Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Baguio - Mother of Recollect Vocations

Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Baguio

Baguio City, famously known as the "Summer Capital of the Philippines" due to the influx of vacationers from different parts of the country  who would take a long road trip to experience the city's cool breeze due to its location on the mountain side. The city is also known for its retreat centers and seminaries to avoid the noise of lowland cities like Metro Manila.

One of the religious orders who set a seminary in this city is the renown Order of the Augustinian Recollects who are known for bringing the famed and miraculous images of Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno and Nuestra Señora del Carmen of Quiapo, Manila, Nuestra Señora de la Salud in Quezon City, Nuestra Señora del Pilar of Imus; the construction of the iconic Bamboo Organ in Las Piñas City and the order's foremost missionary in the country - St. Ezekiel Moreno. When the Recollect Fathers set up their seminary in Baguio City, they brought along with them this beautiful image of Nuestra Señora del Pilar which became a focal point of devotion of the seminarians of the order and the locals of Baguio City.

The image

The beautiful image of Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Baguio is an exact replica of Nuestra Señora del Pilar venerated in her famous shrine in Zaragoza, Spain. The statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary is in the Late Gothic style. It stands 39 centimetres tall, standing on a pillar. The statue depicts Mary with the Child Jesus on her left arm, who has a dove sitting on his left palm. The Virgin also wears a crown and the diagnostic doce estrellas.

The inauguration of the Casiciaco House in Baguio City

The beginning of Casiciaco and origin of the devotion

The story of Nuestra Señora del Pilar of Baguio city traces back to the beginning of Casiciaco Recollect Seminary when an 8-hectare lot was purchased from the American Jesuits in Baguio City to be a retreat and rest house of the religious in 1951.

On March 19, 1954 - the Feast of St. Joseph, Prior General Fray Eugenio Ayape, OAR dedicated the retreat house's  chapel to Nuestra Señora del Pilar.

The dedication of the chapel under the patronage of Nuestra Señora del Pilar "in loving memory of the chapl of San Juan Bautista de Imus estate in Cavite. The Imus priory of San Nicolas Province used to be a rest house for ailing religious or new missionaries from Mexico and Spain". The Baguio retreat house later became thehouse of formation and philosophical studies in 1965 and in 1970, the Casiciaco Recoletos was canonically erected as a Novitiate House.

Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Baguio

The Pilarica image venerated in the Chapel is an exact replica of the original image enshrined in Zaragoza, Spain. It was sculpted in Zaragoza and transported to Baguio City. The Virgin's marble column where she stands was locally fashioned.

The devotion

Since the enthronement of Nuestra Señora del Pilar in Casiciaco Seminary in Baguio City, she overseen the formation and development of future Recollect friars that would administer the faithful in their missions. A Confraternity was later established to propagate the devotion to the Virgin of the Pillar of Baguio. The Virgin's feast day, October 12 is solemnly celebrated the friars, the seminarians, the members of the confraternity and the faithful.

References:

"Casiciaco House", Retreived from https://www.recoletosdebaguio.edu.ph/history/ on October 10, 2019.
Ireneo, Anthony, "The Nuestra Señora del Pilar of Baguio", Recoletos Communications, Inc. Quezon City, 2019.
Romanillos, Emmanual Luis, "The Augustinian Recollects in the Philippines: Hagiography and History", Recoletos Communications, Inc. Quezon City, 2001.

Special thanks to Mr.Rovenick Tundag, Sem. Carlo Malaluan and Casiciaco Recollect Seminary Facebook page for the photographs of Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Casiciaco.

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