The Diocese of Antipolo announced that a venerated Marian image in Rizal’s Binangonan town was granted an episcopal coronation.
Bishop Francisco De Leon approved the coronation in a decree issued on June 29, and was received by the Nuestra Señora de los Angeles Parish in Binangonan’s Pilapila village.
Styled as the “Mother, Queen and Patroness of Binangonan,” historical records show that devotion to the Marian title “Nuestra Señora de los Angeles” began in Pilapila, one of Binangonan’s lakeside villages, in 1892 when an estampa (printed image) of Our Lady was caught by Teniente Ambrosio Blanco from the Laguna de Bay.
During that time, the present image of the patroness was commissioned and was enthroned in a chapel built by the townspeople in one of the hills in the area overlooking the lake.
The chapel was elevated as a parish separating it from Sta. Ursula Parish in 2013. The community celebrates March 15, the day of the image’s discovery and August 2, the liturgical feast in honor of the Marian title.
The parish’s petition for an episcopal coronation coincides with the preparations of the community for its 10th anniversary as a Catholic community.
The parish has yet to announce the date of the coronation rites.
It is the sixth Marian image to be granted an episcopal coronation in the diocese. The previous ones were Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados (Marikina City), Nuestra Señora de Aranzazu (San Mateo, Rizal), Nuestra Señora de la Luz (Cainta, Rizal), Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario (Cardona, Rizal), and Nuestra Señora de Fatima (Marikina City).
Of the five, four have been granted a pontifical coronation by the Vatican together with Nuestra Señora de la Paz y Buen Viaje that was granted canonical coronation in 1954 before the Antipolo diocese was established.
