The Virgin of Peace and Good Voyage as a patron saint has a story rich in legend and tradition.  She has, however, an authentic history as well.

On March 25, 1626, fifty-five years after the found of Manila by Legaspi, a galleon, El Almirante, arrived from a trading ovyage with Acapulco, Mexico.  On board was Don Juan Nino de Tabora, appointed  Governor General of the Philippines, and with him was a statue of the Blessed Virgin, sculptured and Blessed in Mexico.

At that time, the Philippines was trading almost exclusively with Acapulco, Mexico.  Practically, all the religious articles in use here were manufactured in Mexico; Mexican craftsmen were advanced in teh handicraft of religious statuary.  Later these craftsmen came over to the Philippines to teach the art to local carvers.

This blessed Image brought over by Governor Tabora was carved from a dark wook, the Mexican artists seeming to prefer that wood for their work.  (The Black Nazarene of Quiapo is a product of the same time and place.)   It was not yet called the Virgin of Peace and Good Voyage, for it was much later the She proved heHerself the patron saint of the voyagers.

The arrival of the Virgin at Manila was celebrated by the ringing of bells and the firing of cannons.  A religious procession attended Her transfer from the galleon to the church of San Ignacio, the Jesuit church in Intramuros where a solemn mass was sung in Her honor.