Our Lady of the Rosary La Naval in the Making of the Spanish Pacific

This chapter studies the history of Our Lady of the Rosary La Naval from her foundational miracles in Japan, Ternate, and Mindoro to her divine intervention in the Dutch war of 1646, the event that gave her the name of “La Naval.” It shows that Manila was “the gate” through which one entered the other provinces and kingdoms of Asia, and Our Lady of the Rosary became the saint who stood loyally by her Spanish soldiers, regardless of their ranks or criminal histories. More specifically, it reveals that Spanish devotees embraced her cult because her miracles reinforced what they believed to be Spain’s predestined role in the Pacific as the cross-bearer against all heathens and heretics.