Cardinal Advincula led the ceremony
TACLOBAN CITY – Cardinal Jose Advincula of the Archdiocese of Manila led the formal and solemn elevation of the Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of the Assumption in Maasin City to the status of a National Shrine on Wednesday, August 14.
Hundreds of Roman Catholic faithful from 47 parishes under the diocese gathered to celebrate the first National Shrine in Eastern Visayas.
Also present at the solemn ceremony were Msgr. Bernardo Pantin, Secretary General of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, Diocese of Maasin Bishop Precioso Cantillas, and priests and church workers from 18 towns and one city in Southern Leyte, as well as five towns and one city in Leyte province.
“This cathedral church is not just a place of gathering but also a place of mission. This church is not just a receiving church but also a giving church. The community is not just a praying community but also a caring community,” Cardinal Advincula said in his homily.
As a shrine, it is now a sanctuarium, an embodiment of holiness within space and time. It is called a shrine not merely because it feels or looks holy, but because the people who come here are living out the call to holiness, embodying the virtues of Christ in their lives, the prelate added.
The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption of Maasin, also known as the Maasin Cathedral, is a Baroque-style Roman Catholic Church built in the 1700s by Jesuit missionaries.
The cathedral houses a 200-year-old antique statue of the Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Maasin, also known as the “Patrona.”
On July 6, 2024, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines announced that the Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of the Assumption and the Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Mercy in Novaliches, Quezon City, elevated them as national shrines.
In his message before the mass, Bishop Cantillas explained that the approval of Maasin Cathedral’s application to become a national shrine was granted due to the strong devotion of the people to their faith.
“The Diocese of Maasin welcomes this wonderful day that the Lord has made, marking her 56th birthday when God in His mercy and love established this diocese, which you, the faithful, represent,” Cantillas said.
“We gather together with great joy to receive and welcome the great favor the Lord has given us in granting our Mahal nga Patrona sa Maasin, Our Lady of the Assumption, the highest honor by the Holy Father through her canonical coronation by the Apostolic Nuncio two years ago,” the bishop added.
Msgr. Pantin, reading the decree for the elevation of Maasin Cathedral to a national shrine, urged the faithful to “continually deepen their Christian piety, mature in their Catholic faith, and faithfully fulfill the commandment of Christian charity.”
The decree also emphasized that as a sacred place, the celebration of the Eucharist inside the national shrine “should be conducted with utmost devotion, the sacrament of reconciliation should be readily available to the Catholic faithful, and the poor and needy must receive unwavering pastoral care.”
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
