A Shrine for Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal was the dream of Fr. Teodoro F. Barquin, CM, who in 1978 was the national director of the Marian Center and of the Miraculous Medal Apostolate – two projects of the Philippine Province of the Congregation of the Mission (CM) for the spreading of the devotion to Our Blessed Mother.
In a relatively short period of time, his dream was realized when Mrs. Estela Marfori Posadas made available a 5, 000 square meter plot of land in Sucat, … a site overlooking the tranquil Laguna de Bai.
The impressive circular structure for the shrine was designed by Jose Maria V. Zaragoza, a Marian devotee and considered a master of ecclesiastical architecture. He was posthumously declared National Artist for Architecture in 2014.
The roof of the shrine is a nautilus – la swirling dome that converges into a 100’ concrete pylon topped by a 70’ foot steel cross. It seems more like a piece of sculpture than a building.
With the background of the open sky above the lake, the Shrine exudes an uplifting aura of hands raised together in prayerful supplication.
On September 7, 1980, Jaime Cardinal Sin of the Metropolitan See of Manila and Julio Cardinal Rosales of the Metropolitan See of Cebu blessed and dedicated the Shrine of our اLady of the Miraculous Medal. The date coincided with the 150 anniversary of our Lady ‘s apparition to Saint Catherine Laboure.
To meet the pastoral needs of about 80,000 faithful in the area where the shrine stood adjacent to the parishes of San Roque in Alabang, San Martin de Porres in Pasis and San Antonio de Padua in Paranaque, the Shrine was established as a parish by a canonical decree dated February 2, 1981.
Twenty years later, the parish boundaries were redefined with the creation of the diocese of Pasis on May 11, 2004. The Shrine is now part of the diocese of Paranaque.
As of 2017, the Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal National Shrine/Parish encompasses an area of 2.65 square kilometers and its current population is approximately 50, 000 people.
The community around the Shrine is a microcosm of the Philippine society … middle class as well as very poor people whom Saint Vincent the Paul wants us to treat as our masters.
Saint Vincent, the patron saint of the poor and founder of the Confraternities of Charity, the Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity, has gathered his people together around our Blessed Mother to together as Church.
Fr. Dennis Abuel, CM
Director
