Virgin Mary of Loreto in Manila granted canonical coronation

(Photo from Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Loreto Network Facebook)

MANILA, Philippines—Pope Francis granted the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto in Manila a canonical coronation.

In the English translation of the letter read on Sunday by Fr. Enrico Adoviso, the parish priest and rector of the Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Loreto, the image of the Virgin Mary will be “crowned with a precious diadem.”

“[W]e are pleased to allow that the glorious image of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto, piously venerated in the City of Manila, be crowned with the precious diadem in the name and by the authority of the same Supreme Pontiff Francis,” Adoviso read.

The letter, which came from the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, said that Archdiocese of Manila Archbishop Jose F. Cardinal Advincula sought the coronation.

The coronation mass will be held on December 10, the feast day of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto, and will be celebrated by Most Reverend Charles Brown, the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, and Cardinal Advincula.

The Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto is also the patroness of Sampaloc in Manila.

A canonical coronation is an act in which the Pope imposes a crown on an image of Jesus, Mary, or Joseph.