos in a grassy plain, Pacio started to look for a place where he might rest, and he chose an Iba tree. When he started to climb, he saw rays of light from a sparkling object and picked it. Once he looked at the object, he saw a picture of a face of a woman printed in a hard stone. He showed it to his companion and remarked that it might be an “aswang” or some evil entity, so Pacio threw the stone and it landed near in carabao mud-hole surrounded by thick bushes and guava trees. For a moment, the incident was forgotten by two boys.

However, one afternoon before they went home, Pacio went near the same Iba tree and there he saw again stone with a picture and put it in his pocket. They then started to go home. When he reached home, he kept the picture up between the nipa shingles roof of their house. Early in the evening, his mother was surprised to saw the shimmering light coming from the roof . She called Pacio and requested him to see what the light was. Pacio obeyed and found out that it was the stone he inserted. His mother, Maria commonly known as Bengge, kept the image inside their trunk, a box like wooden container for clothes and valuables. At this point, Bengge remembered, she with other people in the field harvesting rice, heard loud ringing of church bells from nowhere and this she believed was when Pacio found the image.

The Virgin in procession in Catanduanes

The Manifestations of the Virgin

Since the finding of the image, miracles of different sorts took place. A story was related of a child suffering of recurring stomach pains. Paciano saw the child with its family on their way to the municipal dispensary, asking for drinking water. Paciano approached the parents and advised them to pray to the lady on the stone for their child’s cure. They did as they were told and true enough; the child was miraculously restored to health. News of the miraculous lady of the stone spread quickly. More and more people flocked to their humble hut and other miraculous healings occurred.

A few days later, they started to smell a rare sweet odor, the fragrance of it does not resemble nor equal to the sweetest scent of blooming flowers in the morning. They later discovered that sweet odor was emanating from the trunk where the image was kept. They put out the image and enthroned her on their altar. The picture started to radiate more beautifully, with her forehead prominently and partly covered by a blue white veil. A mole is sometimes seen on the forehead and many have seen the image wink. The lady has long eyelashes which made her even prettier. Natives of the place were ready to accept the apparition yet reluctant to openly manifest it, had it not been for the first wave of the pilgrims coming from the different coastal towns of Camarines and Albay. These people rode in sailing boats called parao. With them were sick people who were carried in hammocks. Asked why they came, they all answered, they were sick and they can only be the Virgin. In the 1970s, the stone was examined by a visiting scientist. He was unable to determine the stone’s composition and explain how the image came to be.

The graces were the Virgin distributes doesn't stop there, At the base of the Iba tree were the Virgin was found, there came out a spring of clear water. At that time, Iba tree was almost extinct down to its deepest roots and with no more parts of the tree to get as medicines.

The Chapel of the Virgin

The Chapel of the Sorrowing Lady

Another story circulating is that, in 1965, a beautiful lady entered the room of then-First Lady Imelda Marcos in heavily-guarded Malacañang Palace. Wearing a blue mantle and ecru clothes, she requested Mrs. Marcos to build a chapel for her in Barrio Batong Paloway. Though bewildered as to how the visitor passed thru the guards, Mrs. Marcos nonetheless, entertained her and asked for her name. The beautiful woman answered, “I am Dolor (meaning sorrow) and I bear with me a dagger pinned in my heart. My heart bleeds for the sins of the people.”

After her experience, the First Lady sent cash and had a chapel built for “Dolor”. This chapel still houses the miraculous image to this day.

In the 1970s, the stone was examined by a visiting scientist. He was unable to determine the stone’s composition and explain how the image came to be.

Recognition

Bishop Manolo A. De Los Santo, then the Bishop of Virac, confirmed on June 13, 2008, the miraculous character and the devotion to the Virgin of Sorrows in Paloway, San Andres, Catanduanes, The Bishop stated that “What is unexplainable is not that the stone grew in size over the years, but the fact that the image of the Virgin was never distorted as it grew."

Devotion

Pilgrims flocked the Chapel in San Andres to venerate this miraculous image. Numerous miraculous cures were reported and other favors were answered through her intercession. The feast days of the Virgin is celebrated every December 12 and 13, though Holy Thursdays and Good Fridays also bring in a multitude of devotees

The miracles perhaps of later times were only felt and received by those who came and prayed and favors were granted. However, in subsequent years, for many felt and received relief and thorough recovery, the devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows did not wane. Pilgrims visited her shrine every Friday, the day when the stone was found.

In this story of the miraculous image of the Virgin of Sorrows, we saw how Our Lord used a simple stone to be a channel of His graces and point of devotion to the people of Catanduanes. As we ponder on these miracles, let us all be reminded the Greatness of Our Lord to all of us, most especially on choosing the Blessed Virgin to be the dispenser of graces from Her Son that mankind needed.

Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de Batong Paloway, pray for us!

Reference:

Atanacio, Joseph Vincent, (2010) "Our Lady of Sorrows of Batong Paloway", Retreived from http://www.marianmessenger.ph/.
"History of "Our Lady of Sorrows" in Batong Paloway" (2012), Retrieved on September 5, 2017 from http://mybicolmycalolbon.blogspot.com/2012/02/history-of-our-lady-of-sorrows-in.html.
"Image of Our Lady of Sorrows" (2014), Retrieved on september 7, 2017 from http://sanandres.catanduanes.gov.ph/ourladyofsorrows/.
"Our Lady of Sorrows of Catandaunes", (Plaque) Our Lady of Sorrows Chapel, Virac, Catanduanes.

Special credits to the owners of the photographs used in this blogpost, most especially to Mr. Aldrin Jacobo Solero for the first three photographs in this article.
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