Blessings for the “Our Lady of Knock” Chapel in Gigaquit

Blessings for the “Our Lady of Knock” Chapel in Gigaquit
By Joel and Rosalie Gonzalez

After a long and arduous journey, the Lady of Knock has finally made it to Gigaquit, Surigao del Norte, Philippines.

“Who is that?” you may ask. Well, Our Lady of Knock is the vision of the Virgin Mary that first appeared in Knock, Ireland, over a century ago. A ‘Balikbayan’ Gigaquitnon who grew up in our town, Grace Dinneen Roa Gonzalez, has fulfilled a promise to her mother and to God, to bring Our Lady of Knock to the town and people of Gigaquit.

Grace, daughter of local teacher Nellie Dinneen Roa, grew up in Gigaquit until her teen years. Grace’s grandfather, Charles A. Dinneen, was himself an Irish-American immigrant teacher who was educated at the University of Santa Clara, in Santa Clara, California. Charles came to Gigaquit in 1903 to teach English to the local people. He ended up marrying a local girl, Marina Legaspi, Grandmother of Grace.

Grandfather Charles happily adopted this small town as his own and went on to purchase farmland and a large, prominent home on the corner of Legaspi and Canda streets. The house, originally built in 1895, was well appointed and finished with local and imported materials. It was built in the classic, Spanish-influenced Filipino style. Charles raised his family there. The home was passed to his daughter, Nellie, who in turn raised Grace there until she went to Butuan to finish high school.

Grace continued her college studies in Cebu, where she met her husband, Eduardo “Sonny” Gonzalez. Shortly following the birth of their two children, Joel and Rosalie, the whole family, including Mamma Nellie, briefly relocated to Manila while Sonny completed his Masters in Business Administration at the Asian Institute of Management. The entire family settled in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA in the summer of 1976. Mamma Nellie lived a long and happy life in the desert and passed away on October 8, 1998.

Grace made a solemn promise to Mamma Nellie before her death that she would return to her hometown and rebuild and restore the ancestral home that her Grandfather built. What should have been a year-long project has become a five-years-long labor of love that has not ended yet, and with God’s blessing will stand for hundreds of years.

During one of her many trips to supervise the restoration of the ancestral home, she got into a conversation with a fellow airline passenger who exhorted her to thank God for all her good fortune. After the conversation, Grace was inspired to build a Chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Knock as a ‘Thank You’ to God and to the people of Gigaquit. The Chapel is built on one corner of her family’s compound and is open to the public. All are welcome to come inside, reflect on God’s blessings, and pray to the Virgin Mary. (Additional background and historical information can be found in another Gigaquitonline.com article entitled “Our Lady of Knock - Gigaquit Traces its Roots in Ireland” via this link: http://gigaquitcivicclub.blogspot.jp/2008/04/our-lady-of-knock-gigaquit-tra-ces-its.html )

The building of the Chapel was started in 2006, and was finally dedicated on May 10, 2008. The Blessing of the Chapel was overseen by Father Jun Balbieri, parish priest of St. Augustine Parish Church in Gigaquit, and was attended by Grace, her husband, Sonny and their relatives, the project architect and craftsmen, and many of the townspeople. Following the blessing, Grace and her husband graciously hosted a large feast for all their guests. There was much rejoicing.

The vision of the Virgin Mary in Knock, Ireland was seen on August 21, 1879. Father Jun Balbieri will lead a nine (9) day long novena in honor of Our Lady, to end on August 21, Our Lady’s Feast Day.