La Naval de Manila is celebrated every 2nd Sunday of October at Sto. Domingo Church, Quezon City. This is a festival revolving around the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary of La Naval, carved in 1593. The image was given as a gift to the Dominican fathers which has been elegantly decorated and placed in a well-lit carriage in a form of a ship. During the festival, the beloved image is brought out of the church followed by a dozen images of Dominican saints. The procession goes around the main streets of Sto. Domingo Parish and returns to the church amidst applause until it reaches the altar pedestal.
en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php
Image of Our Lady of the Rosary

Enthronement of Our Lady of the Rosary
The image of Our Lady of the Rosary, popularly known nowadays as 'La Naval, is actually considered the oldest ivory carving in the Philippines. It was carved by a non-Catholic Chinese sculptor under the direction of Captain Hernando de los Rios Coronel. It is made of elephant ivory which was commissioned in 1593 by Governor General Luis Perez Dasmarinas for the Manila Dominicans. The sculptor later became a convert.
The image is dressed in yards of precious cloth of gold embroidered with silver thread. High-karat gold including precious jewels are part of the crowns of Our Lady and the Child Jesus. These jewels were donated by affluent devotees from several generations ago. Her garb reflects an influence from the 17th century Spanish "Golden Age," but her features shows oriental characteristics.
The image suffered damage during the 1762 pillage of Manila by British troops. In 1907, she was canonically crowned by the Papal Nuncio, the first Marian image in the country to be so honored. She narrowly missed destruction during the bombing of Manila in 1942, and had to be evacuated to a safer locale. In 1954, she was finally brought to her present home in the Dominican church in Quezon City. Some scholars have wondered how authentic to the 1593 original the present statue is. Other images of Our Lady of the Rosary were commissioned for the same Dominican convent in Manila from the early 17th century to the present day. In order to approach this art historical problem, a number of investigations have been carried out.

[edit] Miraculous Battles
In 1646, when Dutch invaders tried to gain possession of the country, the image of La Naval de Manila was believed to have helped and guided the Spanish fleet. Before each of the battles, the intercession of Our Lady was fervently sought. Crew members -- Spanish soldiers, religious, and Filipinos -- vowed special homage to Our Lady for a victorious battle. With five battles to face against the Dutch, the Filipino and Spanish forces led by Commander Lorenzo de Orella y Ugalde, won despite being shorthanded with only two merchant galleons to fight 18 Dutch warships. They vowed that if they emerged triumphant, they would make a pilgrimage to the church -- barefoot. On April 9, 1662, sixteen years after the successful defense of Manila, these five battles was proclaimed miraculous by the Cathedral Chapter of the Archdiocese of Manila. The Council consisted of theologians, canonists, and prominent religious. After studying all the written and oral testimonies of the participants and eyewitnesses, the Council declared that the victories were:
“
Granted by the Sovereign Lord through the intercession of the Most Holy Virgin and devotion to her Rosary, that the miracles be celebrated, preached and held in festivities and to be recounted among the miracles wrought by the Lady of the Rosary for the greater devotion of the faithful to Our Most Blessed Virgin Mary and Her Holy Rosary
”
The La Naval de Manila was canonically crowned on October 1907 upon the orders of Pope Pius X, a first in the country and in Asia. Since then, processions and masses in honor of the Blessed Mother have become a tradition.
La Naval was acknowledged as the patroness of the Philippines during her feast on October 1973. In l974, she was enshrined in a safer vault-altar because of sacrilegious robberies of churches and sacred images in the area.

[edit] Activities for La Naval 2010

[edit] Theme
This year's theme is: "La Naval de Manila: Tagumpay sa Pagbabagong-Buhay"

[edit] Schedule of Activities
30th of September 2010: Enthronement of the Image - 5:00 pm.
1st thru 9th of October 2010: Masses: Monday - Saturday: 5:00 am. - 12:00 noon. at 6:00 pm. Sunday: 5:00 am. - 12:00 noon. - 4:00 pm. at 7:00 pm.
Novena: 6:50 am., 11:45 am. at 5:30 pm.
7th and 8th of October 2010: Beso Manto - 7:00 pm.
10th of October 2010: Feast Day
Masses: 5:00 am., 12:00 pm., 3:00 pm., 5:00 pm. at 7:00 pm.
Grand Procession: 4:00 pm.

[edit] External Link
Inquirer.net.

[edit] Reference
La Naval de Manila Blogspot(accessed on October 23, 2010)
"La Naval de Manila". Philippine Festivals, (accessed on July 18, 2007).
La Naval de Manila. (accessed on October 02, 2008).
Remembrance of Things Awry. (accessed on October 02, 2008).
Society of St.Pius X. (accessed on October 02, 2008).
Holy Spirit Interactive. (accessed on October 02, 2008).

[edit] Citation

In times of acute danger and hardship, we must always fly into the arms of the most powerful Mother of God and turn to the recitation of the Rosary. The Battle of Lepanto is a great lesson of confidence for us today. When Saint Pius V ascended to Saint Peter’s throne, Christendom faced perils perhaps unequaled in its history of continual conflict, not the least of which came from the agitated and violent followers of Mohammed. All the information and intelligence that Pope Pius V had been gathering indicated that the Ottoman juggernaut was about to roll across the Mediterranean and adjacent lands, spearheaded by the Turkish fleet, with Italy and Rome as one of its targets. No nation could stand up to the marauding infidels and the candidates for an alliance were few. Northern Europe had risen up in armed rebellion against the Church with France deeply involved in the conflict, while much of Europe felt that neutrality was the best policy to follow after the Turks occupied a large chunk of its land in the Danube River Valley. Only Spain and Venice had the resources to resist, and they hated each other along with deep mistrust. Yet Saint Pius — calling down divine grace as only a man of prayer could — forged an alliance with them as the core of an organized fleet of over 200 galleys. With his considerable tact and diplomatic skills, he not only kept them unified, but he convinced them to attack the enveloping menace. Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Archbishop of Mexico had an exact copy of the Holy Image of Guadalupe sent to King Philip II, who in turn gave it to Andrea Doria, one of the three principal admirals of the fleet, who placed it in his cabin. When the Armada went from file to line abreast and attacked on the morning of October 7, 1571 the blue standard of Our Lady of Guadalupe was also flying from the masthead of Don Juan’s flagship. But Our Lady’s presence that day was more acutely felt through the Holy Rosary. Our Lady of the Rosary Pope Pius V, a Dominican prelate before his elevation, did what Catholics have always done in times of acute danger: fly into the arms of the most powerful Mother of God. As a follower of Saint Dominic, he knew the most effective means of imploring her help was through the recitation of the Holy Rosary. He ordered all monasteries and convents in Rome to increase their prayers for the impending battle and organized rosary processions in which he, as sick as he was, participated. As the Christian fleet sailed toward the great clash of cultures, Mass was celebrated and the rosary recited daily on each vessel. This heartfelt request for divine assistance resulted in a crushing defeat of the Ottomans at Lepanto that ended their dominance in the Mediterranean. To celebrate Our Lady’s intercession, the Church has designated October 7 as the Feast of the Holy Rosary and Saint Pius V added Help of Christians (Auxilium Christianorum) to the Litany of Our Lady (Loreto). Similar acknowledgement to the Blessed Virgin’s intercession through the rosary were made when John Sobieski forced the Turks to lift the Siege of Vienna in 1683 and after the victory of Prince Eugene of Savoy at Temesvar in his successful campaign to remove the Ottomans from Europe in the next century. While the din of battle gradually diminished at the bloody waters off Lepanto, Saint Pius V was going over accounts in the papal apartments with Bartolo Busotti, his treasurer. Suddenly, he arose with his face radiant with joy and announced, “Let us go and thank God, for this moment our fleet has defeated the Turks.” Human agency brought news to Rome two weeks later. The message of Our Lady of Fatima is a call to conversion. But will the world listen? “Finally my Immaculate Heart will triumph!” Some may object to the historical paradigm, not that it is inappropriate, but that it happened a long time ago. Yet, the Blessed Virgin made another historical visit to earth just ninety years ago, bringing roughly the same message to a larger distressed population. As Our Lady of the Rosary, she appeared six times at Fatima in Portugal to three related children, two of whom have been beatified. In essence, she warned that God was terribly offended by the sins of mankind and unless that sinfulness subsided the world as a consequence would face horrible chastisements. Immediately following, we had a bloody conclusion to World War I, then six years of the most depraved slaughter of World War II and continual wars, atrocities and mutilations ever since instigated by two of the enemies of Western Civilization: Communism (as Our Lady predicted) and Islam. Sinfulness has not abated, but only increased, especially in the areas of family life, immoral fashions and lewd entertainment. Our Lady will intervene once again in history, either to help her suffering children who have recourse to her or to bring down the wrath of God on those who refuse to pray, make sacrifices and stop offending Him. During the third apparition she announced the ultimate result, “Finally my Immaculate Heart will triumph!” Join the Public Square Rosary Crusade •Participate in one of the 7,094 Rosary rallies on Oct. 15, 2011. •Find a rally location near you. •Start a Campus Rosary for students here www.tfpstudentaction.org/…/how-our-lady-gr…