Our Lady of Cabra Island

Last updated April 30, 2019

Our Lady of Cabra Island is a title of a purported apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to several schoolgirls on Cabra Island, Lubang, Occidental Mindoro, the Philippines, from 1966 to 1972.

Mary is known by many different titles, epithets, invocations and other names.

A Marian apparition is a reported supernatural appearance by the Blessed Virgin Mary. The figure is often named after the town where it is reported, or on the sobriquet given to Mary on the occasion of the apparition.

Cabra Island is the north-westernmost of the Lubang Group of Islands in the Verde Island Passage south of Luzon, Philippines. Politically, it is an island-barangay of Lubang, Occidental Mindoro.

Visions

The supposed visions were first reported by a sixth grader, Belinda Villas, and her seven friends from the same grade level at Cabra Elementary School. The children described the figure in the alleged apparitions as a "beautiful lady wearing a white robe and a blue sash around her waist".

Their school’s principal, Juana V. Torreliza, then urged the children from the beginning to jot down the details of their encounters. One recorded vision has the lady smiling and with a sweet, reassuring voice, telling them in Tagalog: “Ako ang Inmaculada Concepción.” (“I am the Immaculate Conception.”)

Tagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a quarter of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by the majority. Its standardized form, officially named Filipino, is the national language of the Philippines, and is one of two official languages alongside English.

While a small chapel has since been erected on the hilltop where the supposed apparitions occurred, the incident has not been formally approved by the Philippine Church or the Holy See.

The Catholic Church in the Philippines is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual direction of the Pope. The Philippines is one of the two nations in Asia having a substantial portion of the population professing the Catholic faith, along with East Timor, and has the third largest Catholic population in the world after Brazil and Mexico. The episcopal conference responsible in governing the faith is the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines.

The Holy See, also called the See of Rome, is the apostolic episcopal see of the bishop of Rome, known as the Pope, ex cathedra the universal ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the worldwide Catholic Church, and a sovereign entity of international law. Founded in the 1st century by Saints Peter and Paul, by virtue of Petrine and Papal primacy according to Catholic tradition, it is the focal point of full communion for Catholic bishops and Catholics around the world organised in polities of the Latin Church, the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, and their dioceses and religious institutes.

Legacy

The children’s accounts led to a growing number of pilgrims from Manila and other islands. Their individual stories, notes, photographs, and the messages from the “lady bathed in light, and always smiling, always with a kindly expression on her face” were documented and published in the 1978 book The Apparitions of Cabra Islet. Copies can be found in many Catholic college libraries, in the National Library of the Philippines and the United States Library of Congress.^[1]

Manila Capital / Highly Urbanized City in National Capital Region, Philippines

Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the capital of the Philippines. It is the most densely populated city proper in the world. It was the first chartered city by virtue of the Philippine Commission Act 183 on July 31, 1901 and gained autonomy with the passage of Republic Act No. 409 or the "Revised Charter of the City of Manila" on June 18, 1949. Manila, alongside Mexico and Madrid are considered the world's original set of Global Cities due to Manila's commercial networks being the first to traverse the Pacific Ocean, thus connecting Spanish Asia with the Spanish Americas, marking the first time in world history when an uninterrupted chain of trade routes circled the planet. Manila has been damaged by and rebuilt from wars more times than the famed city of Troy and it is also the second most natural disaster afflicted capital city in the world next to Tokyo yet it is simultaneously among the most populous and most wealthy cities in Southeast Asia.

The National Library of the Philippines is the official national library of the Philippines. The complex is located in Ermita on a portion of Rizal Park facing T.M. Kalaw Avenue, neighboring culturally significant buildings such as the Museum of Philippine Political History and the National Historical Commission. Like its neighbors, it is under the jurisdiction of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the de facto national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. The Library is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.; it also maintains the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia. The Library's functions are overseen by the Librarian of Congress, and its buildings are maintained by the Architect of the Capitol. The Encyclopedia Britannica describes the Library of Congress as the largest library in the world, and the the library describes itself as such. Its "collections are universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 450 languages."

Cultural influence

The purported apparitions eventually inspired the 1985 Ishmael Bernal drama film Himala , starring Nora Aunor and with screenplay by Ricky Lee. Produced by the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines, the film was first exhibited overseas in the Berlin International Film Festival. It later won the Viewer's Choice Award for the Best Film of All Time from the Asia-Pacific Region in the 2008 CNN Asia Pacific Screen Awards.^[2]^[3]

Ishmael Bernal was a Filipino film, stage and television director, actor and screenwriter. Noted for his melodramas, particularly with feminist and moral issues, he directed many landmark Filipino films such as Nunal sa Tubig (1975), City After Dark (1980), Relasyon (1982), Himala (1982), and Hinugot sa Langit (1985). He was declared a National Artist of the Philippines in 2001.

Himala ("Miracle") is a 1982 Filipino drama film directed by Ishmael Bernal and produced by the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines. The film's script was written by Ricky Lee based on a series of alleged Marian apparitions to schoolgirls on Cabra Island in the province of Occidental Mindoro, which took place from 1966 to 1972.

Nora Aunor Filipina actress, recording artist, and film producer

Nora Aunor is a Filipino actress, recording artist, and film producer. Aunor has also appeared in several stage plays, television shows, and concerts. She is known as Philippine cinema's "Superstar" and is regarded as the People's National Artist. The Hollywood Reporter called her "The Grand Dame of Philippine Cinema" for her performance in the movie Taklub.

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References

↑ Albano, T. Jofransyden O. (1979). The Apparitions of Cabra Islet, Philippines. Alver Tied Charities and Cultural Circle. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
↑ "Filipino film 'Himala' wins CNN APSA Viewer's Choice Award". CNN.com. Retrieved on 2011-03-28.
↑ Dlanorsk5 (2008-12-26). "Nora Aunor HIMALA as CNN Viewer Choice Award as Best Film in Asia-Pacific". YouTube. Retrieved on 2011-03-28.

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[Albano1979-1] Albano, T. Jofransyden O. (1979). The Apparitions of Cabra Islet, Philippines. Alver Tied Charities and Cultural Circle. Retrieved 9 May 2014.

[2] "Filipino film 'Himala' wins CNN APSA Viewer's Choice Award". CNN.com. Retrieved on 2011-03-28.

[3] Dlanorsk5 (2008-12-26). "Nora Aunor HIMALA as CNN Viewer Choice Award as Best Film in Asia-Pacific". YouTube. Retrieved on 2011-03-28.