By Teodoro Bacani Jr.

One of the most prominent Filipino Catholic popular devotions is the devotion to the Black Nazarene, whose feast is celebrated annually on Jan. 9. Until recently this devotion has been centered in the parish church of St. John the Baptist, Quiapo, Manila. In fact, the parish church has been honored with the designation of Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene, after the ebony colored statue of Jesus of Nazareth carrying the cross. I said “until recently” because this year, a replica of the Black Nazarene is making the rounds of parishes in Mindanao as well.

The devotion usually consists of participating at mass on Friday in Quiapo church, lining up to kiss or touch the statue of the Black Nazarene atop the main altar of the church, and often also, going to confession. Every Friday, in practically all the Eucharistic celebrations in Quiapo, there is an overflow of participating crowds. In fact, the adjacent plaza on the Carriedo side of the church is also usually filled with people devoutly participating at mass with the help of a wide LCD screen. The pious and disciplined comportment of the congregation both inside and outside the church is remarkable. The people who attend really pray. There is no talking whether inside or outside the church, and people participate by their responses, songs and attentive listening and silence during the mass.

All that dramatically changes, though, come the day of the fiesta of Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno. On the day of the feast, the slowest and most crowded procession starts in the morning from the church, winds its way ever so slowly through the narrow streets of the parish, the float carrying the statue pulled with ropes by hundreds of barefoot men who have made the panata (vow) to do the pulling. As the statue of the Black Nazarene moves through the streets, people throw towels or handkerchiefs to be touched to the statue. It is a wonder how they get them back again when the men guarding the statue throw them back to the owners. The statue is once in a while made to stand still before a commercial establishment, and that would be considered a great favor to that establishment. It is already evening when the statue is finally returned to the church.

It is mostly men who join in the procession. It is a very strenuous, bruising and dangerous exercise. It was not unusual for some people to get hurt or even die in the course of the procession. One can lose fingers or even the whole hand if they should be caught by the ropes. And if one has the misfortune of falling down, he could be crushed to death by the crowd. Last year one person was crushed to death when he stepped into a hole and lost his balance. Another died of a heart attack. The frenzy manifested during the procession made it easy to dub as fanatics the men who joined it.

Thank God, much of the danger and frenzy is expected to be eliminated this year. Learning from the experience of two years ago, during the celebration of the fourth centennial of the transfer of the statue to Quiapo church , church authorities decided to hold the vigil at the Luneta Grandstand and to begin the huge procession from there after the 7 a.m. concelebrated mass presided over by His Eminence, Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, archbishop of Manila. This was preceded by a healing mass on Thursday evening, at which I was privileged to preside, and the anointing of the sick, followed by an overnight vigil.

Elaborate measures were taken this year to make the procession orderly and safe, and to prevent the statue from being hijacked. Believe it or not, it is not unknown for the procession to be re-routed by interested and powerful persons. Favored by cool weather, the procession was mobbed by about a million devotees, but so far, as of this writing no casualties have been reported.

The devotion to the Black Nazarene can be a very powerful means to teach the devotees to be self-sacrificing for God and country. However, it needs to be purified of fanatical and superstitious accretions. First of all, the attention of the devotees should be focused on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ who saved us by his passion, death and resurrection, rather than on the statue that represents his person. Second, it should be emphasized that what matters is to touch Jesus by faith, and not to touch his image with our hands. Jesus can bless us when we have faith in him, just as he granted the desire of the centurion in the gospel to have his servant cured, even though Jesus did not enter the house of the centurion. Third, the devotees should be taught that if we truly love Jesus, we will have the greatest care and concern for the safety and welfare of our other brothers and sisters. Instead of reaching out fanatically to the statue, we should reach out in deep concern toward our brothers and sisters in need.

With these safeguards, the devotion to the Black Nazarene will be both pleasing to God and beneficial to our people.