I grew up in a Marian home and town. Our patroness is Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Mama was a devotee of Carmel and she imbued our family with her devotion to the Blessed Mother. We prayed the Holy Rosary and recited the Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help every week. Our town also has a grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes located in Bagatao Island fronting our poblacion. My two sisters with their fellow legionaries would go on a pilgrimage to the grotto on her feastday.

I first heard of Our Lady of Peñafancia when I entered the minor seminary in Sorsogon City which was named after her. I would learn of the devotion to this Patroness of Bicolandia much later, however, when I came to Naga City to teach at the Holy Rosary Major Seminary.

I remember how I was instantly drawn to the devotion when I first joined the traslacion. I have been privileged to ride the pagoda during the fluvial procession and I recall how awed I was of the devotion of the Nagueños to Mother Mary as they lined the banks of the Bikol River waiting patiently and devoutly for her image to pass.

I have lived in Naga City for some three decades now and I have become a Peñafancia devotee. The devotion of the Nagueños to the Virgin Mary is ingrained by a deep historical and religious tradition. It is the mark of a native of Naga City that he or she will never say Santa Maria or Mama Mary. They endearingly call her Ina;, the Bikol term for mother, as when they say, Masungko ako kay Ina; (I will visit Mother) or when they eagerly ask friends or relations, Mapuli ka sa fiesta ni Ina? (Will you be home for the feast of Mother?) Ina has chosen Naga as her abode. This is a special grace upon the city-this visitation by the Mother of God. It is just fitting that the Nagueños nurture their devotion to Her as an essential part of their quotidian life and identity.