It is worth noting that the devotion to the Inang Santisima was introduced in Cainta in 1727, five years after the apparition of the Madre Santissima del Lume in Palermo, Sicily in 1722.  In this regard, we could say that this town and parish became the cradle of this new Marian devotion promoted by the Jesuits, and from there, may have spread to other parts of the country.  This devotion has acquired a Filipino feature when the parish commissioned Maestro Fernando C. Amorsolo to make a new painting of the Inang Santisima for the church of Cainta in 1950, to replace the painting brought by the Jesuits that was destroyed in 1899.

Most Rev. Ruperto C. Santos, D.D.
Bishop of Antipolo

As the devotion spread beyond Palermo, it reached the Philippines and was introduced by Jesuit missionaries to the faithful in Cainta in Rizal, San Miguel in Manila, and Loon in Bohol, among other places. Despite the vicissitudes of history and some confusion over the interpretation of its iconography that made it controversial, the devotion has endured to this day and serves in leading the faithful to Jesus, the "Eternal Light."

Rev. Fr. Xavier L. Olin, S.J.
Provincial, Jesuits in the Phils.