On the gently rolling hills of Metro-Tagaytay in Cavite province, 70 kilometers south of Manila in the Philippines, will soon rise the Oratory of the Blessed Virgin Mary in MonteMaria, a center for God’s poor, a sacred space for healing of humanity and nature...a magnificent prayer.

“MonteMaria is a place to encounter God in a personal and powerful way; a place for healing – restoration and reconciliation, renewal and revival; a place to meet Jesus through the intercession of Mama Mary of the Poor.” 

Thus Fr. Fernando Suarez describes this monumental undertaking of the Mary Mother of the Poor Foundation (MMPF), a worldwide charitable organization he started as a seminarian in 1996.

Inspired by Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer, Fr. Suarez envisioned a place to be known as the Oratory of the Blessed Virgin Mary with a majestic statue of Mary, the tallest in the world, standing on a mountain “like a beacon of light, a proclamation of love and faith, a steadfast companion”, her gaze benign, her hands raised in loving benediction over her children.

An engineer by profession, Fr. Suarez personally works with architects, engineers, sculptors and landscape artists to realize his vision of the Oratory.  Its centerpiece, an image of Mary, Mother of the Poor will rest upon a multilevel pedestal. 

Towering over the Tagaytay Ridge, the Oratory will command a majestic panorama of the famous Taal Volcano, the world’s smallest active volcano on serene Lake Taal.

The Oratory complex will also feature Stations of the Cross with larger-than-life-sized images, chapels, gardens, and huge concrete beads arranged around a kilometer-long processional road to form a giant rosary draped on landscaped slopes with the Basilica as its cross.

Among these chapels are replicas of two beloved Philippine pilgrim churches, the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo and the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in Baclaran, the Blessed Virgin Mary’s house in Ephesus, Scala Sancta in Rome and the Sto. Niño Chapel - a testament to the Filipino’s unique heritage of devotion to the Holy Child of Cebu.  

MonteMaria Oratory welcomes all its visitors. There will be world-class facilities suitable for retreats and recollections, conventions and seminars as well as pilgrim hostels, campsites and shops selling religious items, publications, souvenirs  and refreshments.

To share in God’s healing ministry in the world, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

To help heal humanity, in body and soul.

The choice of Mary, Mother of the Poor as the Oratory’s inspiration highlights the other dimension of MonteMaria as a center for poverty alleviation and socio-economic development.

MonteMaria plans to continue supporting the following MMPF projects for indigent beneficiaries in the Philippines:

• daily feeding programs for malnourished schoolchildren
• on-site free medical and dental clinics and laboratory services
• medical and relief missions during disasters and calamities

Lord, look upon me with eyes of mercy.  May Your healing Spirit rest upon me.  It is through Your power that I was created.  Since You created me from nothing.  You can certainly recreate me.  Fill me with the healing power of Your spirit.  May Your life-giving powers flow into every cell of my body and into the depths of my soul.  Mend what is broken.  Cast out anything that should not be within me.  Rebuild my brokenness.

Restore my strength for service in Your Kingdom.  Touch my soul with Your compassion for others.  Touch my heart with Your courage and infinite love for all.  Touch my mind with Your wisdom, that my mouth may always proclaim Your praise.  Teach me to reach out to You in my need, and help me to lead others to You by my example.  Most loving Heart of Jesus, bring me health in body and spirit that I may serve You with all my strength.  Amen.

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Extending beyond immediate relief from hunger and illness, long term MMPF initiatives aim to provide emancipation from poverty’s stranglehold through:

• housing projects
• additional classrooms
• catechism classes
• scholarship programs for basic, vocational and tertiary education, including religious vocations
• employment

During the oratory’s construction, thousands of job opportunities will be available for skilled and unskilled workers from laborers, artists, architects to engineers and planners.  Hundredss more will be employed to maintain the oratory and welcome its pilgrims and retreatants.

With projections from 1.5 to 3 million pilgrims annually, the economic gains from MonteMaria Oratory will ultimately redound to the rest of the country benefitting its tourism and transportation sectors and jumpstarting job-rich infrastructure projects.

