The Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene ( es, Basílica Menor del Nazareno Negro; fil, Basílika Menor ng Itím na Nazareno), known canonically as the Parish of Saint John the Baptist and also known as Quiapo Church ( es, Iglesia Parroquial de Quiapo; fil, Simbahan ng Quiapo), is a prominent
basilica
In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name t ...
in the district of
Quiapo in the city of
Manila,
Philippines. The basilica is famous home for the
Black Nazarene
The Black Nazarene ( es, El Nazareno Negro, Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno; fil, Poóng Itím na Nazareno, Hesus Nazareno) is a life-sized image of a dark-skinned, kneeling Jesus Christ carrying the Cross enshrined in the Minor Basilica of the ...
, a dark statue of
Jesus Christ said to be miraculous. The basilica is under the jurisdiction of the
Archdiocese of Manila
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...
and its current rector is Rev. Fr. Rufino C. Sescon, Jr.
Construction
The earliest church, built by missionaries of the
Order of Friars Minor, was made of bamboo for the frame and
nipa leaves as thatching.
In 1574,
Limahong and his soldiers destroyed and burned the church. Formerly a ''visita'' (
chapel-of-ease
A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently.
Often a chapel of ease is deliberately ...
) of
Santa Ana, the Franciscan friar Antonio de Nombella founded the church in 1588 which was dedicated to Saint
John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ. It burned down in 1603 and the parish was temporarily turned over to the Jesuits until
secular clergy
In Christianity, the term secular clergy refers to deacons and priests who are not monastics or otherwise members of religious life. A secular priest (sometimes known as a diocesan priest) is a priest who commits themselves to a certain geogra ...
objected.
Governor-General Santiago de Vera
Santiago de Vera was a native of Alcalá de Henares, Spain and the sixth Spanish governor of the Philippines, from May 16, 1584, until May 1590.
Governorship
Governor Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peñalosa and Domingo de Salazar, the first bishop of ...
initiated the full construction of the church in 1686.
On April 8, 1639, the administration of the church was returned to the seculars who had always taking care of the church's welfare.
During the
Seven Years' War, the British attempted to destroy the church in 1762 as they
invaded Manila. An earthquake in 1863 destroyed the church and in its place a temporary church was built. Fr. Eusebio de León later reconstructed the ruined church in 1879,
completing the structure in 1889 with the assistance of Rev. Manuel Roxas. Roxas had raised the unprecedented amount of
₱40,000.00 from donations and lay contributions. On October 30, 1928, the church caught fire again, in which the church's wooden ceiling and
sacristy were destroyed.
In 1933, Fr. Magdaleno Castillo began the reconstruction of the church from the plan prepared by
National Artist of the Philippines
The Order of National Artists of the Philippines ( Filipino: ''Orden ng mga Pambansang Alagad ng Sining ng Pilipinas'') is an order bestowed by the Philippines on Filipinos who have made significant contributions to the development of Philipp ...
architect
Juan Nakpil – son of composer
Julio Nakpil
Julio Nakpil y García (22 May 1867 – 2 November 1960) was a Filipino musician, composer and a General during the Philippine Revolution against Spain. He was a member of the Katipunan, a secret society turned revolutionary government which wa ...
. He added the church's dome and a second belfry to balance out the façade. Architect
José María Zaragoza later enlarged the church and changed the design of the lateral walls in 1984, retaining the façade and the dome.
Expansion and Recognition as Minor Basilica
Msgr. José Abriol appointed Zaragoza and engineer Eduardo Santiago to expand the church in 1984, to accommodate more devotees.
Jaime Cardinal Sin
Jaime Lachica Sin ( zh, t=辛海梅, 辛海棉, poj=Sin Hái-mûi, Sin Hái-mî; August 31, 1928 – June 21, 2005), commonly and formally known as Jaime Cardinal Sin, was the 30th Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila and the third cardinal from ...
, then-
Archbishop of Manila
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila ( lat, Archidioecesis Manilensis; fil, Arkidiyosesis ng Maynilà; es, Arquidiócesis de Manila) is the archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in Metro Manila, Philippines, encompassing ...
, reconsecrated the church on September 28, 1987, and the following year the church was declared a Minor Basilica. The church was conferred the title Basilica Minor of the Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno in 1988.
Papal Nuncio to the Philippines, Archbishop
Bruno Torpigliani Bruno Torpigliani (15 April 1915 – 2 May 1995) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See. He was made an archbishop in 1964 and served as Apostolic Nuncio to several countries, including the ...
, blessed the altar of Saint
Lorenzo Ruíz on February 1 of that year.
Architecture
Built in the
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including th ...
style, Quiapo Church's façade is distinctive with twisted columns on both levels. The
Corinthian columns of the second level has a third of its shaft twisted near the base, while the upper portion has a smooth surface. The topmost portion of the four-storey belfries are rimmed with
balustrade
A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its cons ...
s and decorated with huge scrolls. The
tympanum of the
pediment has a pair of chalice-shaped
finials, and towards the end of the raking cornice, urn-like vases mark the end of the pediment. A
quatrefoil window in the centre of the pediment was sealed up in the late 1980s and replaced with a relief of the
crossed keys and tiara of the pope – a symbol of its status as a minor basilica.
