By Hans Amancio Thousands of devotees from all walks of life endured the intense summer heat as they gathered yesterday for the “Traslacion and Salubong” in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the arrival in the country of the image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.   Catholic devotees accompany the image of the Nuestra Señora del Carmen de San Sebastian (Our Lady of Mount Carmel) during the Traslacion in Manila on Friday, May 4, 2018.
(MANILA BULLETIN) With an enormous crowd of Marian devotees at its tail end, the 400-year-old icon, placed on a carriage (carrosa) adorned with fresh flowers, left the Quirino Grandstand at around 8:25 a.m. today, following a Holy Mass presided by Archbishop Romulo Valles, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines. The followers of the procession--from the elderly, children and disabled--uttered personal prayers as they clutched onto their brown scapulars, which have been recognized as a sign of faith and devotion. Church volunteers and police officers combined security efforts as the crowd grew larger throughout the procession. But amid the jampacked streets, a seemingly untroubled member of the Hijos del Nazareno walked nonchalantly along the crowd. "Actually, ang ine-expect nga namin, mas marami pa dito. Madaling araw pa lang, nakaantabay na kami. Pero pagdating sa Quirino , wala halos tao. Nakatulog pa nga kami eh (Actually we were expecting more attendees. But when we arrived at the Quirino Grandstand, there were only a few people. We even got to sleep)," MJ Del Rosario of the Hijos del Nazareno said. Among the faithful crowd was Beth Casaño, 32, Sta. Cruz, Manila who joined the historic procession in honor of her mother. "Mga devotee talaga kami sa pamilya, lalo na yung nanay ko. Namatay siya last year sa kidney failure pero kung buhay pa siya baka kasama ko siya ngayon (We are devotees in the family especially my mother. She died last year due to kidney failure but if she were alive today, she would probably be by my side now)," Casaño reminisced her mother, who was named after the Blessed Mary. Cheers of "Viva, la birhen" roared in the busy streets of Quaipo as the image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel arrived in front of the Quiapo Church at around 9:50 a.m. The revered image of Mt. Carmel and the Black Nazarene faced each other once again during the "Dungaw," reenactment of the moment the Blessed Mary meets her suffering son Jesus Christ as he was carrying the cross on his way to his crucifixion. This time, however, it was the Black Nazarene that was taken out to meet the image of the Blessed Mother. The image finally arrived at the San Sebastian Basilica at 10:53 a.m. after a nearly three-hour procession. Devotees patiently lined up at the church for the traditional "Pahalik" as they honor the image of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. To ensure peace and order in the route of the procession, around 2,000 policemen were deployed in strategic areas as part of the security measures of the Manila Police District. In a statement, MPD spokesperson Supt. Erwin Margarejo said the crowd during the arrival of the image at the Quirino Grandstand was estimated at 4,000. It reportedly grew to 10,000 as the image reached Quiapo Church. The crowd however decreased as the image arrived at the San Sebastian Basilica, with an estimated crowd of 3,000. He added that the procession, through the collective efforts of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), Joint Task Force-NCR, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), and the Manila city government, went smoothly. "The quadricentennial anniversary celebration of Nuestra Señora del Carmen was generally peaceful," he said. Thousands of devotees from all walks of life endured the intense summer heat as they gathered Friday for the “Salubong and Traslacion” in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the arrival in the country of the image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.