Our fourth entry in this blog is our trip to Our Lady of Guadalupe Langob Shrine in Barangay Kalunasan, Guadalupe, Cebu City.  This is not my first time in this place but I can no longer remember the last time I was here (I think I was still at elementary age that time, well that was too long ago!).  Normally, during holy week, we go to different churches for Visita Iglesia.  But this year, since I already have 2 young kids, I opted to stay behind and stay away from the crowd as well as the heat of the sun.  Except for this Black Saturday, I chose to come along with my parents and sister to this holy cave.

We have here the altar and a wide space for the people to sit down during masses.  It is very quiet today since it’s Black Saturday and there are no scheduled masses until Easter.

We also have here a closer look of the altar, the area where the small opening entrance to the cave is located, a picture of “Juan Diego who was placed under the protection of the mantle of Our Lady of Guadalupe”, and a back view of Our Lady from another entrance area.  In peak days, that would be the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe every 2nd Saturday of December, this area is always full of people lining up to get inside the cave.

We are very fortunate to visit the place where there are only a few people around.  We get to say our prayers alone in the quiet and holy cave.  Our 3-year old Rei is afraid inside the dark (but not that dark) cave.  She always hold my hand tight and sometimes covers her face.  But she told me that she was just praying. 🙂 Our 1-year old Sai is also very quiet and just wanders around the cave and maybe thinking “what are we doing here?” 🙂  But the cave, even if crowded at times will not be too hot and uncomfortable to the devotees since it is also airconditioned. 🙂

So that sums up our trip to this holy Langob Shrine.  We did not arrive in this cave on foot though you can also do that starting from the side area of the Guadalupe Church.  We went there by car via Bgy Opra and Bgy Kalunasan.  Maybe next time, when the kids are old enough to walk for several minutes under the heat of the sun, then we will surely go back on foot. 🙂

No one knows why & when the image was placed in the Cave (Langub). However, it was said that there was a time when the Muslim pirates raided the district of San Nicolas and its environs. Due to fear, the villagers went up the hill & hid the Image in the cave to protect it from heretics. Others also said in the 19th Century, the Hispano- Filipino conflicts, atrocities & uprising forced the natives to hide the Image in the cave at Tagoan. As years passed by, the residents forgot all about the Image. The discovery of the hidden Image of the Blessed Virgin inside the cave happened accidentally.
          It started when a trapper of wild chicken was sticking his wooden peg into the cart in the cave to tie his rooster bait. Unknowingly he was sticking it on the top of a concealed guano pit so that the soft soil gave away. Inside this guano pit, he saw the religious relic. He took it out and brought it to the Parish Priest of San Nicolas for identification. He told that it was the replica of the Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe of Mexico. From that time on, the cave tagoan (now part of Brgy. Kalunasan) became the object of Pilgrimages by people throughout the Visayas & Mindanao.