Filomena Almarinez
Filomena Almarinez (July 6, 1913 – August 13, 1938) was a Filipino woman who gained her fame as a folk saint after her body was discovered in a state of Incorruptibility when her grave was exhumed for her father's body.
Filomena Almarinez | |
|---|---|
| The Incorruptible of Biñan Santa Filomena Saint Filomena | |
| Born | July 6,1913 Biñan, Laguna, Philippine Islands |
| Died | August 13, 1938 (age 25) Biñan, Laguna, Philippine Commonwealth |
| Venerated in | Folk Catholicism |
| Major shrine | Biñan, Laguna, Philippines |
| Patronage | Biñan, Laguna |
Almarinez was born on July 6, 1913, to a poor farming family. According to locals, she was a prayerful woman and was prone to introspection. She allegedly died on August 13, 1938 due to emotional stress, because her parents were against her lover.
When her father died in 1947, her body was exhumed, and workers found her body well preserved, immediately, the locals proclaimed her a saint and a number of miracles were attributed to her (e.g. Candles melted on her tomb to form the face of Jesus). The cult of "Santa Filomena" persisted until the early 1950s. Her body still rests in the Santa Filomena Cemetery in Biñan, Laguna. There is a chapel dedicated to her in Biñan, but the chapel is in a state of disrepair.