Our Lady of Cabra Island is a

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

of a purported apparition of the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...

to several schoolgirls on

Cabra Island Cabra is a barangay in the Philippines that covers the island of the same name. The island is the north-westernmost of the Lubang Group of Islands in the Verde Island Passage southwest of the country's main island of Luzon and northwest of the isl ...

Lubang, Occidental Mindoro Lubang, officially the Municipality of Lubang ( tgl, Bayan ng Lubang), is a 4th class municipality in the province of Occidental Mindoro, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 17,437 people. The municipality encompa ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, from 1966 to 1972.

Visions

The supposed visions were first reported by a sixth grader, Belinda Villas, and her seven friends from the same grade level at Cabra Elementary School. The children described the figure in the alleged apparitions as a "beautiful lady wearing a white robe and a blue sash around her waist". Their school’s principal, Juana V. Torreliza, then urged the children from the beginning to jot down the details of their encounters. One recorded vision has the lady smiling and with a sweet, reassuring voice, telling them in Tagalog: “''Ako ang Inmaculada Concepción.''” (“I am the Immaculate Conception.”) While a small chapel has since been erected on the hilltop where the supposed apparitions occurred, the incident has not been formally approved by the Philippine Church or the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

Legacy

The children’s accounts led to a growing number of pilgrims from

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

and other islands. Their individual stories, notes, photographs, and the messages from the “lady bathed in light, and always smiling, always with a kindly expression on her face” were documented and published in the 1978 book ''The Apparitions of Cabra Islet''. Copies can be found in many Catholic college libraries, in the

National Library of the Philippines The National Library of the Philippines ( fil, Pambansang Aklatan ng Pilipinas or ''Aklatang Pambansa ng Pilipinas'', abbreviated NLP, es, Biblioteca Nacional de Filipinas) is the official national library of the Philippines. The complex is l ...

and the United States

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

Cultural influence

The purported apparitions eventually inspired the 1982

Ishmael Bernal Ishmael Bernal (30 September 1938 – 2 June 1996) was a Filipino filmmaker, stage and television director, actor and screenwriter. Noted for his melodramas, particularly with feminist and moral issues, he directed many landmark Filipino films ...

drama film ''

Himala ''Himala'' (English: ''Miracle'') is a 1982 Filipino film directed by Ishmael Bernal and produced by the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines. It stars Nora Aunor as a young woman living in the province who claims to have seen a Marian appari ...

'', starring

Nora Aunor Nora Cabaltera Villamayor (born May 21, 1953), professionally known as Nora Aunor (), is a Filipino actress, recording artist, and film producer. Aunor has also appeared in several stage plays, television shows and concerts. She is known as Ph ...

and with screenplay by

Ricky Lee Ricardo Lee (born as March 19, 1948) is a Filipino screenwriter, journalist, novelist, and playwright. He was conferred the Order of National Artists of the Philippines for Film and Broadcast Arts in 2022. Starting in 1973, he has written more ...

. Produced by the

Experimental Cinema of the Philippines The Experimental Cinema of the Philippines (ECP) was a government-owned corporation of the Republic of the Philippines created to promote the growth and development of the local film industry. Created in 1982 after the first Manila International ...

, the film was first exhibited overseas in the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

. It later won the Viewer's Choice Award for the Best Film of All Time from the Asia-Pacific Region in the 2008

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

Asia Pacific Screen Awards The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) is an international cultural initiative overseen by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and headquartered in Australia. In order to realise UNESCO's goals of promoting and preserving the different cultures th ...

.Dlanorsk5 (2008-12-26)
"Nora Aunor HIMALA as CNN Viewer Choice Award as Best Film in Asia-Pacific"
YouTube. Retrieved on 2011-03-28.

References

Apparitions Religion in Occidental Mindoro Catholic Church in the Philippines {{Philippines-stub