Filomena Almarines is a Filipina woman from
Biñan, Laguna venerated as a
folk saint
Folk saints are dead people or other spiritually powerful entities (such as indigenous spirits) venerated as saints, but not officially canonization, canonized. Since they are saints of the "folk", or the ''populus'', they are also called popular s ...
due to the discovery of her supposed
incorrupt body in 1947.
Life
Filomena Almarines also known as ''Mena'' was born on July 6, 1913, in Brgy. San Antonio,
Biñan, Laguna to Faustina Almalel and Faustino Almarines.
She was baptized in the
Aglipay Church
The Philippine Independent Church (; ), officially referred to by its Philippine Spanish name (IFI) and colloquially called the Aglipayan Church, is an independent catholic Christian denomination, in the form of a nationalist church, in the ...
and was reported to have attended Biñan elementary school till the 4th grade, however not continuing further with her studies due to poverty and being orphaned by her mother.
She earned her fare as a roadside vendor-selling fruits, eggs and other wares to passing truck drivers and the like. She reportedly had two "romances".
On August 13, 1938, she died at age 25 of an unconfirmed disease.
and was buried in Biñan Municipal Cemetery. According to her physician, she was embalmed and put in lime before internment.
Veneration
In 1947, Faustino Almarines died and it was agreed that he was to be buried with Filomena on the same plot. To the astonishment of the witnesses, Filomena's body was found to have been intact after 9 years of being buried. They placed her body inside a glass coffin to be venerated and a concrete chapel was constructed which people flocked in hopes of healing and miracles. People drew parallels to her namesake
Philomena
Philomena ( ), also known as Saint Philomena (; ) or Philomena of Rome ( 10 January 291 10 August 304) was a virgin (title)#Virgin martyrs, virgin martyr whose remains were discovered on May 24–25, 1802, in the Catacomb of Priscilla. Three ti ...
, Greek virgin and martyr. Stores selling her effigy,
estampitas and bottles of miraculous water supposedly from a spring popped up around the chapel.
Both the local Catholic church and Aglipayan church refused to recognize her.
After some time, she was reinterred in the same chapel constructed for her in Biñan municipal cemetery, now also known as Sta. Filomena Public Cemetery.
Popular culture
*In 1947, biographical pamphlet was written by Pedro V. Garcia detailing her romances.
*In 2016, St. Vincent School of Theology uploaded a documentary entitled
The Curious Case of Sta. Filomena of Biñan, Laguna''
See also
*
Our Lady of Cabra Island
*
Luisa Abano
*
:Folk saints
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Almarines, Filomena
1913 births
1938 deaths
People from Biñan
Folk saints
Folk Catholicism
Folk Catholicism in the Philippines