The Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of the Abandoned Parish in Muntinlupa City was granted a special bond of spiritual affinity with the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome.
The shrine announced the new spiritual grant during the Angelus at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, August 23, after receiving the decrees from the Apostolic Penitentiary and the Papal Basilica and a letter from Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, the basilica’s archpriest.
The decree from the Apostolic Penitentiary dated June 7 states that pilgrims who come to the shrine can now receive the same privileges as the basilica, particularly the plenary indulgence given on the following dates:
1. on the feast day of the titular of the Liberian Basilica (August 5);
2. on the feast day of the titular patroness of the shrine (May 12);
3. on all Solemnities of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God;
4. once a year, on a day chosen by every faithful person freely; and
5. as often as people in crowds will have made pilgrimage to that place for the sake of devotion.
The decree further noted that the shrine “has been registered in the records of the basilica together with the document of the Apostolic Penitentiary, by which the Indulgences were properly granted.”
“The present testimony is given so that the faithful or ones on pilgrimage may recognize it for the increase and strengthening of their devotion,” it added.
Founded in 1863 under the Manila archdiocese, the shrine is the mother parish of Muntinlupa and is currently part of the Diocese of Parañaque. It is the diocese’s first shrine and parish to receive such title of affinity.
It is also the country’s 12th Marian church to receive this affiliation from the Roman basilica. The others are the Basilica of Our Lady of Manaoag (Pangasinan), Shrine of Our Lady of Caysasay (Batangas), Basilica of Our Lady of Orani (Bataan), Shrine of Our Lady of Turumba (Laguna), Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (Quezon City), Shrine of Nuestra Señora de Caridad (Ilocos Sur), Shrine of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Extremadura (Bohol), Shrine of Nuestra Señora de la Merced (Quezon City), Shrine of Nuestra Señora de Asunción (Bohol), Nuestra Señora de la Luz Parish (Bohol), and the Shrine of Nuestra Señora de la Merced (Tarlac).
Last July 29, the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments granted a pontifical coronation of the shrine’s venerated image of Our Lady of the Abandoned.
The rite of canonical coronation and formal declaration of the bond of spiritual affinity will be held during the parish’s 160th fiesta celebration on May 12 next year.
