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The Origin of the Image of the Birhen sa Kota sa Cagayan de Oro

From its head down to its feet, the Birhen sa Kota sa Cagayan (as it was originally known) is an exact replica of the icon of the Virgin of the Holy Rosary.

The replica of the Birhen sa Kota as found in the XU Museo de Oro.

The old pedestal was intentionally replaced despite its being a part of the original artifact, and a new one made, so it could be inscribed with the words “Milagrosang Pagpakita sa Mahal nga Birhen” (Miraculous Apparition of Our Lady) before 1730.

The image of the Blessed Virgin is dressed in white with clouds around here feet, apparently depicting how she was seen during her apparition as floating above the kota.

Below the kota, the Lambago (scientific name – Hibiscus tiliaceus) trees that used to thrive along the Cagayan River’s banks are depicted. At the back of the image of the Blessed Virgin could be seen a more detailed picture of the Lambago tree.

Oral tradition relates how one of the old names of this place was Kalambagohan, because of the proliferation of this tree.

On the left side of the pedestal could be seen the old cathedral made of stone. Its belfry was situated on the left and its roof was made of cogon grass.

On the right side of the pedestal  the purong/pandong of the Manobo Lumads is illustrated. This was used by their royal princesses, and ordinary women, for rituals and dances during festivities.

A Gong could also be observed, which the Manobos used for making music, calling people to gatherings and other ceremonies and rituals.

On the back of the pedestal could be seen clay jars and other clay ceramic pots which could have been one of the means of livelihood of the residents even before the coming of the Spanish friars in Himologan (present day Taguanao).

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Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

On October 7, the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the yearly feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Our Lady of the Holy Rosary appears at the Battle of Lepanto

Known for several centuries by the alternate title of “Our Lady of Victory,” the feast day takes place in honor of a 16th century naval victory which secured Europe against Turkish invasion. Pope St. Pius V attributed the victory to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who was invoked on the day of the battle through a campaign to pray the Rosary throughout Europe.

The feast always occurs one week after the similar Byzantine celebration of the Protection of the Mother of God, which most Eastern Orthodox Christians and Eastern Catholics celebrate on October 1st in memory of a 10th-century military victory which protected Constantinople against invasion after a reported Marian apparition.

Pope Leo XIII was particularly devoted to Our Lady of the Rosary, producing 11 encyclicals on the subject of this feast and its importance in the course of his long pontificate.

In the first of them, 1883’s “Supremi Apostolatus Officio,” he echoed the words of the oldest known Marian prayer (known in the Latin tradition as the Sub Tuum Praesidium), when he wrote, “It has always been the habit of Catholics in danger and in troublous times to fly for refuge to Mary.”

Miracle at Lepanto THE HEAVENLY HOST

“This devotion, so great and so confident, to the august Queen of Heaven,” Pope Leo continued, “has never shone forth with such brilliancy as when the militant Church of God has seemed to be endangered by the violence of heresy … or by an intolerable moral corruption, or by the attacks of powerful enemies.” Foremost among such “attacks” was the battle of Lepanto, a perilous and decisive moment in European and world history.

(Editor’s Note: Perhaps it was a coincidence that the Blessed Lady of the Rosary appeared when the Christian village of Cagaiang was similarly threatened like the Christians during the rise of the Turkish Ottoman Empire and Islam that led to her veneration?)

Troops of the Turkish Ottoman Empire had invaded and occupied the Byzantine empire by 1453, bringing a large portion of the increasingly divided Christian world under a version of Islamic law. For the next hundred years, the Turks expanded their empire westward on land, and asserted their naval power in the Mediterranean. In 1565 they attacked Malta, envisioning an eventual invasion of Rome. Though repelled at Malta, the Turks captured Cyprus in the fall of 1570.

Blessed Virgin of the Rosary saves Christendom at the Battle of Lepanto

The next year, three Catholic powers on the continent – Genoa, Spain, and the Papal States – formed an alliance called the Holy League, to defend their Christian civilization against Turkish invasion. Its fleets sailed to confront the Turks near the west coast of Greece on October 7, 1571.

Crew members on more than 200 ships prayed the Rosary in preparation for the battle – as did Christians throughout Europe, encouraged by the Pope to gather in their churches to invoke the Virgin Mary against the daunting Turkish forces.

Some accounts say that Pope Pius V was granted a miraculous vision of the Holy League’s stunning victory. Without a doubt, the Pope understood the significance of the day’s events, when he was eventually informed that all but 13 of the nearly 300 Turkish ships had been captured or sunk. He was moved to institute the feast now celebrated universally as Our Lady of the Rosary.

