SOLEMNITY OF OUR LADY OF PEÑAFRANCIA

Did you know?

In 1895, Pope Leo XIII, acting on the petition of the clergy and members of the Diocese of Nueva Caceres, led by Arsenio del Campo, coursed through the Sacred Congregation of Rites, issued a rescript fixing the Feast day of Our Lady of Peñafrancia on the first Sunday of July and declaring the same as the principal patron of the city of Nueva Caceres dated June 4 and 10,on the same year.

But in 1905, Pope Pius X, through a rescript dated April 8 of the same year, granted the wishes of the Catholics of Nueva Caceres led by Jorge I. Barlin (the first native Filipino Bishop in the Philippines) that the Solemnity of Our Lady of Peñafrancia be permanently assigned to the Sunday after the Octave of the Nativity of the same Blessed Virgin. This transfer of the Peñafrancia Festivities from July to September is the tradition that remains today.

In Spain, the celebration of the Feast of Nuestra Señora de la Peña de Francia is fixed on September 8 as contained in the Santoral Romano Catolico Tradicional

Thus, to determine the annual day of the Solemnity of Our Lady of Peñafrancia in Bicol, the point of departure is still the Nativity of Mary on September 8. The Solemnity is celebrated on the Sunday after the octave of the Nativity of Mary, that is, the Sunday after September 15. The Traslación which marks the start of the Novenary is held on the afternoon of the Friday ten days before, and the Fluvial Procession on the Saturday, the eve of the Solemnity.