Presuming that these practices did not fit the theological framework of our prayers and liturgies, I found myself becoming cautious about them, since some were judged to be superstitious and even fanatical. I thought the better way of expressing one’s piety was through retreats and recollections, Folk Religiosity being of a lower level of “faith expression.”

 

But there were some professors who encouraged us to open the doors to popular religiosity.  They said it was a great potential for evangelization and the task ahead was to understand and embrace them once more and bring these practices back into the approved cultic life of the  Church.

  

As a student of theology I became interested and wrote a paper  about the Antipolo Pilgrimage Experience.  My research helped me to understand what many Catholic Filipinos undergo during processions, religious festivals and Holy Week.  Two socio-anthropologists, Turner and Turner, helped me later on to understand processions, the El Shaddai, and even the Edsa Revolution.  It gave me a framework of understanding our people’s way of expressing their faith. 

 

Fr. Benny de Guzman, S.J., a Jesuit Scholastic at that time who understood what popular piety was all about became my best resource person. Himself a “devotee of sorts”, he would walk from Quiapo Church to Antipolo barefoot.  He told me stories of miracles he had experienced with the statues he encountered.  He collected prayer books, novenas, and cloths that touched sacred objects or places and he even had precious relics of the saints. 

 

Sometimes I would borrow these relics from him and put one in my pocket, asking for the intercession of the saint. I was never turned down in my request. Fr. Benny has been a successful pastor of souls to many simple people.  He continues to be a prayerful person in a very Filipino way.  I would sometimes visit his house in Marikina which has become a pilgrimage site for many.  He has been helping us a lot in Quiapo and has been repeatedly requested by the parishioners and devotees for talks and recollections.

 

Quiapo Church has been a witness to several practices of Popular Piety, which have become part of the Devotion to the Black Nazarene.  Among them are the Pahalik  (kissing of the statues),  Pasindi (lighting of multi-coloured candles outside of the church), Padasal  (from the Mandarasals or the Priests), Pabihis (the changing of the garments of the Black Nazarene), Pabendision (sprinkling of  holy water after Masses or the kissing of  the hands of  the priests), Pahawak (touching of the garments of the Black Nazarene), Pamisa (Mass Offerings), Pagnonobena (Novena prayers or Masses), Pagpasan (Carrying of the wood of the carroza or the rope attached to it),   Pagyayapak (walking barefoot during processions), Paglalakad ng Paluhod  (processing to the altar on bended knees).  

 

Other practices I discovered were requesting  priests to bless oils or bottled water to bring home to the sick;  asking for dried sampaguitas offered in the church again to bring home;  cutting up the vestments of the Black Nazarene, as well as the rope used during the procession, and veneratig them  as  relics;  wiping sacred images with towels; selling of crucifixes and handkerchiefs with the face of the Black Nazarene; and bringing the Hands of the Black Nazarene to the sick.  Are these practices good or bad? Should they be allowed to continue?  Some say: this is already  bordering on fanaticism  and the people should simply stick to the approved liturgies. They are remnants of the animistic faith of the past which the Church has not yet totally “Christianized.”

 

The priests of Quiapo discuss these matters often. The media echo what some people say: the practices are superstitious, fanatical and even idolatrous. The pastors of  Quiapo Church,  after being submerged in the life of the ordinary devotees, feel that the more they get to understand and see the faith of the simple people, the more they have been humbled in their priesthood. From where ordinary parishioners stand, one can feel the intensity and sincerity of their devotion. One of the priests said, “Maybe, the theological community has not yet fully understood the soul and spirituality of Filipinos. Maybe, our theological paradigms are too western we easily misjudge the piety of our devotees.”

  

As one of  the pastors of  Quiapo Church, I have always faced issues that have to do with the devotion to the Black Nazarene. Should I tolerate the  ‘Mandarasals’ (persons sought out for prayers) at the back of the Church or not?  This practice of praying for others, institutionalized in the Church of Quiapo, has been passed on from generation to generation. Very serious in their praying, the Mandarasals devote hours praying in front of  their altars in their homes or capilletas  for the intentions of their clients.  I saw that behind their ornamental displays at the rear of the Church, is a witnessing to an age-old teaching of the Church regarding intercessory praying.  I could not go against the good I saw when I interviewed them. Later on, I started to invite them to attend formation seminars and bible studies. I also instructed our formation ministry to help them acquire basic counselling skills since people who go to them and ask for prayers are people with problems.  I also saw that we priests in the confessional are not answering some “counselling” needs of the many people coming to  Church, needs  which the Mandarasals are somehow fulfilling.

 

People believe that the Shrine is a holy place and that objects there they touch, bring the presence of the divine into their homes. If poor people cannot have access to those rare relics of the Church, can’t our poor people also create relics from those that they experienced as holy and bring these home with them to fulfill their spiritual needs? 

 

Why do we allow people to touch the statue? Isn’t it bordering on idolatry?  We do it because we, Filipinos, are people of “concrete”. As Asians we are expressive, like Christ was when he touched the sick, children and sinners and allowed others to touch Him.   Remember the woman, sick with a hemorrhage who touched him?

 

Being Filipino, we want to wipe, touch, kiss, or embrace sacred objects, believing somehow the presence of the Divine in them. The people want to be connected to the Divine, be it through the lining up for the Pahalik;  the holding on to the vestments of the Nazareno after the Pabihis;  or to be able to touch the rope and put it on their shoulders - a way of expressing one’s faith.  We all know Filipinos don’t worship statues.  We worship God and if these statues would bridge us to God, we want to connect with God, using these statues.

