THE THEOTOKOS SHRINE(Perrelos,Carcar City,Cebu)

THE  THEOTOKOS  SHRINE

   The shrine houses the giant statue of Our Lady of Family as well as the Theotokos icon (which means Mother of God in Greek).   The founder of this shrine is Fr. John Rona.
  When the Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima came to the Philippines that one day, he and his brother went to Cardinal Vidal to help search for a land where he can propagate the Perpetual Dawn Rosary (PDR). The Cardinal approved his request and suggested two areas - one was expensive and the other lot had lots of squatters in it. He prayed a lot over this and one day he received a call from the Charismatic Center of St Rosario Parish in Cebu.
    The person who called told him that in her vision she saw the land that Mama Mary wants for him, and that is at the present Perrelos Hill in Carcar! Several other people dreamt of the same vision and in 1992 the owner of that Perrelos property agreed to sell the lot for an amazing low price of 5 pesos per sq.meter. Our Mother wanted a shrine and wanted it quicly.
   When the construction of the site was ongoing, a farmer found something unusual. His plow struck an unusual object right at the back where the statue of Our Lady of Fatima now stands. What it was, was a fifteenth centry antique base for a monstrance on which one side bears the monogram AM, Ave Maria like the AM of the Miraculous Medal and on the opposite side of the base, an ancient form of the cross which used to be imprinted on the big host for consecration.Right below the chapel one can find steps going to the Blessed sacrament.One could stay in the Eucharistic adoration chapel all day. Besides being so peaceful, one is blessed with a lovely site from nature all around. See the scenery from one window below.
   On Sept 9, 1992, Cardinal Vidal, Archbishop of Cebu blessed the statue of Our Lady of Fatima under the title of Theotokos and four years later, declared it a Diocesan Shrine. Permission was also granted to celebrate a Dawn Mass every 13th of the month.
   As the Cardinal blessed the 20 foot statue of Our Lady, suddenly the 'dancing sun' happened for the first time. This was to repeat itself for the next five months.
The sun danced across the sky, changing colors and shapes. To Fr. Tito Giron SVD, the sun took the shape of a monstance.