QUEEN OF CAVITE
❝Blessed be the heaven and the earth which have for their Queen the admirable child Mary. For she possesses more light and wisdom, strength and power, than all the kings and queens who ever were or ever will be. And this little Mary is a great Princess and a most powerful Queen; Queen of men and Angels, Empress of the universe. She was Princess and Queen from the womb of her mother. Is it not suitable to the glory of the eternal King of Kings, that she who was to be His Mother should bear a royal crown even from her birth?❞
—St. John Eudes
—St. John Eudes
Recent findings may give credence to ca. 1667 as her date of arrival. The lyrics of the hymn "Reina de Cavite" was taken from a poem entitled “Himno a la Virgen de Cavite”. This was written by the Jesuit Fr. Tomas de Andrade, a former rector of the Colegio de Cavite. He was assigned in Cavite between 1669-1689. We may assume that he wrote this poem during his stay in Cavite. There must have been a strong devotion to the Virgen de Cavite so that by his time, poetic lines were written in Her honor.