For the first time in the Antipolo diocese’s history, the replicas of its pontifically crowned Marian images were brought together on Monday as part of a diocesan Marian celebration.

The images were gathered at the Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary in Rizal’s Cardona town for its “Sieta Dia Devotion” held on November 7.

The event is in honor of the feast of the Holy Rosary held every October 7. It also served as a culmination of the Rosary month as well as a thanksgiving event for the pontifical coronation of the shrine’s image, known commonly as “La Virgen de Sapao”.

Together with Cardona’s pontifically crowned image were four other “Coronadas” from the other Marian shrines of the diocese: Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage of Antipolo, Our Lady of the Abandoned of Marikina City, Our Lady of Aranzazu of San Mateo, and Our Lady of Light of Cainta.

The event was highlighted with a 5pm Mass presided over by Fr. Bienvenido Guevara, rector of Cardona Shrine.

“It is a grace, honor, and blessing that today we have all five pontifically crowned images of the Virgin Mary here as we thank God for the grant of the pontifical coronation of Mary and her Son,” Guevara said in his homily.

“Like the bullet placed on the crown of Our Lady of Fatima by Pope John Paul II when he almost died of assassination, we see that Mary is with her and with us and that she guides us in her sufferings. The crown is not only a symbol of glory, but also of sacrifice made of thorns that signified Christ’s victory,” he added.

After the Mass, a solemn procession of the images was held with many devotees from all five Marian shrines present.

The Antipolo diocese is second to the Archdiocese of Manila with the most number of pontifically crowned Marian images in the Philippines.

The Manila archdiocese has six canonically crowned Marian images. Next to Antipolo are the dioceses of Cubao and Parañaque that each have three crowned Marian images.