Some of the treasures of the history of the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine of the Order of Augustinian Recollects and the environments and spaces where it has carried out its work throughout history and today.
Two images and two advocations of the Virgin, both very popular and with histories running along parallel lines since the 17th century, are Our Lady of Mount Carmel [Virgen del Carmen] at San Sebastian Church and Our Lady of Health [Nuestra Señora de la Salud], a pilgrim image in several places in the national capital.
The Virgen del Carmen image, a gift from the Discalced Carmelite nuns in Mexico City, was brought by one of the Recollect pioneering missionaries, Rodrigo de San Miguel, during his second trip from Spain to Manila in 1618. Three years later, the holy image was enthroned at San Sebastian when the church was inaugurated in a house of retreat donated by Don Bernardino Maldonado del Castillo, a benefactor of the Recollect community.
Soon after, a confraternity was established, which had been imposing the Carmel brown scapular since 1650. Thousands of faithful requested it, and the Carmel devotion quickly spread throughout the archipelago. For the southern half of the country, the centre of dissemination was Cebu, whose Recollect church is now dedicated to her.
Such was the devotion that, at the beginning of the 18th century, some women began to attach themselves to the shrine, leading first to a beaterio and later to a congregation of the Augustinian Recollect Family.
Our Lady of Health arrived in the Philippines by ship, somewhat later, in the seventh mission (1633) from Spain. It was a gift to the Recollect missionaries from the Discalced Carmelites of Mexico, and it had already stirred up great devotion while on board the ship.
It was immediately enthroned at the main altar of the Church of Bagumbayan with great pomp and solemnity. Soon after, the Cofradía del Tránsito de Nuestra Señora was established, which enjoyed great acceptance.
However, the devotion did not maintain the same stability as Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The convent of Bagumbayan disappeared in 1764, and the Marian image was transferred to the Convent of San Nicolas in Intramuros. Initially, the icon had its own altar, but the devotion gradually waned. When the Recoletos Church was remodelled, its altar was removed. The image was then placed in an urn and kept at the altar dedicated to Saint Augustine.
It was one of the icons that survived the bombardment of Manila and the destruction of Intramuros in 1945. It found a provisional safe haven at San Sebastian Convent. In 1970, when the new curia of the Vicariate of the Philippines and Taiwan was inaugurated, it was moved there for safekeeping. In 1988, it began to be displayed to the public at the Museo Recoleto in the Bulwagang Recoletos complex in Quezon City.
The celebration of the Fourth Centenary of the Arrival of the Recollects in the Philippines in 2006 was a fitting occasion to transfer it to the nearby parish of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino. The Cofradía de Tránsito de Nuestra Señora was reestablished, and Bishop Honesto Ongtioco approved the Cofradía statutes in January 2021.