   

Our task is not to destroy popular practices, but to understand them and re-focus them so that a more sound faith may develop. We think of ways people could get in touch with the Divine without causing them harm or weakening their faith. We have now begun regular Holy Hours and Benedictions; we have increased our pilgrimages to parishes and dioceses all over the Philippines; we have begun a liturgy for the changing of the garments of the Black Nazarene, which culminates with the touching of the garments after the rite; we have started healing services every Thursday before First Fridays when priests are invited to lay their hands on the devotee.  

 

In Quiapo,  we do not destroy what the people have already been practicing but we try to improve and nurture their faith.  There are “many levels in the faith” of our devotees.  Some are young, some  more mature. What is needed is for the devotees to understand their faith a little bit more, and put things in their right perspective.  With proper formation, we hope the devotees could experience more the love of God in their lives and realize their faith in Jesus. 

 

When Fr. Venus and I came to Quiapo, we saw that through the decades the memberships in the  organizations, as well as devotees coming to the Church, have grown faster than we could cope with.  And so, we have taken  steps, reorganizing the parish and its ministries, doubling the personnel and prioritizing formation, liturgy and devotions, in order to bring about a better and more mature corps of servant-volunteers to organize the people who come to Quiapo to join the processions. We are also experimenting on ways to bring people closer to God. 

 

Abuses, superstition or occultism in the devotion? Surely, some of the expressions used in the devotion need to be modified. Whether the expressions are delusional or devotional, however, it is the heart, the interior of the person, that will often decide if an expression is right or wrong.  It is only God who could see through the hearts of peoples. I hope, before we make easy judgements about devotions, we must first understand why people express their faith the way they do.  Those who could judge better about these acts of religiosity are those who understand fully the heart of the devotee.  

 

Regarding abuses, the ones I was able to identify come, not from the expression of the people’s faith or devotion, but from those who manipulate the devotion and use it for their own ends, and which we priests in Quiapo are now fighting against.  The people are not at fault for this.  The fault lies in their lack of opportunities for formation,  their lack of “shepherding’.  They need someone to guide them so that they could understand more what they are doing.  These people go on regular retreats up in the mountains, and their spirituality is characterized by openness and the readiness to listen. They are often misjudged as spiritistas  practicing the occult. I believe, with proper formation, their ministry and symbols could be a great contribution to the Church.  

 

Many devotees in Quiapo and those who appear once a year during the processions are in the same state – that is, they need to be given opportunities to be formed in the faith. Our overnight vigils are an attempt to reach out to more devotees, hoping to bring the good news and share the teachings of the Church with them.  We don’t even know if these catechisms speak to their practices of piety during those ‘cathartic moments’ of the procession.  How to put reason in their faith, and do it in such a way that we do not destroy the spontaneity of their faith-expressions, much less, Westernize them with a theology that is alien to their Filipino spirit – I don’t know.  Yes, Faith and Reason must go together, but what if our frameworks are not  Filipino Friendly? Popular Piety involves the whole person, not just the mind. It is not a head thing.  It might be a mystical experience which even we do not understand. We only need to respect them.  I really don’t know if we could combine reason in pious practices. 

 

Interestingly, the Protestants have begun analysing the devotion to the Black Nazarene.  They identified three reasons why Catholic devotion to the Black Nazarene is growing:  1) Miracles and Healing 2) Filipinos’ identification with the Sufferings of Jesus Christ and 3) The  Panata / Commitment.  Having myself witnessed numerous miracles which Our Lord of the Black Nazarene has done to people,  I fully agree with them. 

 

So, why are devotees increasing? Fr. Tony de Castro, SJ was right when he said, it is the Black Nazarene!  It is the Lord who is alive and present in the Shrine at Quiapo!  It is the Lord who does all these miracles and answers the prayers of those who come to Him!  It is the Lord who has that special affection for the poor and the weak who come to Him in Quiapo! 

 

People say, the devotion to the Black Nazarene is a wrong devotion because it promotes the sufferings of Christ and not hope.  On the contrary, if we look at the image more carefully, we actually see Christ standing up after the fall.  When I had a replica of the  Black Nazarene done by a sculptor, he portrayed a Christ who was so overburdened with the cross, he was gasping and had his shoulders down.  The people reacted.  They said, “Hindi diretso ang balikat ni Hesus!  Hindi nagpapadaig si Hesus sa bigat ng Krus!  Dapat, tumatayo si Kristo! (The shoulders aren’t straight!  Christ does not give up in carrying His cross!  He stood up after each fall!)”  

 

Let me end with a quote from Pope Benedict XVI’s letter to the seminarians, encouraging them to consider Popular Piety:   

 

I urge you to retain an appreciation for popular piety, which is different in every culture yet always remains very similar, for the human heart is ultimately one and the same.  Certainly, popular piety tends towards the irrational, and can at times be somewhat superficial.  Yet it would be quite wrong to dismiss it. Through that piety, the faith has entered human hearts and become part of the common patrimony of  sentiments and customs, shaping the life and emotions of the community.  Popular piety is thus one of the Church’s great treasures.  The faith that has taken flesh and blood.  Certain popular piety always needs to be purified and refocused yet it is worthy of our love and it truly makes us into the ‘People of  God.  (From the Vatican, 18 October 2010, Feast of  St. Luke the Evangelist)

 

 

- Msgr. Jose Clemente F. Ignacio

(from a talk given during a symposium organized by the faculty and students of the Loyola School of  Theology, Cardinal Sin Building, January 19, 2011)