Relics’ arrival to attract thousands in Lubao

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    LUBAO, Pampanga – Thousands of devotees are expected to troop here tomorrow as living mother and daughter welcome sainted mother and son to this town which commemorates its 440th founding anniversary.

    Gov. Lilia Pineda and her daughter, Lubao Mayor Mylyn Pineda-Cayabyab will lead locals and tourists in welcoming the relics of St. Monica and her son St. Augustine of Hippo, this town’s patron in whose honor the local parish church was built in Barangay San Nicolas 1 in 1613.

    Both relics consist of bone fragments of the two saints, and thus are under the Catholic church’s first class classification.

    “We are deeply grateful to the archdiocese of San Fernando, led by Archbishop Paciano Aniceto for helping us negotiate for the coming of the relics of our beloved saints in time for our feasts,” said Gov. Pineda.

    She said the relics of St. Augustine will stay on at the parish church where a permanent repository has been built.

    The arrival of the relics of St. Monica and St. Augustine will be followed by a high Mass to be concelebrated by San Fernando Archbishop Paciano  Aniceto, Auxiliary Bishops Roberto Mallari and Pablo Virgilio David and the priests of the six parishes within the town of Lubao.

    Yesterday, the relics, contained in ornate urns, were taken in a motorcade from the St. Augustine parish church in San Fernando the St. Monica parish church in Minalin town. The Minalin church was recently declared as a National Cultural Treasure by the National Historical Commission.

    For her part, Cayabyab noted that St. Monica “should inspire Filipino mothers to persevere in the moral upbringing of their children in these times of loose moral concepts.”

    She noted that St. Monica was known to have suffered and prayed much for the conversion of  her son St. Augustine who was born on Nov. 13 in the year 354 in today’s Algeria in northern Africa. 

    After a morally and doctrinally disordered youth, St. Augustine was converted while in Milan and baptized in 387 by the city’s bishop, St. Ambrose.

    The fiesta celebration of Lubao started last April 26 with sports tournaments, cultural and entertainment shows, beauty pageants dances, and a Flores de Mayo parade. Today, the town’s first Sampaguita Festival will be held, Cayabyab said.

    The mayor noted that Lubao was already a prosperous town with an organized system of government and with strong military fortifications when the Spaniards led by Martin de Goiti together with Lt. Antonio Carvajal, other selected Spanish soldiers and Augustinian friars set foot here on Sept. 14, 1571.

    She noted that in the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar, the date is the Feast Day of the Triumph of the Cross.

    Soon after arriving, the Augustinian friars started their evangelizing local folk and recorded one Datu Macabulus as their first convert.

    The friars built their first chapel known as Iglesia San Agustin de Lubao,  in Barangay Gato, now known as Sta. Catalina, although the building was made of light materials only.

    On May 3, 1572, few months after the chapel was regarded by the Archbishop of Manila as a visita of Tondo, thus marking the foundation date of the church.

    Thirty years later in 1602, frequent floodings in Barangay Sta. Catalina prompted Church authorities to move the parish church honoring St. Augustine to its present location in Barangay San Nicolas 1.

    The initial church was also built of light materials until 1613 when Fr. Francisco Coronel started the construction of the present concrete church building.

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