In 1730, Captain José Ramos, a Spanish officer assigned in Lallo, fell seriously ill. All efforts by his physicians failed, so he went on a pilgrimage to Piat to seek Our Lady's help. He made the trip with great difficulty but, upon arriving in Piat, his illness worsened and the parish priest gave him the
Last Rites. However, he did not lose hope and continued to pray to Our Lady of Piat; after a few days he slowly recovered; within a week he got well enough and went to Lallo to resume his duties. Also attributed to the intercession of Our Lady of Piat is the miraculous recovery from serious illness of Doña Ines Maquilabbun, the icon's first appointed
camarera or caretaker.
The ship On June 2, 1738, a boat with passengers was on its way from
Pamplona to
Aparri. As the ship neared port, a sudden gale swept it further out to sea. With the strong winds, heavy rains and big waves, rescue seemed impossible. A passenger on a pilgrimage to Piat began to recite the rosary and exhorted his fellow passengers to join in. They all did so, and soon afterward the rain stopped, the winds died down, and the boat safely moored at Aparri.
The 1624 drought The second miracle narrated by Father
Diego Aduarte had a greater resonance. The Itawes region, an agricultural area, often experienced severe droughts. But the one of 1624 was much worse than others they had suffered as it occurred over several months. Local farmers had planted their seed several times in vain, and no crop was forthcoming. Juan de Santa Ana and Andrés de Haro, the vicars of Piat and Tuao, respectively, were thinking of organizing some processions and
rogations to implore heaven for the much-needed rain. Despite their fears that the newly-converts natives might lose their faith if the desired result were not achieved, they proceeded with the liturgies. The vicars preached fervent sermons to the people, insisting on the need to "repent from their sins and receive the
Sacrament of Reconciliation," so that their prayers for rain would be heard. The people followed the priests' exhortations with great devotion, spending the whole day in the
Ermita to confess their sins and sing hymns to the Virgin. The people themselves proposed a procession to the
Ermita from their respective towns the following day, but even before the procession began, it began to rain profusely over Piat, and then over Tuao and their
sementeras, so that "it seemed that the cataracts of heaven have been broken." The procession was held in thanksgiving to Our Lady of Piat for the rain which continued uninterrupted for three days, resulting in an abundant crop.
Healing of the Lunatic In one of the miracles narrated by Fr. Benito Gómez, in
Abulug lived a boy called Benito who fell from the roof of the parish house. The resulting damage to his brain rendered him insane. When his mother, Doña Paula, heard about this, she brought him to the shrine at Piat. There she offered some candles and alms for a Mass to be said for the boy, whereupon he became healthy and cured of his madness.
The Crocodile A special miracle is recounted by Fr. Romano to Fr. Diego de la Torre, who added that there were many witnesses to this prodigy. During
Holy Week of 1739, a native from Piat was crossing the river beside the
Ermita when he was caught by a crocodile. Placed in this situation, he invoked Our Lady of Piat, and was immediately free of the animal's jaws. The poor man, shaking violently, went to the
Ermita to thank Our Lady.
The Flood This time it was a problem of too much water. The Chico river overflowed to the point that the water reached the cliff where the
Ermita was built and the surrounding area, flooding the area and reaching several feet in height. Surprisingly, not a single drop of water entered the church, as if there was an invisible, mysterious wall preventing the water from going in. When, eventually, the river went back to its normal course, the
Ermita was so dried, clean and tidy that no one could say any rain had fallen or flooding had occurred in the vicinity. All this happened to the great surprise of the caretaker or
"ermitaño" who, afraid for his life, had climbed to the altar of Our Lady and, on his knees, prayed for his safety. He propagated the extraordinary event, and many people went to see for themselves what the
"ermitaño" was telling. They could verify that it was true when they could see the marks of the height reached by the water on the walls outside but could not detect a single spot or a sign of water inside the church.
The Child Leper The last miracle in Fr. Romano's account involves the young son of
Alferez Don Pedro León y Labuag, a resident of Lallo, who was covered with a very repulsive
leprosy so that he was not allowed to touch anybody for fear of contamination. The help of Our Lady of Piat was sought and, following the customary invocations and prayers, the boy was completely cured.
The Legasto Case Arieta Legasto, a 77-year-old woman from New Manila in
Quezon City, reported her healing from
pleurisy through Our Lady of Piat's intercession. In 1993 she fell ill with
pneumonia, developing
pleurisy afterward. Her attending doctors drained some 500 centimeters of fluid from her lungs; a biopsy of lung tissue taken from her proved positive for cancer. At this time, her friend,
Carmeling Crisólogo – a devotee of Our Lady of Piat – visited her and gave her a copy of the image's novena rite and a vial of blessed oil. Crisólogo and Legasto began the novena and on the third and fourth day Legasto reported that she experienced a very strange feeling. This sensation, she said, was as though something heavy was moving from the top of her head down through her body before leaving her. Her health then gradually improved to the point that she travelled to the United States for further treatment. Before she left, she had a checkup; no pleurisy was found but the doctors found a benign tumor. She reported that she still felt some pain; despite the discomfort, she considers the pains she suffers as a blessing, an offering to our Lord in atonement for her sins. ==Shrine==