With its recent renovation, only the façade, the dome, the transept, and the apse retained the classic design.
Devotion to the Black Nazarene
The masses go to Quiapo Church in downtown Plaza Miranda and drop a visit to the Nuestro Señor Jesús Nazareno (a dark figure of Christ carved by a Mexican artist from black wood) whose image, reputedly miraculous, was brought to the country in a Spanish galleon in the 17th century.
Quiapo Church holds a
novena every Friday, Quiapo Day, in honour of the Black Nazarene, and is attended by thousands of devotees. A note is sounded before the novena begins as the devotees to the Black Nazarene troop in and emit their strings of petitions.
One can encounter the traditional folk Catholicism of Filipinos when they all climb the narrow flight of stairs to kiss the Señor's foot or wipe it with their handkerchiefs they use every time they visit.
The Feast of the Black Nazarene on January 9 celebrates the ''traslación'' (
solemn translation) of the statue to the church from the Church of Saint Nicholas Tolentino. Traffic is re-routed round the devotees who participate in this district's fiesta. There are men who are devoted to carry the Black Nazarene statue around a specific route. They have a ''panata'', a vow to serve the Lord in this sacrifice. These people believed that an afternoon's participation in the procession can repent their sins and shady deals in a year.
Daily hourly Masses (all of which are celebrated in the Tagalog language) are celebrated and devotees come from all walks of life, the noon services are today also broadcast on
TV Maria
TV Maria is a national Catholic television channel broadcasting from Manila, Philippines. Owned by TV Maria Foundation Philippines (a non-profit, non-stock organization under the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines and the Roman Cat ...
,
YouTube and through the church's Facebook fan page via
Facebook Live, which by 2017 has also expanded to include all the weekend and holiday Masses held.
The
Quiapo Parochial School was created in 1951 for the purpose of addressing the scholastic needs of the parish. The school's patron is the Black Nazarene, which is a significant factor to the change of the school name to
Nazarene Catholic School.
Abortifacients sold by private vendors
The vicinity of the church is a popular area for peddlers of unsafe abortifacients, local gastric irritants and untested herbal folk (
potions) remedies.
The merchandise are anonymously sold from stalls surrounding the Basilica and the
Plaza Miranda
Plaza Miranda is a public square bounded by Quezon Boulevard, Hidalgo Street and Evangelista Street in Quiapo, Manila. It is the plaza which fronts the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene (Quiapo Church), one of the main churches of the City o ...
fronting it. Abortion is
illegal in the Philippines, and individuals who cannot afford the surgical procedure resort to these vendors.
The media often covers stories of dead
foetus
A fetus or foetus (; plural fetuses, feti, foetuses, or foeti) is the unborn offspring that develops from an animal embryo. Following embryonic development the fetal stage of development takes place. In human prenatal development, fetal develo ...
es being abandoned outside of the church's
Blessed Sacrament
The Blessed Sacrament, also Most Blessed Sacrament, is a devotional name to refer to the body and blood of Christ in the form of consecrated sacramental bread and wine at a celebration of the Eucharist. The term is used in the Latin Church of th ...
chapel, a practise condemned by the
Archdiocese of Manila
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...
. Cardinal
Gaudencio Rosales has issued several canonical
excommunications for women who perform ''intentional abortion'' in relation to such practices near the shrine, as ruled by the ''
Latae Sententiae'' punishment by the
Roman Catholic Church.
The fetuses covered by the Filipino TV media are often left anonymously wrapped in sack-cloth or plain boxes.
Media
*The church made an appearance in the 2009–2010
ABS-CBN
ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Philippine commercial broadcast network that serves as the flagship property of ABS-CBN Corporation, a company under ...
religious-themed teleseries ''
May Bukas Pa''.
See also
*
Black Nazarene
The Black Nazarene ( es, El Nazareno Negro, Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno; fil, Poóng Itím na Nazareno, Hesus Nazareno) is a life-sized image of a dark-skinned, kneeling Jesus Christ carrying the Cross enshrined in the Minor Basilica of the ...
*
Manila Cathedral
References
External links
*
Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarenemanilacathedral.org Quiapo Surviving 400 Yearsopinion.inquirer.netDevotion to the Black Nazarene: A Pastoral Understanding by Msgr. Jose Clemente F. Ignacio
{{coord, 14.59878, N, 120.98377, E, type:landmark_region:PH, display=title
Roman Catholic churches in Manila
Basilica churches in the Philippines
Buildings and structures in Quiapo, Manila
Cultural Properties of the Philippines in Metro Manila
Baroque church buildings in the Philippines
1586 establishments in the Spanish Empire
Roman Catholic churches completed in 1984
20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the Philippines
Churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila