Fr. Romeo Desuyo accompanies his image of the Our Lady of Guadalupe during the Traslacion motorcade on Friday morning. The new image is shorter than the icon used in previous years.(CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA).
A smaller but elegant image of the Our Lady of Guadalupe de Cebu is accompanying the Sto. Niño icon in the Traslacion and fluvial procession this year.
Curious about the new look of Cebu’s patroness?
Fr. Romeo “Dodong” Desuyo of the Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Cebu City explained that the idea of using a smaller image for the Traslacion and fluvial processions was well-thought of.
“I prayed and was inspired to use a smaller image that would fit the urna (glass case) and is easier to carry,” he told Cebu Daily News.
Using a wood he found, Desuyo personally carved the face for the new statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It took him two weeks to finish it. The face of the icon, Desuyo said, resembles the original image enshrined at the main altar of the church.
“Its face is close to the original image, including the color and skin tone,” he said.
The image’s body, on one hand, was taken from another image of the Blessed Virgin Mary whose ivory head Desuyo donated to the Basilica del Sto. Niño.
Desuyo garbed the image with its traditional blue and pink dress intricately embroidered with gold threads of flowers and leaves.
The image has a height of 18 inches or six inches shorter than the icon of the Our Lady of Guadalupe, which was used during the Traslacion and fluvial procession in previous years.
Desuyo’s new image of the Our Lady of Guadalupe will sail on a yacht together with the Sto. Niño de Cebu down the Mactan Channel for the fluvial procession tomorrow, January 14. The icon is placed on a newly-made glass case which was adorned with white and pink lilies.
Desuyo, a Marian devotee, used to be assigned at the Virgen delos Remedios Parish in Odlot, Bogo City in northern Cebu —a church which he painstakingly built in honor of the Blessed Mother. But when diocesan priests were reshuffled last September, he was transferred to Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Cebu City where he now serves as member of the team ministry.