On the Divino Rostro I
Lord, show us the light of your face! (Psalm 4:7)
As the Feast of the Divino Rostro is at hand, it is good to review the history of the devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus in Bicol, that we filially call on as the Divino Rostro whose Feast we celebrate hand in hand with the Solemnity of Our Lady of Peñafrancia.
The devotion started in 1882 introduced by Fr. Pedro de la Torre who hailed from Osa de la Vega, Spain, and was then the Vicar General and Provisor (Chancellor) of the then Diocesis of Nueva Caceres.
On August 26 of that year, news reached Naga City that Colera Morbo, a dreaded fatal disease that affects the intestines and causes excessive vomiting and diarrhea, had entered the capital city of Manila. Immediately, then Bishop Casimiro Herrera ordered that the miraculous image of the Virgin of Peñafrancia be brought to the Cathedral from her sanctuary to intercede for the whole community in beseeching Heaven that the Diocese be spared from the pandemic. In the morning of that same day, the image was brought to the Cathedral in a procession attended by many people.
By August 28, it was officially declared that there were already victims of Colera Morbo in Naga. The people were filled with indescribable fear and panic. Fr. Pedro related that in his hometown of Osa de la Vega, no one died of cholera when it afflicted Spain in previous years and they attributed the special protection to a miraculous intervention because of their devotion to the Santo Rostro de Osa de la Vega. Having authored a book regarding the devotion and since he had a Cuadro of the Santo Rostro painted in oil on canvass by a native of Manila, he invited the people to begin a devotion to the Holy Face. Prompted by an inspiration reinforced by the people’s pleas, Fr. Pedro had his Cuadro placed at the Cathedral where, together with the image of the Virgin of Peñafrancia, the community prayed before for deliverance from the cholera pandemic. And on September 3, both Images, for the first time, were brought together in procession at the Cathedral.
However, on September 5, there were 154 recorded deaths. This prompted the priests to make a solemn written vow, that if the disease disappears or at least diminishes significantly before the Feastday of the Holy Face, they would lavishly but solemnly celebrate His Feast. Around 9 o’clock in the evening of that same day, the Parish Priest of the Cathedral, assisted by two priests praying the “Miserere”, placed the written vow signed by the bishop and priests on the andas of the Divino Rostro. Miracle of Miracles! The following day, there was a significant decrease in the number of victims.
Thus, on September 10, 1882, in fulfillment of their vow, Bishop Casimiro and Fr. Pedro led the priests in carrying the andas of the Divino Rostro in a procession that was culminated by a Solemn Sung High Mass at the brightly illuminated and lavishly decorated Cathedral, in celebration of the First Divino Rostro Fiesta in Bicol.
On September 28, when the image of the Virgin of Peñafrancia was brought back to her sanctuary, she was accompanied by the image of the Divino Rostro which was then enshrined at the altar built and dedicated to Him at the gospel side of the same sanctuary.
A century later, on the dedication of the new Sanctuary of the Virgin of Peñafrancia that was elevated into a Basilica in 1985, the Divino Rostro was also enshrined at the same new Sanctuary, again at the gospel side, where He remains to this day. Viva el Divino Rostro!
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