CEBU, Philippines - The annual observance of the descent of the Our Lady of Lourdes will take place tomorrow, Feb. 10, at the Basilica del Sto. Niño, right after the concelebrated mass at 5:30 p.m.
This long-running tradition called “Pagkanaug sa Birhen sa Lourdes” at the Basilica is held before actual feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes. The feast day, on the other hand, will be celebrated on Feb. 12, Saturday, with a 4 p.m. mass to be presided by Rev. Fr. Rodolfo Bugna, O.S.A., rector of the Basilica del Sto. Niño.
The late Don Juan Rivera and his wife Doña Andrea Rivera started this tradition and passed it on to their daughter, the late matriarch of the Gullas family, Josefina “Inday Pining” Rivera Gullas.
Today, the tradition is being led by the Cofradia de la Virgen de Lourdes of the Basilica del Sto. Niño, together with the Augustinian friars.
“Ang Pagkanaug sa Birhen sa Lourdes” is expected to lend more significance to the annual feast and commemoration by the Catholic Church of one of the most renowned apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
It was on February 11, 1858 that the Blessed Mother appeared to a peasant girl named Bernadette Soubirous (who was later canonized as a saint) in Lourdes, southern France – now one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in the world. (FREEMAN)