MANILA, Philippines - It was 1646. The Protestant Dutch were threatening to invade the Philippines. The Spanish-Filipino forces, with only two merchant ships, engaged the Dutch?s 18 mighty warships in battle. This is the story of La Naval.

So many accounts have already been written about the spectacular battles. Yet, chroniclers never tire. Words and letters cannot simply exhaust the superb message of the historic event.

In 1593, upon the death of his father, the devout Don Luis Perez Dasmariñas, Spanish Governor-General to the Philippines, commissioned an image of the Virgin Mary to be carved. The image done was made of hard wood with ivory face and hand. It was regally clothed like the ladies in the court of the King of Spain. Majesty emanated from her serene lovely face with its Oriental looks.

Dasmariñas gifted the image to the Dominican friars of the Sto. Domingo Church in Intramuros. Then as now, the Dominicans were the foremost champions and promoters of the rosary devotion. It is said Our Lady herself gave the rosary to Saint Dominic.

Filipinos candidly call Mary Mama Mary. She is addressed as a mother by a people, and, indeed, she does not fail them. The battles of La Naval attested to this.

Before the Spanish and Filipino forces engaged the Dutch in battle, they went to her shrine at Santo Domingo Church and begged her intercession. Facing the image of Our Lady, the gift of Governor Dasmariñas, the leaders of the forces, General Ugalde and Admiral Lopez, vowed to make a procession of thanksgiving if they triumphed over the Dutch.

They were on the brink of what might have been an inevitable defeat. Naturally, they would run to the Filipinos? takbuhan? (succor) and kanlungan (refuge) where they found kalinga (care). And true enough, the miracle happened. Against all odds, they won. From then on, the image of Our Lady of the Rosary in Sto. Domingo Church became known as ?La Naval de Manila.?

The soldiers fulfilled their vow and the Filipino people have since perpetuated that vow of gratitude. Until now, after several centuries have already passed, Filipinos participate in the grand La Naval procession every second Sunday of October each year to fulfill a centuries-old vow.

Canonically recognized

The Church has recognized the victory of the Spanish-Filipino troops as miraculous. The official recognition came from the Cathedral Chapter of Manila in the year 1652 and the miracle was attributed to the intercession of Our Lady of the Rosary, La Naval de Manila.

The highest regard the Church gave the devotion, image and miracle was when the icon of La Naval was canonically crowned on Oct. 5, 1907 by the decree of Pope St. Pius X. It was the first canonical coronation of a Marian image in the Philippines.

The image of Our Lady was a donation, a gift. It has also become an expression of Mary?s gift to all―her gift of motherhood. As Mary is owned as a mother by Filipinos, so does she own them as her children.

As a mother who does not absent herself from her children, she is always present in the most significant events that formed the life of Filipinos as a nation: she witnessed the wreckage of World War II, she was there at EDSA and she is present in the daily life of her people.

The story of La Naval continues. Daily, throngs of devotees come to visit her image in the present Sto. Domingo Church in Quezon City. During the last weeks of September and at the beginning of October, the busy Quezon Avenue gets even busier as more and more faithful come to visit her shrine to entreat for her help, to give thanks for answered prayers, and to commemorate her intercessions and wonders.
Mary?s motherhood extends to all. She is a mother to the people and a mother to each person. She is a mother in a collective sense, and she is a mother in a personal sense.