Bridging the Gap
Calle Santo Rosario in Iloilo City
Known to be a quiet and peaceful neighborhood, Calle Rosario is often overlooked by the present generation as an insignificant street in Iloilo City. Yet, with its history, one can well imagine how this street came to be known as “product of miracles.”
According to folk tradition, it all began on the night of September 30, 1616 when the statue of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary was discovered among the debris of the Real Fuerza de San Pedro or the fort by Don Diego Quiñones after a hard won battle against the Dutch. Quiñones was the Spanish leader of a group of Filipino and Spanish soldiers who built the fort, and who defended it from the determined attack of “very large” Dutch force (Buzeta 1851). Two Augustinian missionaries, Fr. Juan de Morales and Fr. Jeronimo Arevalo, were present during the attack, and they inspired the soldiers' morale and spirit. It must be noted that the Dutch at that time were interested in occupying the Philippines and driving out the Spaniards from it. Three days of “unequal and rigorous fighting” eventually led the Dutch to retreat leaving behind 80 dead and 100 wounded (Ibid). The victory of Quiñones and his men was taken as “a good sign of success” for future battles (Diaz 1875). This was further reinforced with the discovery of the image after the Dutch had left and the defenders took stock of the destruction in the fort.
Soon after, Fr. Morales and Fr. Arevalo, with the permission of the Spanish alcalde-mayor, constructed a post in which they displayed the statue of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary and brought to a chapel in the fortress. The newly-found statue was immediately venerated and soon proclaimed as patron mediatrix of Iloilo.
For the past three centuries, commitment and zeal towards the statue grew. To the surprise of the city population, devotions to the Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary spread all over Panay and Negros until pilgrims from different parts of the country flocked and paid homage to it.
Today, the replica of the image of the Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary stands proud in Fort San Pedro. At the base of the statue, there is an inscription that reads:
This monument stands as a memento of the historic finding of the miraculous Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary in Fort San Pedro by Captain Diego Quiñones and his Filipino-Spanish soldiers on September 30, 1616. It was constructed by the Iloilo devotees over the occasion of the solemn coronation of the Holy Image on October 11, 1970. The holy image is enshrined and venerated at the San Jose Parish Church, Plaza Libertad, Iloilo City.
Now, what have Fort San Pedro and the image of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary to do with Calle Rosario? Other than the fact that the two are adjacent to each other and are directly linked by a road, there have been folk stories of the Our Lady of the Holy Rosary having been seen a number of times in the area occupied by Calle Rosario. It was reported that the sightings of the Lady in the street healed a number of people from their illnesses and made the place free from trouble.
At the close of the 19th century, Calle Rosario became known as a residential area for the “rich and famous”. It was the place where prominent people in Iloilo City, including foreigners, built their residences. English, German, and Swiss nationals who were engaged in lucrative businesses in the city at that time stayed in this section. Expectedly, the Filipino elite were also present in it. These rich families were known to have gathered the people in the neighborhood during the Christmas season and other occasions to give them gifts. This act was considered a traditional practice of the concerned families in expressing their love to the less fortunate and to gain continuous blessings and favor from the Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary.