MANILA (PIA) — Pope Francis has granted the canonical coronation to the image of the four-centuries-old Our Lady of Loreto, patroness of Manila’s district of Sampaloc in Manila, according to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
The approval came more than two months after Cardinal Jose Advincula of Manila asked for the special crowning of the image, which is enshrined at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Loreto in Sampaloc, Manila.
The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments relayed the news to the shrine in a letter dated May 6, but it was only made public during Mass on Sunday, June 23.
A canonical coronation is a formal act by the Pope where a crown is placed on an image of Jesus, Mary, or Joseph. This signifies the image’s official recognition by the Catholic Church as worthy of veneration.
To be eligible for a canonical coronation, an image must meet three conditions: first, it must be a Marian image under a specific title. Next, the image must have a long history of devotion and miracles attributed to it. Lastly, the image must be located in a church or shrine that is open to the public.
Fr. Enrico Martin Adoviso, the shrine’s rector, said the image’s crowning with a “precious diadem” will be held on her feast day on December 10.
The pontifical coronation, he added, will be led by Archbishop Charles Brown, apostolic nuncio to the Philippines, and Cardinal Advincula.
Last December, the Marian statue in Sampaloc received an episcopal coronation from the Manila archbishop. (JEG/PIA-NCR)
