La Immaculada Concepcion.

La Immaculada Concepcion of Pasig

Yesterday, December 8th, the Catholic faithful commemorated the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is one of only three official Holidays of Obligation celebrated by the Catholics in the Philippines, the other two being Christmas Day and the Solemnity of Mary on January 1st.

I remember a story my mother told us when we were young, which revolved around this particular feast.

On December 8, 1941, my mother and my father, her two sisters, her parents and brother in law were in the house of a first cousin and they were happily dining with other relatives and friends. It was the town fiesta in Pasig, a town (now a City) east of Manila.

The center of the Fiesta in Pasig is the Pasig Cathedral which is called the Immaculada Concepcion, built by the Augustinians on July 2, 1573, some fifty one years after the Philippine Islands became Christians by virtue of the coming of the Spaniards in 1521.

The Pasig Cathedral built in 1573

Initially, the Parish was consecrated to the Visitation of Our Lady but in April 25, 1587, was changed to the Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, the patroness of the Augustinians during that time. 

On August 21, 2003, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pasig was inaugurated and the Parish was elevated into the status of a Cathedral.

On that fateful day in 1941, the town of Pasig was, like in the past many years, focused on the day's festivities - mass, procession, parades, games, beauty pageant, eating, drinking and merrymaking. The Pasig fiesta was one of the grandest in the the province of Rizal, after all.

My mother said, " biglang nagkagulo at nagsigawan ang mga tao, giyera na, giyera na." (the people started to become restless and started shouting, " it's wartime, it's wartime"). Yes, it was the start of World War II, because the Japanese Imperial Army attacked without provocation the United States Naval Base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ( The attack occured on Dec. 7 Hawaii- time and Dec 8 in Japan and the Philippines). The Philippines, being under the Commonwealth of the United States, was dragged into the destructive war.

US and Filipino soldiers during WW II in Manila

My grandfather and countless relatives and friends of my parents suffered and/or died during this War.

That was 73 years ago. My mother and most of the relatives who celebrated that 1941 Fiesta with her are all gone. But everytime the Feast of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated, the story as told by my mother comes to mind.