Tales of the Black Nazarene

DEVOTEES put their lives and health at risk by joining the “Traslacion” procession lasting over 20 hours. AFP

Tales abound about the Black Nazarene, the larger-than-life image of a dark-skinned, kneeling Jesus Christ on His way to being crucified. It has been enshrined atop the altar of the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Manila since being donated by the Recoletos in 1787.

Countless miracles had been attributed to the icon, which draws millions of devotees every 9 January during the Traslacion commemorating its “transfer” from the Recoletos’ church inside Intramuros to the Quiapo Church.

Much of the stories dwell on the black color of the image, which had been attributed by Monsignor Sabino A. Vengco Jr. from the dark wood favored by sculptors in the 1600s in Mexico where the image originated.

According to the priest, the image is dark to the core having been carved from mesquite wood, belying claims that the image got its dark color from being burned in a galleon fire during its transit to Manila.

Others had surmised that the dark hue of the image was the effect of being exposed to the flames of votive candles offered by devotees.

The Black Nazarene, or the Itim na Nazareno in the vernacular, was granted recognition by Pope Innocent X in 1650 — 44 years after its arrival in the Philippines — as an icon for the promotion of Jesus.

The original image of the Black Nazarene is said to have been lost and what the Recoletos donated to the Quiapo Church in 1787 was just a copy. The original image was sculpted by an unknown Mexican.

Both the Quiapo Church and the image of the Black Nazarene, which some devotees insisted to be the original image from Mexico, were destroyed in the heavy bombardment by the Americans during the 1945 Liberation of Manila.

Two composite images of the Black Nazarene were henceforth commissioned by the Archdiocese of Manila, which included the head and the surviving body of the original copy.

Noted santero or saint-maker Gener Maglaqui created the replica that incorporated the original copy’s head.

The image is shown in the act of genuflecting while carrying the Cross on the shoulder, symbolizing the weight of the sins of the world, which Christ had to carry to save mankind.