From Silence to Acclamation

From Silence to Acclamation
My Journey with Mary Mediatrix of All Grace

Bishop Guillermo V.Afable, D.D.
Diocese of Digos, Davao del Sur

If one was to make a pilgrimage of churches, particularly Marian Churches in the Davao Region, one will be struck by one church, in fact it is a cathedral, named Mary Mediatrix of All Grace Cathedral in Digos City, capital of the Province of Davao del Sur. It stands out because it is the only one with this name. In fact, in the entire region of Mindanao, it is the one of only three churches with such a name. Oh what a rarity! One would wonder then, why and how did such a place chose that title of Our Lady and where it originally came from.

Well, the story of the Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace Cathedral goes back decades ago in 1948 in the now City of Lipa, Batangas. Reportedly, sometime from August to November of that year, a young postulant named Teresita Castillo experienced a series of appearances by the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Carmelite Monastery. In one of her appearances, Our Lady called herself “Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace”. As a sign of the Lady’s heavenly origins, Teresita suddenly became blind but later recovered her sights as promised. The series of apparitions were also accompanied by the amazing and inexplicable shower of rose petals experienced by the nuns themselves, including Bishop Alfredo Verzosa DD of the Diocese of Lipa, and his auxiliary Bishop Alfredo Obviar DD of the Diocese of Lipa, as well as countless other people outside the Monastery. Witnesses attest to the fact, that these two Bishops did believe in the veracity of the so called “Miracle of Lipa”. In fact, it is reported that Bishop Verzosa referred to the Lady as “Our Lady of Lipa”.

Upon the request of Our Lady herself, a statue of her, that looks as she was seen by Teresita Castillo was made by one named Irineo Cristobal because she wanted others especially her little ones, to see her too. Later, public veneration of this statue was permitted and encouraged by ecclesiastical authorities which increased in numbers over the three year period from 1948 to 1951. Pilgrimages to Lipa from all over were undertaken. Reports of miraculous cures and conversion were recorded. The Mediatrix story naturally became a sensation, until the fateful day of April 11, 1951 when the decree of the Bishop’s Commission investigating the phenomenal events, was issued.

The commission concluded that the evidence and testimonies of the events of Lipa “excluded any supernatural intervention in the reported extraordinary happenings.” A subsequent decree also put an end to the spread of the devotion, the display of the statue and all the public veneration of Our Lady in Lipa which unfortunately, even extended far beyond the confines of Lipa. For decades a silence and obscurity of Our Lady of Lipa prevailed over Lipa Carmel and spread quickly to the rest of the country. However, devotees and believers alike, keeping everything in their hearts, they persisted and continued to silently sing and pray to her and with her. One such devotee was Msgr. Clovis Thibault, PME the prelate of the newly established Prelature of Davao, which at that time encompassed the whole Province of Davao.

As intimated in Msgr. Thibault’s fiesta message on August 1951, the new titular and her statue had already been introduced to the community at least three years earlier. And on August 22, 1951, the Municipality of Digos was erected a parish but the patron of the church was formally changed from the popular San Isidro Labrador to the unknown Blessed Virgin Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace, to the great dismay of the towns people. Nevertheless, as years went by, as devoted sons and daughters of Mary, they learned to embrace her as their own.

Why such a radical, unexpected change? I strongly suspect that Msgr. Clovis Thibault, PME had so decided to have this change because of his personal belief in the phenomenal events of Lipa three years earlier. Cardinal Ricardo Vidal, Archbishop of Cebu, when asked if he had any knowledge of Msgr. Thibault’s devotion to Our Lady of Lipa, said that indeed he was. According to the Cardinal, he had a close association and friendship with Bishop Obviar of Lipa. Msgr. Thibault must have personally wanted a memorial church of that great gift of Our Lady’s visit to the Philippines. A church dedicated to Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace. A church as it were, where Our Lady of Lipa “took refuge”


A replica of the image of Our Lady of Lipa was brought to Digos from Manila and placed inside the church by the first parish priest, Rev. Fr. Maurice Levielle, PME of the newly created parish. He testifies to the fact of the connection to Lipa of the Mediatrix Church in Digos. In a letter sent to me, he relates futher that, because of the negative verdict of the investigating Bishop’s Commission, they had the Mediatrix image repainted to another color to hide it’s true identity. They too, were affected by the negative verdict and had somehow veiled the story of Mary Mediatrix of All Grace. It would seem, further, that for same reason, the official name adopted was not exactly the same used in Lipa. And so, through the decades and so, Our Lady of Lipa in Digos, though venerated and honored as Mediatrix since 1951, her true story was never completely and truly disclosed.

The Apostolic Daughters of Mary, a local congregation of women religious founded on August 22, 1989, by the first bishop of the Diocese of Digos, Bishop Generoso Camina, PME DD. The patron of the Congregation is Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace. We cannot ascertain now why the good bishop did decide to put the congregation under the care of Our Lady under this title. We could however, say that this was another congregation of sisters that unwittingly keeps alive the memory of Our Lady of Lipa, making her known and loved as she is.