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History & Legend of the Birhen sa Kota of Cagayan de Oro

The Orden de Agustinos Recoletos priests introduced the Virgin of the Holy Rosary (Birhen sa Santo Rosaryo) to the early Kagay-anons when the city was but a settlement where now stands Gaston Park.

Coat of Arms of the Orden Agustinos Recoletos

In 1622, Christianity was first introduced in the first Kagay-anon settlement in Himolugan, located in a promontory along the Cagayan River (present day Taguanao) next to where now stands the Pelaez bridge.

Through the initiative of Fray Agustin de San Pedro, this early mission was moved to the site of the present St. Augustine Metropolitan Cathedral. In 1626, a wooden palisade or kota was erected on the eastern side beneath the church and the convent as a protection against the constant depredations of raiders from distant Sultanates who used to raid the village of Cagaiang. *

The people used to shelter here whenever the village was under attack. The statue of the Virgin of the Holy Rosary was always with them to whom they prayed to protect the people during times of danger.

Artists conception of how the village must have looked at the time of the Birhen sa Kota apparition (XU Museo de Oro)

The legend relates how the villagers were thrown into an uproar one day as boat loads of raiders were espied coming in from downriver. However, just as quickly, the people saw the boats turn around and beat a hasty retreat.

Later, the villagers learned from one of the attackers that they saw a vision of a woman atop the kota calling on the raiders to cease their attack. The face of the apparition was stern and commanded respect. This happened while the people where in hiding praying for intercession. Thus, the statue came to be known as “Ang Birhen sa Kota” (Our Lady of the Walls). **

During the time of the American occupation, the image was brought inside the Cathedral and was venerated every Saturday, a practice which came to be known as “Sabadohan”.

The St. Agustin Cathedral has been destroyed four times, including the Second World War when it was bombarded by the Americans. However, the image of the Birhen sa Kota, the icon of St. Agustin and the Mission Cross dating back to the first village remained unscathed.

Another rendition of the Birhen sa Kota apparition at XU Museo de Oro

Besides these incidents, many miracles have been attributed to the Birhen sa Kota.

At the end of the Second World War, Archbishop Santiago Hayes, SJ, DD, had the image of the Birhen sa Kota brought to the San Jose de Mindanao Seminary in Barangay Camaman-an.

Kagay-anons believed that the statue was miraculous because sick people have been cured whenever they pray to the statue for healing.

Birhen sa Kota painting by Nonoy Estarte. Since there is still no documented evidence the miracle occurred during the early days of the kota when its walls consisted of wooden palisades, or later when it was made of stone, this painting can be considered the artist’s conception of the miracle as retold in legend.

In August of 1967, the image was brought to the Museo de Oro of Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan, for restoration. In 2008, Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, SJ, DD and the Museo de Oro agreed to return the image to a secure place in the St. Agustin Metropolitan Cathedral.

In October 7, 2013, the Feast Day of the Birhen sa Kota of Cagayan de Oro was restored, along with the Sabadohan Debosyon (Saturday Devotion) on October 19, 2013.

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*       Since there are no documented accounts of the miracle, it has remained a legend hence the question remains regarding the reasons behind their constant attacks on the village. Local historian Dr. Antonio J. Montalvan II writes. “Remember the raiders were also defending the honor of what to them was a nation that already had an established royal government, however feudal it may have been. It was already trading with European nations and in fact, foreign trading houses had existed in Cotabato at that time. I strongly believe that based on circumstances, the raiders came from the Sultanate of Buayan, the upriver sultanate, because they were also trying to upstage the downriver sultanate of Maguindanao. The shift of loyalty of the Cagayan petty principality was a drain on the source of forest products which the upriver sultanate provided to the traders. Hence, the raids for them were an act of reiterating their sovereign power.”

**  Whether the miracle occurred during the early days of the settlement when the kota walls were made of wooden palisades or later when they were made of stone remains a bone of contention. Montalvan says there is an extant map of the kota from the book of the Fernando Valdez Tamon found in the City Museum which shows it  was a complicated stone structure with ramparts and inner walls. There is a plan to reconstruct a stone replica of a kota wall in a local museum.

Note:  The Sultanate of Buayan, the upper valley (sa raya) kingdom, relied on its rich agricultural lands and had the support of a great number of non-Muslim Malay tribes. The ruler of Buayan chose to stick to the old title of Rajah (a Hindu word for King) to emphasize the fact that the House of Buayan dates back to the Sri Vijaya and Majapahit empires that encompassed most of Southeast Asia. Buayan’s power was eclipsed by Maguindanao during the time of Datu Buisan, Qudarat’s father. Buayan almost regained its old glory when it practically wiped out the remaining Spanish forces in the late 1890s.  (Abbas, 2007)