History and devotion of Jesus Nazareno de Quiapo

Numerous Catholic devotees of Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno in front of the National Museum during the Traslacion 2017. (PHOTO: Jubilee Gappi)

The original image of the Jesus Nazareno de Quiapo

MANILA – January 9 is the feast of the miraculous Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno or simply called as the “Black Nazarene” is one of the most celebrated Christological image in the country and popular piety for the Filipino Catholics. The image is enshrined at the Basilica Minore of Jesus Nazareno in Quiapo Church which attracts millions of devotees a year.

The dark-skinned image depicts the suffering Christ on his way to Calvary in a kneeling position, carrying the cross of salvation. The image wears red garment all the time signifying Christ’s bloodshed. It is believed that the image of El Señor was sculpted by an unknown Mexican artisan and arrived in Manila through the galleon trade from Acapulco, Mexico in 1606 by the Augustinian Recollects.

The image was enshrined in a church in Bagumbayan (Luneta), until it was transferred in one of the churches in Intramuros. In the late 1787, Manila Archbishop Basilio Sancho de Santas Justa y Rufina mandated the transfer of the image to the Parish of St. John the Baptist in Quiapo, Manila and became the final resting place of the miraculous image.

The first image of Nazareno de Recoletos

The original Nazareno de Recoletos before the great doors of San Nicolas Church of Intramuros. (PHOTO: Kevino de Guzman)

“…History tells that before the prominence of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, there was an older image of the Señor Nazareno originally enshrined in one of the altars of the church of San Nicolas de Tolentino in Intramuros.

The Nazareno de Recoletos was considered to be the oldest Christological image with a cross in the Philippines and only drew a polite crowd, unlike the Black Nazarene of Quiapo with the rowdier crowd. Unfortunately, the venerable image of Intramuros was destroyed during the liberation of Manila in 1945…” (Excerpt from Kevino de Guzman)

Meanwhile, the Black Nazarene of Quiapo survived the Second World War because the image was kept in the Zaguan of the Nakpil-Bautista Mansion which stands along A. Bautista in Quiapo, Manila.

Biblical passage

Depiction of the Woman with hemorrhage from the gospel of St. Luke 8:43–48. 

The Traslacion procession is a re-enactment of the transfer of the image from Bagumbayan to Quiapo Church. Millions of devotees put their all just to touch the robes or reach the cloth of the Lord. This practice inspire the Gospel story of the woman who was suffering from a hemorrhage.

Christ asked who touched Him, but Peter told him that large crowds were around Him so almost everyone touched Him. But Christ knew that there was this one person who touched Him because as the Gospel said “power came out of Him.”

And when Christ and the woman were able to talk, Christ said: “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” (Luke 8:48)

The devotees of the Black Nazarene is like the suffering woman who was healed just by touching the Lord, bearing her faith and hope. The devotees are not touching just the image made of wood. They are touching Christ Jesus.

Dungaw rite of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

The traditional Dungaw rite is a dramatic and the most solemn scene of the Traslacion that was revived last 2014, after the discovery of an old document attesting that the custom has existed before the early 1900’s.

The traditional Dungaw rites where the Queen of Quiapo; Our Lady of Mt. Carmel meets the King of Quiapo; The Black Nazarene in front of San Sebastian Church. (PHOTO: Jose Martinez)

The original and canonically crowned image of Nuestra Señora del Carmen of San Sebastian Church will brought out in the church facade to look out of the image of the Señor Nazareno. Dungaw rite imitates the Station of the Cross, where Christ meets his mother on his way to Calvary.

The Black Nazarene has been united and embraced by Filipinos across the centuries and is rooted among us. We related so much to the suffering and wounds of Christ as represented by the image of Jesus Nazareno, and see our daily struggle and tribulations in life, hoping that God will grant our petition through the sacrifices and penance.

Viva Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno!