By Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald

The Feast of Our Lady of Manaoag, a 500-year-old devotion to the Blessed Mother from northern Philippines, will be celebrated with a Mass and fiesta on April 24 at St. Joseph Church in Waipahu. A nine-day novena starting April 15 will precede it.

The April 24 festivities start with a procession at 9:30 a.m. followed by Mass at 10:30 celebrated by La Salette Father Gregorio Honorio. A buffet of Filipino lechon, delicacies and desserts follows.

The novena schedule is 7 p.m. on April 15, 16, 20, 22 and 23; 7:30 on April 17 and 21; 2 p.m. on April 18; and 8 p.m. on April 19.

Our Lady of Manaoag is Mary as depicted by a 16th century wooden statue enshrined in a church of the same name in the town of Manaoag in the northern Philippine province of Pangasinan.

According to legend, the Blessed Mother, standing on a cloud-veiled tree and carrying a rosary and the baby Jesus, appeared to a native man. A church was built on the spot and the town of Manaoag, which means “She Calls,” sprang up around it.

Today the church is one of the Philippines’ most widely visited Catholic pilgrimage sites.

Our Lady of Manaoag is considered the patroness of the sick, the helpless and the needy.

The devotion was introduced to Hawaii in 2005 by Fred and Susan Martinez, who visited the shrine and brought back a two-and-a-half foot tall statue of Our Lady of Manaoag as a gift for a friend.

It was suggested that the feast should be celebrated here and a group of former residents of Pangasinan met for the first Hawaii observance of Our Lady of Manaoag in April 2006.

Various organizations of former Pangasinan residents have hosted the feast and its accompanying fiesta every year since at various locations including St. Joseph Church in Waipahu and St. Anthony Church in Kalihi.

For more information, contact Peter Malbog Jr. at 368-7265, e-mail pmalbogjr@aol.com; or Fred Martinez at 358-8049, email fmartinez@hawaii.rr.com.

A slideshow of a previous celebration may be viewed at http://up-n-hi.ning.com/video/feast-of-our-lady-of-manaoag.