A glimpse of Our Lady of the Abandoned of Marikina...a quick look before leaving the Shrine.
Blessed Virgin, immaculate and pure, you are the sinless Mother of your Son, who is the mighty Lord of the universe. Since you are holy and inviolate, the hope of the hopeless and sinful, I sing your praises. I praise you as full of every grace, for you bore the God-Man. I venerate you; I invoke you and implore your aid.
Holy and Immaculate Virgin, help me in every need that presses upon me and free me from all the temptations of the devil. Be my intercessor and advocate at the hour of death and judgment. Deliver me from the fire that is not extinguished and from the outer darkness. Make me worthy of the glory of your Son, O dearest and most kind Virgin Mother. You indeed are my most secure and only hope for you are holy in the sight of God, to whom be honour and glory, majesty and power forever. Amen.
Beata Juana de Aza
Sometime in September, I met with Atty. Oliver and other Flickr Members (to celebrate Atty's birthday) and of course share "pagsasanto" stories. Here I found out the inclusion of Beata Juana de Aza, mother of Sto. Domingo in the Holy Rosary procession...
Blessed Jane of Aza was born in the prominent Aza family and married Felix de Guzman. Three of their Children spent their lives in the service of the Church - Anthony, Mannes and Dominic. An early source describes her as 'virtuous, chaste, prudent, and full of compassion for the poor and the afflicted; among all the women of the region she was outstanding for her good reputation.' She died at Caleruega, Spain, at the beginning of the thirteenth century. Dominicans Interactive.
Anthony and Mannes were already well on their way to being young men when Jane conceived another child. While she was pregnant, she had a dream. In the dream, she saw a dog with a torch in its mouth circling the world, setting it ablaze. She was told that it was an omen that the child she was carrying would be great. That child was Dominic. I think it says a lot for a Christian mother that all three of her sons became priests. If we knew nothing else about Blessed Jane, this would be enough to tell us that her sons learned something from her, or saw something in her daily example that led them to put God before all else. It also says that God favored her abundantly, by giving her pious children. No doubt, Blessed Jane encouraged her sons to abandon themselves to their vocations. Would that more Christian mothers would urge their children to do so. Memorial of Blessed Jane of Aza
Back to white
A few years back, I decided to alternate between black and white for the color of the garments to be worn by Beata Imelda Lambertini. When I started joining the procession in 2007, she was wearing white. The next year black etc...Last year, she was wearing black and silver. So this year it should be white and although I started planning the design of her dress, wherein my intention is, to make her look like a first communicant (in white) it did not push through...maybe next year...too much to do, so little time.
Canvassing white fabrics in Megamall and in Eastwood City
Carroza inspiration, all white flowers punctuated by crystals...that was the plan...changed to pink last minute...
Beata Imelda Lambertini, 2011 look
Beata Imelda Lambertini, 2012 look
Tito D pledged to make this wooden name plate for Beata Imelda for next year's procession...something to look forward to...
Ever since I started participating in the Holy Rosary procession her head was always covered with a wimple and veil, now I decided to have her hair exposed. And she looks good!
Study of Beata Imelda Lambertini's face
The Formal Invitation
October 3rd- dropped by OLA to pick up the invitation for the Holy Rosary procession. Upon opening the brown envelope I was impressed by how well this procession is organized by the Parish, from the schedule of events to the line-up of images joining the procession (and respective number or ID); to where the carroza's will be parked inside the Shrine's spacious plaza.
Beata Imelda Lambertini is no. 4
Should be Bolonia not Bolinia...wow so many participants...by next year, people may start calling this Marikina's Grand Holy Rosary Procession (GHRP or GRP)...
More Preparations
2 weeks prior to the procession, my Dad and uncle fixes the carroza of Beata.
DIY carroza...a lot of sweat to get this done but it was all worth it.
Beata Imelda lighting test...on this day, our family sponsored the dinner of the officiating priest of the novena mass in honor of Our Lady of Fatima (chapel we belong to)...after he ate, he blessed our family's images and of course Beata Imelda, who by know is on the carroza.
Next order of business is Beata Imelda Lambertini's altar. In her biography, they say she likes to make her own altar, this is me re-imagining the scene. I used to borrow the monstrance from the Parish but with change of leadership, my contacts are already gone...sad...good thing I have other options. I used Lalang's vintage wooden frame (used for Mother of Perpetual Help) and replaced it with an image of Our Lady of the Rosary...choosing what picture to use was no easy feat as well but I ended up choosing the picture on the top right...I guess it felt more 1300's for me compared to the rest. Surprisingly, the image of Our Lady of Pompeii dates back to 1800's, I thought it was much older than that. Other options for me is to have an altar with a small image of Our Lady of the Rosary or of the child Jesus (again based on anecdotes about her).
After completing and dressing the image, after the carroza has been fixed and the altar decided, the last remaining thing is to design her carroza...in my mind I can vividly see what I want to happen, in notes it resulted to these 6 designs...in the end I chose the bottom right design, still modified it a bit based on the availability of materials I have in mind. By this time, I have fully decided as well that I will go for all pink than all white. With all preparations done...can't be more excited for procession day to come.
From draft to Reality, Beata Imelda before the procession
October 14th, 2012, Beata Imelda Lambertini at Marikina's Holy Rosary procession. See separate article on the procession in this blog. Huge thanks to my Uncles, Aunt's and cousins who helped out and joined the procession; to Chris for the floral arrangements and to Flickr friends for the kind words and for appreciating the carroza of Beata Imelda Lambertini.
Beata Imelda Lambertini de Bolonia, pray for us!
Start and end of the procession. Top left, Beata Imelda Lambertini being blessed; Bottom pictures, flowers on the altar are covered with pink tulle which means these are not to be given away...I will use these flowers back in SJMV parish for the altar of Our Lady of the Rosary.
Beata Imelda Lambertini and her altar.
Blessed Imelda was born into an aristocratic family in Bologna in 1322. She was unusually pious. Blessed Imelda Lambertini (1322-1333) as a child and was placed in Dominican convent of nuns to be educated at her own request when she was nine years old, and she received the Dominican habit soon after her entry.
Blessed Imelda had a particular devotion to the Blessed Eucharist. Her greatest wish was to receive Holy Communion, but this was not possible as she was too young according to Church law at the time (the minimum age was about 12 until the decree of Pope St Pius X “Quam singulari” in 1910).
On Ascension Day when she was eleven years old she remained in the convent chapel after Mass with the other sisters. After Mass and Holy Communion the sisters began to leave, but one of them noticed what appeared to be a host hovering over Imelda’s head who was found to be in a state of ecstacy. The priest hurried forward to receive the host on a paten. Experiencing such a miracle, he felt obliged to give Imelda her first Holy Communion.
It was to be her last because she died during her thanksgiving after Communion. Blessed Imelda was beatified in 1826.
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