Archdiocesan shrine of San Roque in Mambaling, Cebu City turns 50

THE area at the Archdiocesan Shrine of San Roque in Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City where the faithful can light their candles and offer their prayers. / ARKEEN LARISMA
THE area at the Archdiocesan Shrine of San Roque in Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City where the faithful can light their candles and offer their prayers. / ARKEEN LARISMA

BEFORE the parish named in honor of San Roque (St. Roch) in Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City, was established in 1973, there were stories that nonbelievers could easily dismiss as legends.

One of the stories involved a fisherman who went out to collect seashells to provide food for his family.

This story was retold by Fr. Victor Carmelo Diola, the current administrator of the Cebu Archdiocesan Shrine of San Roque, on Sunday, June 4, 2023.

Diola said the fisherman heard a voice instructing him to carve something out of driftwood.

At first, the fisherman was hesitant because he couldn’t identify the voice. But the voice insisted so strongly that he finally gave in.

The fisherman returned home and took his chisel. He began carving, eventually creating a statuette.

The fisherman had no idea who the figure represented until the parish priest of San Nicolas informed him that it was San Roque. At that time, Mambaling was still part of San Nicolas de Tolentino Parish, which is across Pasil Fish Market.

Another story was about an unknown disease that wreaked havoc on Mambaling.

During a religious procession, Mambaling residents carried the image of San Roque. The unknown disease stopped spreading.

The residents believed that San Roque had protected them.

Since then, the devotion of Mambaling residents to the saint flourished, leading to the establishment of the parish on June 3, 1973.

On Aug. 21, 2008, Cardinal Ricardo Vidal, the archbishop of Cebu, elevated the parish’s status to an Archdiocesan Shrine status, the only shrine all over the Philippines honoring San Roque, Fr. Diola said.

The parish celebrated its golden jubilee on Saturday, June 3, and Diola said his team is working on encouraging more Catholic faithful to attend masses through the shrine’s program called “Balik Simba” (Return to Worship).

Based on the 2022 census, only 1,200 (four percent) of Mambaling’s 30,459 residents were attending mass, according to Diola.

As part of the shrine’s ongoing project, electronic billboards will be installed to remind people to attend mass.

Diola’s team also aims to make the shrine a pilgrimage site that attracts people of the Catholic faith. To facilitate this, they will create a Facebook page called “Friends of San Roque Shrine Cebu” to welcome San Roque devotees from other places.

The shrine will also stage “Drama sa Kinabuhi ni San Roque,” a play portraying the life of the saint.

The feast in honor of San Roque falls on Aug. 16. He is the patron saint against plagues and epidemics, often invoked for protection against contagious diseases and for the healing of the sick.

San Roque is also the patron saint of dogs, invalids and the sick, pilgrims, bachelors and falsely accused people. (AML)

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