Grateful for the Weekend That Was

30th of March 2022

March 12, Saturday, we were driving to the north of Cebu for the scheduled visit to the newly built Capelinha de Fatima in San Remigio.

I have been listening to an online mass by a famous Cebuano priest almost every day. This is where I learned about the Capelinha de Fatima in San Remigio. During this masses, Father Ciano Ubod, the celebrity priest, has been asking for donations for the completion of the Capelinha.

Capelinha De Fatima

The Capelinha de Fatima in San Remigio is the fourth replica of the Capelinha de Fatima in Portugal. The other replicas are found in the United States, particularly in New Jersey, Puerto Rico and Brazil.

The fourth which is located in San Remigio is the first and the only replica in Asia. In one of the priest’s sermon, he said that only four replicas are allowed in the whole world.  This means that this is the last replica that will ever be made.

Having such replicas of the Capelinha de Fatima in Portugal allows the devotees who cannot afford to travel to Portugal to visit the Capelinha.

Every 13th of the month starting last February 13, they held a dawn rosary and the holy image of Mama Mary is processioned around the vast area. I saw this when Fr. Ubod shows the video in one of his masses. This makes me want to experience the event.

The Plan.

I checked the calendar for the dates, particularly 13th day of the month that will fall on a Sunday. It turned out that after February 13, which is also a Sunday, only March 13 and November 13 falls on a Sunday. November 13 is so far already for me so I have to act fast in order for me to attend the February 13 dawn rosary, procession and mass.

San Remigio is almost at the border of the north Cebu. This entails me to travel for 3 to 4 hours drive. So I planned to travel a day earlier. The north of Cebu has also plenty of resorts to choose from but I looked for a resort that is just a short drive to the Capelinha.

Once I found the resort and has made a reservation I then proceeded to look for places to dine in. The resort is just a simple one and they don’t provide dinner or breakfast. It is either you bring food with you as they have free corkage or look for restaurants outside the resort.

The Travel.

We started our drive early on Saturday morning, March 12 as we need to gas up both vehicles. Yup, we have to use both cars as there are many of us travelling. My kids, my brother’s family and my aunt are with me.

We prayed for good weather during that day as the past few days were having a bad weather. It was always raining the whole week and dark clouds were hovering. But on that Saturday morning, the sun has risen up, an indication of a fine day. Our prayers were answered with a very fine weather.

The Resort.

We went straight to the resort, Orongan Beach Resort, was its name. They don’t have a pool but they do have fine and white sands.

We don’t have a proper room but we were given a huge cottage. We use the huge cottage to sleep in and to store our things. I also got a smaller cottage too for us to use while swimming and eat our food.

After having our lunch, me, my aunt and my brother left the rest behind to search for the Capelinha de Fatima. I want to make sure that we know the way as we will have an early start the following day and for sure it will still be dark at 3 in the morning.

We went back to the resort once we were satisfied that we already know the way.

The rest of the afternoon was spent swimming, talking, eating and having my lower body covered with the sand. They said it is a good therapy for the knees.

Around 4 in the afternoon we started getting ready to go to the restaurant I saw on the internet, the Mar Azul Restaurant. It was 15 minutes drive from our resort.

 Another round of picture taking was made before our dinner was serve as we witnessed the setting of the sun.

Their food were all delicious though a bit pricey. Maybe because they were the talk of the town restaurant.

The Dawn Rosary and Procession.

We left the resort past 2 in the morning to go the Capelinha de Fatima. My brother’s wife and small kids were left behind. We travelled in the dark as there are no street lights. Only the car’s headlights are lighting up our way.

When we arrived at the venue there were plenty of people around already but luckily there were still plastic chairs that were vacant which we grab right away.

The dawn rosary and procession was so solemn.

I really love the experience in this place and will be back soon here, actually, this coming Saturday, April 2, is my next visit. I will be joining the pilgrims from our church. This is for the 8th day novena as I cannot attend the fiesta and consecration of the Capelinha de Fatima on April 4. But that is for another story.

After the mass, we went back to the resort for another round of swimming and left the resort soon thereafter.

I am deeply grateful to Mama Mary for this experience. She hears and listen to our prayers.

Thank you for spending the weekend with me.

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