Long term plans also include an on-site public hospital cum medical training center with world-class healthcare facilities serving the country and the region.  To promote holistic well-being and health, the tertiary hospital will employ professional practitioners of both eastern and western medical arts.

Located within Metro-Tagaytay, the country’s second summer capital and a popular ecotourism destination, MonteMaria Oratory takes its responsibility as steward for the environment seriously. Site development is governed by strict international standards of environmental planning and conservation. In turn, sustainable development is supported by reforestation projects and development of organic farms.

Fr. Fernando’s inspiration to build a monument to honor the Blessed Mother started as faint stirrings which in time, grew stronger until he could no longer ignore what his heart clearly sensed was a message from the Lord. He relates, “The Lord told me, this will be a place of Mary. It is My shrine, not yours. Miracles will happen not because of you but because of the Blessed Mother. You are God's instrument. The place of Mary will come into completion because of Me.”

In June 2006, upon learning of plans to build a Marian Shrine in the Philippines, a government official from the southern province of Batangas agreed to donate five hectares atop a windswept promontory in Barangay Pagkilatan with a breathtaking view of the Batangas Bay and neighboring Verde and Mindoro islands.

On January 7, 2007, His Eminence Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales of the Archdiocese of Manila led in the three day ground breaking and consecration rites attended by thousands of pilgrims. The concelebrated Pontifical Mass was held in the Conference Tent Chapel, a high-ceilinged steel structure, open on three sides. It would serve as a temporary venue for worship services while the permanent structures were being constructed.

Despite the distance and limited public transportation to the site, thousands of pilgrims flocked to Pagkilatan for the weekend healing masses. Soon, the Conference Tent Chapel and the limited parking areas could no longer accommodate the overflow crowd of devotees. 

By November 2009, after at least a million pilgrims had visited the site since the 2007 groundbreaking and in anticipation of the throngs of visitors when it opened in five years, the MMPF board decided to buy more land for parking areas from the same donor.

Sadly, on February 2010, after negotiations to acquire more land fell through, Fr. Fernando on behalf of the Foundation announced their painful decision to move out of Pagkilatan, leaving behind the beautiful mountaintop and the surrounding community which they had grown to love.

Fr. Fernando celebrated his last mass in Pagkilatan on February 14, 2010. Before the final blessing, he made two important announcements: Bishop Luis Antonio “Chito” Tagle has welcomed his religious community, the Companions of the Cross, to minister to the Diocese of Imus Cavite and that through the Lord’s providence and impeccable timing, San Miguel Corporation had magnanimously offered to donate not just five but more than a hundred twenty five hectares to relocate MonteMaria in the very same Diocese.

A month later, on March 13, 2010, Fr. Fernando celebrated the first Mass in the cool mountain air of MonteMaria Oratory’s new home in Barangay Amuyong, Alfonso, Metro-Tagaytay, Cavite in the Diocese of Imus. Thousands of pilgrims attended the celebration in the Conference Tent Chapel which was transported from Pagkilatan and enlarged to accommodate up to 5,000 pilgrims.

On January 11, 2011, groundbreaking ceremonies were finally held in MonteMaria, Metro-Tagaytay formalizing the acceptance by MMPF of 33 hectares from San Miguel Properties. Once again, His Eminence, Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, beloved Archbishop of Manila, and known champion of the poor presided in a concelebrated Pontifical Mass to bless the land of the future Oratory of Mama Mary.

On behalf of MMPF, Fr. Fernando thanked all the benefactors most specially, His Excellency, Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle of the Diocese of Imus and San Miguel Corporation’s Chairman Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr. and Vice-Chairman, President and COO Ramon S. Ang for allowing the vision of MonteMaria to live on. Thousands attended the historic event.

Fr. Fernando’s announcements of MMPF’s plans to build the world’s biggest Marian Oratory in the Philippines came with an open invitation to all who wish to be part of this grand endeavor. But more than just an appeal for support, his was a call to prayer, an Alleluia transcending fiberglass, marble and steel, a Credo of shared aspirations and deep affection and a Gloria to the Son honored through His Mother and loved through His poor.

In resounding response, generous donations of financial and spiritual support and professional services offered gratis continue to pour in from all over the world . . .  a truly grand Amen to the magnificent prayer that is MonteMaria.

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