CAYSASAY shrine in Taal, Batangas, welcomed the public again after the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) concluded its restoration project.
During the early days of 2020, the Archdiocesan church endured some serious damages in its structure as caused by unrelenting earthquakes during the volcanic activity of the Taal landform. Then-Taal Vice Mayor Jovito Albufero suspected that the cracks that formed all over the shrine may cause its ceilings to cave in.
It was only after a year that the NMP assumed the initiative to work on the restoration of the church and its complex.
Last Thursday, June 20, the NMP officially returned the Our Lady of Caysasay Shrine to the Archdiocese of Lipa and the people of Taal’s care. The turnover coincides with the 52nd anniversary of the elevation of the then-Diocese of Lipa into the higher status of an archdiocese.
The shrine houses the 17th century image of the Holy Virgin Mary, and it holds utmost significance to its many devotees.
The origin of Caysasay’s story dates way back in the year 1603 in a small barangay of Taal that goes by the similar name.
A fisherman named Juan Maningkad went out to catch fish one day and threw a net in the Pansipit River. What he caught was a twelve-inch high, wooden image of the Our Lady of Caysasay, which was rumored to be radiating with “heavenly luster”.
One of the fascinating mysteries surrounding the blessed image of Mary involved her nightly disappearance and her daytime re-appearance, as reported by a widow called Madam Maria Espiritu who had an urn in which she keeps the image.
Most Rev. Gilbert A. Garcera, D.D., the Archbishop of Lipa, proclaimed that the Caysasay Shrine’s restoration was nothing but a “dream-come-true” moment for Batangueños, sparking renewed faith and devotion among believers.
The Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines Most Rev. Charles John Brown, D.D. likewise commended the NMP’s work on the shrine’s restoration, saying that it brought back the church to its original modest grandeur.
