Regalia and Security
The original icon of Our Lady of Manaoag and its majestic bejewelled crown are considered priceless. There have been several attempts to burglarise the Manaoag Shrine due to the jewels sewn into the icon's dress and regalia.
Several golden crowns and haloes are deposited at the shrine's museum, which were donated by both Filipino and foreign devotees. An expensive collection of liturgical vestments that have been used by the image and the Dominican priests are also on display. A large array of lavishly elegant perfumes is likewise showcased. These were donated by devotees and pilgrims from around the world as ex votos or presents to the image.
The image of Our Lady of Manaoag is fully secured with bulletproof glass panels enclosing it above the new high altar with additional wood carvings, an elevated pedestal, and four golden candelabras. Its beautiful new blue background reflects Her Queenship. A new special Dominican logo has been embedded to manifest the devotion of the Order to her. The bas-relief, made of narra carvings beneath her throne that beautifully depicts the historic events in the devotion to Our Lady, has been refurbished.
The archdiocese, reckoning with the Filipino custom of touching a venerated image or its clothing, constructed a staircase that rises to the second floor Veneration Room behind the high altar. This room has pews, and people queue to kneel at the alcove behind the image's shrine. Supplicants touch the lower part of the image's mantle, and may drop their prayers into a box. After touching the mantle and praying, devotees pass through the religious souvenir shop on their way out.
Read more about this topic: Our Lady Of Manaoag
Famous quotes containing the word security:
“When kindness has left people, even for a few moments, we become afraid of them as if their reason had left them. When it has left a place where we have always found it, it is like shipwreck; we drop from security into something malevolent and bottomless.”
—Willa Cather (1876–1947)