Nuestra Senora de Candelaria Feast

The Feast of Nuestra Se�ora de la Candelaria de Jaro is celebrated every 2nd of February of the year. Also known as Our Lady of the Candles and formally as Nuestra Se�ora de la Purificaci�n y la Candelaria, is the Marian title and image venerated by Filipino Catholics. The image is enshrined on the balcony of Jaro Cathedral and is the patroness of the Jaro District in Iloilo City and the whole of Western Visayas.

Jaro is a district in Iloilo City and is the largest in terms of area and population. Once a separate city, Jaro was reincorporated in the 1940s during the American administration. Dubbed as �mestizo town�, Jaro is home to a number of prominent Spanish-Filipino families. Apart from that, the district is the �center of faith� of Western Visayas due to the number of institutions founded by religious sects � the Seminario de San Vicente Ferrer, the National Shrine of Our Lady of Candles, the Jaro Cathedral and the Archdiocese of Jaro, Central Philippine University � Iloilo Mission Hospital, Jaro Evangelical Church, Jaro Adventist Center, and the Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches.

Nuestra Se�ora de la Candelaria

The devotion to the Candelaria of Jaro is derived from the original Virgin of Candelaria (Our Lady of Candles) enshrined in the Basilica of Candelaria in Canarias, Spain. The feast, in Iloilo, is celebrated with a Solemn Pontificial Mass presided by the Archbishop of Jaro.

Pope John Paul II personally performed a canonical coronation of the venerate image on February 21, 1981. It is the sole Marian image in Asia crowned by a pontiff in personam (by a papal saint).

The limestone figure was discovered during the 16th century by fishermen and the Bishop then declared that the image should be placed on Jaro Church. The statue depicts Mary and the Child Jesus with tapers in their right hands as a symbol of light and purification. Vested in gold cloth, the Child Jesus holds a �globus cruciger� symbolizing Christ�s reign over the earth.