Circular 2018-13
RE: Coronation of Mary Help of Christians
My dear Reverend Fathers, brothers and sisters in Christ:
As we approach the year 2028, the one hundredth anniversary of the creation of the Diocese of Lingayen, we are blessed that this year 2018 at the opening of our DECADE OF COMMUNIO the image of Mary Help of Christians will receive canonical coronation on the mandate of His Holiness Pope Francis. This image, a gift from the Apostolic Nuncio to our first bishop, is as old as our diocese.
For nine decades now, Mary Help of Christians has guided us, inspired our minds and ignited our hearts to love the Lord.
The coronation of the image will take place on August 22 this year at the Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist at nine o’clock in the morning.
This milestone event of grace stand on three legs, namely FORMATION, CELEBRATION and LEGACY.
On Formation
You will find enclosed herewith the Question and Answer Catechismon the Coronation of Mary Help of Christians in English, Pangasinan and Tagalog. Please use all the means to instruct our Catholic faithful on the pastoral theological significance of this event. You may print them together with the misalettes, project them on the video screen in church, post them on social media and other similar means. Please start the extensive catechesis as soon as you receive this letter.
You will receive Sunday homilies for July 29, August 5, 12 and 19 relating the Sunday readings to the forthcoming Marian coronation. Please be creative and passionate on teaching the parishioners specially the youth about Mary Help of Christians.
On Celebration
We shall hold an archdiocesan wide Triduum of Prayerson August 19, 20 and 21 in all our parishes, chaplaincies, pastoral stations and Catholic schools. The liturgy for this triduum will be released to you at the appropriate time.
Parishes, chaplaincies, pastoral stations and Catholic schools must organize delegations to attend the Coronation Mass on August 22. The Cathedral as well as the cathedral parking area will be prepared to accommodate the pilgrims and our Catholic faithful. This is a historic event that everybody must be able to witness and celebrate.
After the Coronation Mass, the Olupan na Layko(ONLA) will organize vicariate delegations to pray the rosary continuously until five o’clock in the morning of August 23 interrupted only by the Mass and the grand procession in the evening of August 22.
After the 5:30pm regular Mass at the Cathedral on August 22, the Virgen Coronada will be brought out of the Cathedral for the first time in a grand Marian procession. Please encourage the parishioners to attend this grand procession as an expression of gratitude to the holy Mother of God. Upon the return of the procession to the Cathedral, the continuous rosary praying will resume until 5:00 am the next day.
The Virgen Coronadawill be brought by motorcade to Palapad, San Fabian at 6:30 am on August 23. At the foot of Bishop Cesar Guerrero Street in Palapad, San Fabian, the seminarians will lead the Catholic faithful in a procession to the Beso MantoChapel inside the Mary Help of Christians Theology Seminary where the Virgen Coronadawill be permanently enshrined.
The Legacy
While the core of the event is the coronation of Mary Help of Christians with a golden crown with diadems, more important that the crown of gold and precious stones on the image is the CROWN OF LOVE that we want to offer Mary Help of Christians beyond August 22.
As crowning legacy to Our Lady, we will launch a
perpetualALAY PARA KAY INAY in the Archdiocese of Lingayen Dagupan envisioning it to spread to the other dioceses where there are alumni priests of the Mary Help of Christians Seminary.
We will request our Catholic faithful, led by the parish priests, to be regular donors of prayers and funds to the
Alay Para kay Inaythrough a
Libro na Panangaro. The fund offerings will be remitted to the Chancery periodically.
The Alay Para kay Inaywill be used for the scholarship of our seminarians, the post ordination studies of our priests and the health care of our elderly and sick priests. Every seminarian and every priest is a gift of Mary Help of Christians to the Church. Let us thank Our Lady in return by caring for her seminarians and priest sons.
As we have been devotedly joining our parishioners in the Misa de Graciaat the Basilica of Our Lady of Manaoag, let us now begin a pious tradition of organizing parish and school pilgrimages to the Beso Manto Chapelin Palapad, Pangasinan. A pilgrimage to Mary Help of Christians to beg Our Lady to help us preserve the Catholic faith in Pangasinan will be truly meritorious.
Beginning next year, we will observe thetraslacionof the Virgen Coronadafrom her Beso Manto Chapelin Palapad to the Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist on August 21 to 22. The Mass and the Marian procession will be the most important acts of devotion during the traslacionthat we must do year by year.
De Maria nunquam satis.
Let us teach about Our Lady with one voice and with one message. Let us celebrate Our Lady with singular joy and eminent love. Let us carry this love of Mary into the future so that the words of the Scriptures may ring all over our land
that all generations will call her blessed!
Sincerely yours,
+SOCRATES B. VILLEGAS
Archbishop of Lingayen Dagupan