Every year, on Jan. 9, hundreds of thousands of faithful Filipinos crowd the streets from Quirino Grandstand all the way to the Minor Basilica and National Shrine of Jesus Nazareno in Manila, or more commonly known as Quiapo Church. This feast, celebrated in honor of one of the most unique representations of Jesus Christ, has been of utmost importance for many, serving as a reminder of the power of faith and the strong devotion of the ordinary Filipino.
By now, the image of Jesus Nazareno, surrounded by a flock of faithful followers forming a sea of maroon and yellow, has become an iconic scene. But this traveling Señor, as it was called during the Spanish times, is no stranger to voyages.
Arriving in the Philippines via galleon from Acapulco, Mexico in 1606, the now blackened statue was said to have been of a fairer complexion, as it was originally made by an unnamed Mexican sculptor. While crossing the Pacific, the galleon carrying the image reportedly caught fire, and the statue was charred. The statue was entrusted to an unknown Recollect friar.
Other sources have since contested this version of the story. In 2015, Filipino theologian Msgr. Sabino Vengco Jr. said that the wood from which the Nazareno was made had originally been of a darker hue. He said that, based on his research in Mexico, the material from which the Nazareno was sculpted is called mesquite, which was popular among Mexican artisans of the era. It is, in its core, black. This is also why, he argued, that the Virgin of Antipolo (Nuestra Señora de la Paz y Buen Viaje) has a similar complexion, because it was also made from mesquite.
But whatever the reasons for the dark appearance of the statue may be, the Señor Nazareno has been a traveling icon over the past centuries.
Upon its arrival in the Philippines, it was first housed in a church in Bagumbayan. In 1608, it was moved to a bigger church built by the Recollects inside Intramuros, dedicated to St. Nicolas Toledo. It was here, at this Recoletos church inside the Walled City that devotion to the Nazareno grew, blossoming to the creation of the first society or cofradia dedicated to its veneration in 1621. (Fun fact: the site of this now non-existent church is where the building of the Manila Bulletin Publishing Corp. now stands.)
In 1767, the Señor Nazareno was moved to Quiapo Church, where it has remained ever since. (Some historians have set the year of movement as 1787.) It has since survived an earthquake in 1863, a fire in 1791 and another in 1929, which completely burned down the church, and the Second World War (where the Virgin of Antipolo became its “housemate,” as it was hidden in Quiapo Church to keep it safe from the Japanese invaders).
This moving from one church to another—from Bagumbayan to Intramuros, until eventually finding its home at Quiapo Church—is what the yearly Traslacion follows. This quite magnificent and very palpable showcase of faith and devotion, is rooted in history as well as in a tradition of honoring the Señor Nazareno. It was on April 20, 1650 that the image first received recognition from Pope Innocent X, who approved of its veneration as a sacramental.
In 1880, the image was blessed by Pope Pius VII, who granted plenary indulgence to whoever prayed before the Jesus Nazareno. Then, on Dec. 11, 1987, after a petition from Jaime Cardinal Sin, Pope John Paul II raised the status of Quiapo Church into a Minor Basilica via a pontifical decree entitled “Qui loco Petri.”