The Birhen sa Kota sa Cagayan By Rev. Fr.

Casi Quiacao, SSJV The Augustinian Recollects introduced the statue of the Our Lady of the Rosary to the Cagay-anons and placed it in a church inside a wooden fortification where the present cathedral is located. It was in this enclosure along the riverbanks where the Cagay-anons hid from the invading Moros who came to carry off people into slavery. It is believed to have protected the village from the Moro raids in the 1600s. It is so named for in one occasion when the Moros approached the fort to attack; they were seen approaching in their vintas when suddenly they were also seen to retreat. It was then rumored that the Moros saw a woman clothed in blinding white garment atop the forts walls and whose mien was fearsome. This woman ordered them to desist from their assault and commanded respect. Mystified, they retreated in fear. This happened while the people inside the fort were praying for the intercession of the Lady of the Rosary. That apparition the locals attributed to the Lady who then was named as Birhen sa Kota sa Cagayan. During the American Regime, it was placed in the right wing of the Cathedral, on the altar near the wall parallel to the river. This part of the Church was called by the folks as Sabadohan since Saturday devotions were regularly held there. As history unfolded, four times the San Agustin Church was destroyed including that by bombs from American bomber planes during the World War II. But in all these, the miraculous statue stood, still untarnished amidst the rubbles. Pilgrims and devotees flock to its pedestal, and as the years went by, there were many occasions of healing from deadly ailments, miraculous interventions and sightings that were attributed to the Virgin of the Fort of Cagayan. The most wonderful miracle attributed to the Birhen sa Kota sa Cagayan is the established friendship among the tripartite inhabitants [Lumad, Muslims, and Christians] in this particular part of Mindanao even up until now. Archbishop James Hayes, S.J., D.D. brought the statue to the San Jose de Mindanao Seminary after the war while the present Church was built. From there the quaternary [400 years old] icon was brought to the Museo de Oro, Xavier University for preservation on August 1967.

By the summer of 2008, Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, S.J., D.D. made special arrangements with the Museo de Oro so that on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of the Church of Cagayan de Oro as a Diocese, this miraculous icon would be placed back to its rightful place the Cathedral of San Agustin. And that in these trying times, when there is a threat to peace and unity, may the Birhen sa Kota sa Cagayan de Oro be a source of inspiration to self and communal renewal that there will be true and lasting collegiality and development to Mindanaoans and to the rest of the world.