City Commemorates Feast of Our Lady of Fort

The city government here through the Fort San Pedro Management Office under the Office of the Mayor celebrates the 6th year commemoration for the Feast of the Our Lady of Fort also known as Virgen de la Cotta y de los Remedios de Cebu, last December 18, 2015, Friday at the Fort San Pedro.

A Holy Mass was offered and led by Msgr. Cayetano Gelbolingo of the Cebu Cathedral. Right after the Eucharistic celebration, a solemn procession was carried out along the vicinity of the Fort San Pedro and the Plaza Independencia.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Lopez Rama and the management and personnel of the Fort San Pedro with other employees of the city government, among several other graced the annual event.

Meanwhile, history reveals that the Virgin of the Fort is the oldest Cebuano Marian devotion dating back to 1570 to 1575, when an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary was found in a well inside Fort San Pedro. It was believed that it was the very same image that Ferdinand Magellan gave to Queen Juana of Cebu on April 14, 1521 right after her baptism.

The small image of Mary carrying Child Jesus in her arms was enshrined in a chapel inside the Fort, and became known as the Our Lady of the Fort or Virgin de la Cotta. The water of the well where the image was found was said to have provided cure to various ailments of devotees who prayed to the Virgin and drank the water.

Looking back, Rama led the city government employees, devotees, and respected members from the academe and the media among others in enshrining the Virgin of the Fort to its original location last December 18 in the year 2010, coinciding on her feast which is every 18th day of December. (Cebu City Public Information Office PIO/Greggy Jiggs P. Senados)