(Manila, Philippines) The icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help inside the Baclaran Church, also known as Redemptorist Church, in Parañaque City will be temporarily removed from the altar which will be renovated starting on Thursday.
In a statement Wednesday, it was told that the image of the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help will be officially removed after the 9:30 a.m. mass on 5th September 2019.
The statement added that on Saturday, the icon will be displayed for public veneration and vigil after the 5:45 p.m. mass until midnight.
It said that the Saturday is scheduled as Roman Catholics will celebrate the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 8.
Also, the icon will be on display on September 10, after the 9:30 a.m. mass until midnight.
After the scheduled public venerations, the Baclaran Church will secure the icon until the renovation has been completed.
“Otherwise, the icon will be with the Redemptorists until the altar is ready for her return,” it said.
At the same time, the National Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help urged devotees to visit the icon since it is a rare occasion for them to have a closer encounter with the religious icon.
“This is a very significant religious event for us, devotees of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. In this time, we will have a rare occasion, we will have a lifetime chance to have a face to face encounter with the icon,” it said.
“May this experience help us to reflect from heaven to meet us in the rough grounds of daily living,” the statement added.
It noted that this is only the third time that the icon will be removed from the altar. The first time it was during World War II for safekeeping and then the second time it was in 1992 when the icon underwent restoration.
“Now, 27 years later, it will be taken down to give way for the altar renovation,” the statement added.
The Baclaran Church has been a centre of Marian devotion in the last 70 years with thousands of miracles attributed to Mother Perpetual Help.
The icon placed high above the altar of the church is the focus of devotion and is considered miraculous. (PNA)
The Church that never closes by Carlos Ronquillo, CSsR.
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