5 - Our Lady of Contingency

Summary

Pucele de haut affaire, A faire men giu enpren. Repren moi tost quant weil mestraire. Traire sanz toi ne po[uv]ons. Tes poons, Fierce Dieu, a traire apren Et pren de nos si grant roi Qu’au grant roi Traire puissons tuit. Amen.

— Gautier de Coinci, Miracles, Book II

Abstract: This chapter examines the proliferation of devotional cults to the “Virgin Queen” Mary against the absence of Crown authority in the provinces in order to highlight the imaginary character of the unfinished conquest and its “spiritual” continuation. The proliferation of devotional cults owed itself to not only the religious ministers but also the participation of Indians in the organization and enactment of paraliturgical traditions like town fiestas, religious processions, assistance with the upkeep of the parish church and the priest's administration of Christian sacraments. This achievement, however, also created a complication in the coherence and imaginary matrix of spiritual conquest, because it gave way to other forms of native participation in the imagination and construction of the mission settlements.

Keywords: cults, iconophilia, foundation narrative [dalit], apparitions, miracles, oaths [panata].

By the early years of the seventeenth century, and despite the absence of Crown authority in most areas of the archipelago, one might say that Manila was already ruled by at least two Queens; and the provinces around Manila were ruled by two or three others. Not coincidentally, the devotion to three of them was sponsored by a religious Order: Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, by the Philippine Dominicans (OP), whose Province carried the same name [Orden del Santo Rosario para la conversion de los infieles, 1592]; Our Lady of Good Voyage and Peace, by the Jesuits (SJ), whose Province was established between 1595–1605; and Our Lady of Caysasay, by the Augustinians (OSA), whose Philippine Province was established between 1575 and 1581. The fourth one, which had the benefit of her installment in the Manila Cathedral, was Our Lady of Guidance, whom Philip II decreed to be the “official patroness” of Manila, as early as 1578 (see Figure 11).