IT may already be 500 years old, but Philippine Catholicism remains alive and kicking, if the recently concluded 2019 Traslación is any proof of it.
Despite the thousands of additional participants joining the Traslación each year, the religious event, Quiapo Church Rector and Parish Priest Msgr. Hernando M. Coronel said, was concluded faster and safer than in previous years.
“Thank God no one died as of 9:45 a.m. [January 10],” Coronel said.
“There were no deaths and fewer injuries. For me, [this Traslación] was held in an orderly, safe and meaningful [manner],” he added.
During the 2019 Traslación on Wednesday, the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) reported it was able to treat 615 injured participants of the event.
Last year, the PRC helped 800 injured devotees. In the same period, the Philippine National Police (PNP) reported a devotee died after suffering from a heart attack.
To note, the PRC’s number of casualties for the Traslación differs from that of the PNP due to their differing methodologies.
As of Wednesday, the PNP registered 477 injuries from the 2019 Traslación.
Living proof
Coronel said another factor that made this year’s Traslación more “meaningful” was the more grassroots-driven media coverage of the event.
Rather than focusing on high-profile participants, he said the media opted to interview “ordinary people” and their relationship with the Black Nazarene.
Senior Police Officer Ramil Carel, 43, is only too aware of these diligent Traslación participants, having been a member of the Hijos del Nazareno for 10 years.
As part of Hijos del Nazareno, he was tasked multiple times in guiding the andas, or carriage carrying the image of the Black Nazarene, from Quirino Grandstand to Quiapo Church.
As a member of the Hijos del Nazareno, he said the challenge is not the crowds in Traslación, but rather how to endure their often fervent behavior.
He pointed out that when it comes to manning the andas, it is not only one’s physical endurance that will be tested, but also one’s faith.
Part of history
Coronel said it is these countless stories, which they plan to serve as their contribution for the forthcoming celebration of the 500th year of the arrival of Christianity in the country in 1521.
“This is part of the history of ordinary Filipinos…. How they turn to the Black Nazarene when they are faced with their problems,” Coronel said.
He said they plan to consolidate the stories of the devotees in a specific theme.
“Our community plans to emphasize how Jesus, the Black Nazarene, has helped the people through the centuries,” Coronel said.
The Black Nazarene of Quiapo Church is one of the oldest images of Jesus Christ in the country after it was brought here from Mexico in 1606.
Once their proposal for the quincentennial celebration of the introduction of Christianity in the country is completed, Quiapo Church parochial vicar Fr. Daniel “Danichi” Hui said they will present it to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) for consideration.
“Since [the Black Nazarene of] Quiapo is part of the Church, we hope it will have role to play [in the celebration],” Hui said.
The CBCP has yet to release a final itinerary for the 2021 celebration.
Better evaluation
Back to the present, Quiapo Church officials pointed out it only took 21 hours for the 2019 Traslación to be completed—one hour earlier compared to that of 2017 and 2018.
Quiapo Church officials attributed this to the reforms they implemented this year, which helped to pacify and disperse fervent devotees to wider area in Manila.
Quiapo Church parochial vicar Fr. Douglas D. Badong said they will be conducting an evaluation of conduct of the 2019 Traslación to determine the areas which they could still improve on.
Aside from coming out with other measures to further fast-track the completion of the Traslación, he said they will also make use of the opportunity to determine the number of devotees who attended this year’s Traslación.
Like the figures for the casualties, there is also some variance in the number of devotees who attended the Traslación.
According to the PNP, 4 million devotees joined the 21-hour Traslación.
“I will verify this in the final report of our command center,” Badong said.
Image credits: AP/Bullit Marquez, Roy Domingo, Nonoy Lacza, AP Photo/Bullit Marquez