A clean and not-so-crowded-with-hawkers-and-beggars Plaza Miranda and Quiapo Church, anyone has seen this kind of scene in their living memory?

San Sebastian and the Second Quiapo Church

Quiapo is really busy during January, in the 9th of the month the Nazareno is celebrated. Eleven Days later, the other Church in Quiapo celebrates its feast San Sebastian Church.

San Sebastian was a martyr during the persecution of Diocletian. When the authorities found out that he is a Christian, they had him tied to a tree and shot to death by arrows. He recovered with the help of Saint Irene, he came back to Diocletian and the emperor had him beaten to death. The San Sebastian Church in Quiapo is Established in 1621, making it older than the shrine of the Nazareno in Quiapo. The Shrine of the Black Nazarene, the Church of Saint John the Baptist was originally located in the Bagumbayan until the 1780’s when the town was demolished. The church used to stand in the lot now occupied by the Manila Planetarium.

The San Sebastian is the headquarters of the Recollects when their Intramuros Church was destroyed. The church is also an equal landmark, being the first and only Gothic and All-Steel Church in Asia. Sadly, parts of the church is rusting, owing to the marine environment of Manila and it’s age. The Church is also the National Shrine of Our Lady of Del Carmen.

Photo Source: 1 2

Plaza Miranda

The Plaza is also known as Plaza del Quiapo, but the Plaza Miranda is more popular than the latter. The plaza was named after Jose Sandino de Miranda, a Secretary of the Treasury of the Philippines in 1854.

Can we defend this in Plaza Miranda?

In the Magsaysay times, the Plaza was popular then as the barometer of the public opinion. Government policies must be presented here before going to the plenary.

In 1971, the Liberal Party, holding their Miting de Avance here was blasted by a grenade thrown here. Among the injured is the long time Senator Jovito Salonga and the whole ticket of the Party,

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Translacion

Three days ago, we witnessed another racuous and sometimes fanatical devotion to the well venerated image that is based on this church: the Black Nazarene. Though some devotees know it or not: what they are actually celebrating is the transfer of the image from the first Recollect Church in the present Luneta/Rizal park, to the Recollect Church in Intramuros up to its current location in Quiapo, Manila. It was Manila Archbishop Basilio Sancho de Santas Junta y Rufina who ordered the transfer of the image from Intramuros to Quiapo.

Although before, it the devotion to the image is not as rowdy as it is now. Devotion to the image increased when Pope Innocent X gave the Papal Bull that established the Confradia de Santo Cristo Jesus Nazareno and Pope Pius VII gave plenary indulgence to the participants of the procession.

The image is said to be miraculous, it survived the fires that burned the Quiapo Church in 1791 and 1928. The destructive earthquakes of 1645 and 1863, and lastly, the wanton destruction during the Battle of Manila.

Devotees who prayed to the Nazareno for his intercession claimed that they have been cured and have been given good fortunes by the Nazareno.

Even prominent personalities join the procession. The most prominent of them is former Vice President and TV Newscaster Noli de Castro, who never stopped joining the January procession even if he was the #2 man in the Philippines.

Devotion to the Nazareno, which depicts Christ to his way to the Calvary, is uniquely a Filipino Tradition.

References:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Nazarene

2. http://www.philippinecountry.com/philippine_festivals/black_nazarene.html

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Add or subtract some couple meters from where I stood when I shot this photo. I bet that was the same point where the photographer shot the archival photo. See how much has changed in that street for a century.

Actually, there is another archival photo of the same street featuring Quiapo’s grand Mansions and the same perspective of San Sebastian but security reasons hinder me from doing this. I wish Quiapo is just as safe and nice to photograph like the old photos.

160 years ago today, the first suspension bridge in Southeast Asia was inaugurated. The Puente Colgante linked North and South Manila via Quiapo and Arroceros. It was a private, one lane bridge and a toll was exacted from pedestrians and Calesas. The building and operation of the bridge was handled by the Company of the Ynchausti Family, once one of the wealthiest families of Manila that time. It was demolished in the early 1940s to give way to the Quezon Bridge.

Puente Colgante literally means Suspended Bridge.

Quiapo is a district very much popular on its spirituality and mysticism. It is the melting pot on what was concieved to be very opposite religions: Islam and Catholicism. Our native pagan religion, can be seen through the handiwork of people who sell potions, herbs and plants that are of medicinal value.

There are also fortune tellers, who can predict good fortune for a good price.

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