The legend behind ‘Rosas ng Pateros’

Santa Marta de Pateros is the patron saint of duck-raisers and alfombra/abolorio makers. The shrine is located at the Pateros Church, alternately called San Roque Parish Church, on B. Morcilla Street, built in 1815.

According to folklore, Saint Martha (who tamed Tarasque – a fearsome legendary dragon-like mythological hybrid that inhabited Provence, France – with hymns and prayers) in 1700s was invoked by the people of Pateros to vanquish a giant crocodile that attacked their ducks in the nearby river.