I was appointed by Pope John Paul II, the Marian Pope, as the Co-Adjutor Bishop of the Diocese of Digos in April 24, 2002. Then, on June 21, 2002 I was joyfully welcomed and installed in the Mary Mediatrix Cathedral. I decided unexpectedly, upon the advise of friends, that as a fitting act of faith on that solemn occasion of the beginning of my pastoral ministry in Digos, I led the faithful in the consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And so, I did. That was the beginning of the special Marian Pilgrimage.

Like any newcomer to a place in June 2002, I became curious about the history of our Patron of the Cathedral in Digos City. It became a personal quest since I was soon to become its Pastor as Diocessan Bishop of the Diocese of Digos. This curiosity increased even more, when discovering no one seemed to know the real story of our Patron. The quest led me to Lipa Carmel, where it all began, to the Carmelite nuns, to the tomb of Bishop Obviar in Tayabas, where I met Miss Teresita Castillo, the visionary, and the countless other devotees quietly making Mary Mediatrix known and love as she is.

On her feastday in Digos on August 22, 2002, for the first time I told her story to the present generation of devotees and to the faithful of Digos in attendance during the Pontifical Mass. I told them how honored and privileged we have been to have given “refuge “ as it were to Mary Mediatrix of All Grace. I also exhorted the faithful to remain ever grateful to Our Lady for that special visit and to express this gratitude by our remembrance and specially by our obedience to her requests as devoted sons and daughters. Our task now is to recognize her as such as to deepen our devotion to her and lead others to Jesus Christ her Son, with the aid of her maternal guidance and protection. Her messages in Lipa as in other privileged times and places where she had appeared, remain invaluable for our continuing spiritual journey on earth.

Since then, the veil of silence and obscurity of Mary Mediatrix of All Grace in Digos has been Lifted. The story of Our Lady of Lipa can once again be told and echoed through the years to come.

Shortly afterward, we looked for the original image of Our Lady and found it in the Bodega, dirty, covered with layers of paint, disfigured, discarded. We retrieved it to have it restored in Manila. In the process, we discovered, still attached to the stand of the image the name plate of the artist who made it- Irineo Cristobal. Yes, he is the same one who made the image in Lipa. This must be one of several copies made during the period 1948-1951. The image in our custody, in fact is a very close replica of the one in Lipa Carmel. It shall now be a priceless historical souvenir, indeed, of those eventful days in 1948.


On the 53rd Patronal Feast day of the cathedral Parish on August 22, 2003, the newly restored original image of Mary Mediatrix of All Grace was once again enthroned in the Cathedral. She was also crowned during the Pontifical Mass to the great delight and wonderment of parishioners. On the eve of that same feastday, we had encouraged and insisted upon Teresita Castillo, who came for the fiesta, to share with us, Digos devotees, the story of Our Lady of Lipa. Humbled and reluctant though she was, she nevertheless obliged us later. We silently listened to the story, for the first time, from the visionary herself.

On September 12, 2004, Archbishop Ramon Arguelles of Lipa approved the holding of the 1st National Marian Pilgrimage to Lipa which was supported by the CBCP as the National Day of Prayer and Reparation for World Peace and Sanctification of the Clergy. I participated in the 2nd National Pilgrimage on September 12, 2005, and there I experienced that indeed, despite the silence and obscurity of Our Lady of Lipa, the devotion and veneration has remained alive and enthusiastic among bishops, clergy, religious and numerous lay faithful. Then and there, I was given the privilege to tell the pilgrims, our story of Our Lady of Lipa who took “refuge” in Digos. A few years later, Archbishop Arguelles in recognition of the Lady in Lipa in Digos had accepted our invitation to honor her there by celebrating the Eucharist with us.

Fr. Melvin Castro of the Diocese of Tarlac, a long time devotee of Our Lady of Lipa initiated the Confraternity of Mary Mediatrix of All Grace. He introduced this in Digos on her feastday August 22, 2007. In his homily at mass, he gave a beautiful tribute to Mary Mediatrix of All Grace and exhorted us to true devotion to her according to the teachings of St. Louise de Monfort. The following year, the Confraternity of Mary Mediatrix of All Grace was formally convened in the Diocese of Digos.

On 22nd of every month since then, the Confraternity and other devotees of Mary, from near and far, come together to honor her there by joining the Aurora Procession right there at the Cathedral grounds, followed by the celebration of the Eucharist. Through this Confraternity, She will be made known even more and true devotion to Mary will be fostered among Her devotees and all the faithful of the Diocese. It is hoped that the sons and daughters of Our Lady, burdened by the yoke and challenges of our times will find in these Sacred Grounds a Marian Shrine – a place and time of solace, peace, and healing of mind, body, heart, soul. A shrine right here in the heart of the Marian City of Digos, at the intersection to Cotabato City in the west, to general Santos City in the South, to Davao City in the North. A city, created on the feast of the Nativity of Mary, September 8, 1980.

May 13, 2008
Digos City