ABC STARS Inspires

Naga is one of the five oldest cities erected by the Spanish colonizers in the Philippines. (Manila, Cebu, Vigan and Iloilo.) The heart of Bicol, it is the seat of a nine-day religious and civic festivities. The feast of the Patroness of Bicolandia. The Virgin of Peña de Francia. The religious rites begin with the traslacion of her miraculous image, on the Friday immediately following September 8, Mary's birthday, from the Basilica to the Metropolitan Cathedral for a novena of Masses. Each of the seven dioceses in the six provinces of Bikol—Camarines Norte, Albay, Sorsogon, Catanduanes and Masbate, one each, and Camarines Sur, two—has its special day. It is concluded with the regional concelebrated Mass at the Basilica immediately after the fluvial procession of the Image back to her shrine along the Naga river, the following Saturday, nine days later. There is one indubitable point of unity among the Bicolanos. Their unstinted devotion to the Virgin Mary whom they