'Dungaw' - Mary looks at the Nazarene from the San Sebastian balcony

The Nuestra Senora del Carmen in her niche at the altar (left), before she was brought up to the balcony (top right),
and as she looked out to see the Nazareno, the 'dungaw' (below right).

In a story I wrote for the weekly FilAm Star of San Francisco, CA on 21 January 2014, I mentioned that the 'dungaw' tradition of the Recollects revived during the 'traslacion' of the Itim na Nazareno that year.

For the first time, the Basilica opened its doors this year to the public to view the 'dungaw' from the bell towers and balconies. It used to be exclusive for the media.

My Dungaw pass to the balcony of the Basilica.

In a way, the 'dungaw' was invitational. We failed to register online for slots in the viewing areas but we hoped for a chance when we went to the office of the San Sebastian Basilica Conservation and Development Foundation on 'traslacion' day. Thanks to the graciousness of the the project officers, we were able to join the 'exclusive' viewing group.

The Nazarene procession from the Quirino grandstand to Quiapo church took 22 hours this year with thousands of barefoot devotees, male and female, jostling their way to hold on to the rope for pulling the carroza of the venerated image, or to clamber onto the andas to touch the image or the cross.

Taken from the balcony as the 'traslacion' passes by on its way to Quiapo church.

The frenzy of the devotees was tempered briefly when the Nazareno, coming from Hidalgo St., paused at the Plaza del Carmen. The image of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (Nuestra Senora del Carmen) came out to the balcony of the San Sebastian Basilica to 'look' at her son. Prayers were said, and the anthems to the Lady and the Nazareno were sang, the devotees singing along and waving their white towelettes.

This is the 'dungaw' (Filipino for looking out), a representative image of Mary's encounter with her son Jesus on his way to Calvary, one of the stations of the cross of the Roman Catholics.

Both images are around 400 years old, both of Mexican origin, that the Recoletos brought to the Philippines. The firs mission of the order comprising 14 religious arrived in Manila in 1606. It is said that the Nazareno came also that year,

The Catalogo de los Religiosos Agustinos Recoletos (Sadaba, 1906) tells us that the image of the Nuestra Senora del Carmen arrived with Mission III comprising five Recoleto fathers in 1618. Fray Rodrigo de San Miguel brought it from Mexico.

Fray San Miguel was with the first mission. He exercised his sacred ministry in Bataan and Zambales, which established missions in Mariveles, Subic and Masinloc.

He went back to Spain in July 1614 and sailed back in July 1617 as Commissar and President of the third mission, arriving in Manila in 1618. He held the post of Vicar Provincial of the order until 1622.

In 1621, he founded the convent of San Sebastian outside Manila where the image of the Nuestra Senora del Carmen that he brought from Mexico was enshrined for veneration. Fray Rodrigo also founded the ministries of Cebu and of Caraga in Mindanao.

The Recoletos are celebrating the 400th Anniversary of the arrival of the Nuestra Senora del Carmen this year. Events are expected to be announced soon.


Reference:

• Available from Google Books: Francisco Sadaba del Carmen. 1906. Catalogo del los Religiosos Agustinos Recoletos de la Provincia de San Nicolas de Tolentino de Filipinas. Madtid: Imprenta del Asilo de Huerfanos del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus.

After 35 years, the Sto. Niño El Capitan General of the Recoletos has come back ..

The image of Sto. Niño El Capitan General of the Augustinian Recoletos emerged from 35 years of hibernation to join the procession during the feast day of San Sebastian around the basilica on 20 January, 2013.

There were two coincidental religious observances yesterday, 20th January:  the moveable feast day of Sto. Niño, which is on the third Sunday of the month, and that of San Sebastian, which is fixed on this date.  

San Sebastian is the patron saint of our hometown San Narciso in Zambales; likewise, the cities of Lipa and Bacolod, and Pinagbuhatan of Pasig.  Religious tradition has the Roman Catholic and Aglipayan parishes in our town, and perhaps Lipa, Bacolod and other places in the country, honoring the martyr saint with an early evening procession.  Reports say that in Pinagbuhatan, the procession is a day activity, and there's a dousing with water, which has replaced the fluvial procession of olden days, among the celebrators just like during the June feast day of San Juan, .

For reasons of history, we went to the Basilica of San Sebastian, the iconic steel church, on R. Hidalgo in Quiapo yesterday afternoon.  The Augustinian Recoletos served in our church from 1849 until 1898, and they were the ones who designated our parish the parroquia de San Sebastian.  We were right on time for the mass, which we found has Bishop Teodoro Bacani concelebrating it with the Recollects.    Bishop Bacani was our assistant parish priest during the martial law years.  

We haven't heard "Fr Ted" (that's what we called the bishop then) deliver a sermon for years.  He's one priest that gets one's focus because of his style in delivering a message, which he injects with a dash of humor or an interesting anecdote.

We thought he floored the Recoletos when he surmised that the Sto. Niño is not part of the parish celebration of their patron saint's day unlike other places in the country.  Earlier in the day, we already saw pictures of preparations in our hometown that the boy Jesus will be in the martyr Sebastian's procession.  

The parish priest carries El Capitan General to the carroza for the procession.

 
At the end of the mass, after a profusion of thanks to benefactors, sponsors, guests, parishioners, etc, the parish priest looked at the bishop and joyfully announced that he has a surprise -- the Recoletos are bringing back their Sto. Niño back into the limelight after 35 years of hibernation, and the El Capitan General will be in procession too. 

That explained why there were military men who attended the mass, the El Capitan General is the patron saint of soldiers.

The military title reminds that the governor general of the Philippines during the Spanish times was also the capitan general of the army.

The din of the Sinulog festival has drowned out a relatively unknown 'military' tradition that underlies the procession of the Sto. Niño in Cebu City.

The resident Sto. Niño at the basilica is also called El Capitan General.  Before the image goes out in procession, there's another image that moves in -- the Sto. Niño from the San Nicolas Parish, which carries the title El Teniente de la Guardia.

In a recent story in the Philippine Star, Bronce (2013) wrote that this take-over reflects the military practice of having a second-in-command replace the general whenever he leaves camp. 

Reference:   

Bronce, Quennie S. (2013 Jan 17).  Sto. Niño de Cebu: El Capitan General.  The Philippine Star Online.  Retrieved from

http://www.philstar.com/cebu-news/2013/01/17/897988/sto.-nino-de-cebu-el-capitan-general

Visita Iglesia in May: San Sebastian Church

 

For the first time ever, we had reason to make a long-time wish come true: a close-up view of San Sebastian Church, which we saw from Legarda and Mendiola as a towering landmark during the protest rallies to Malacanang prior to Proclamation 1081 in September 1972.  Today, it looms as our beacon for disembarking at the Legarda station each time we take the MRT-3 for a faster trip to UST.

In May this year, the eldest son of a very good friend and his sweetheart chose to get married there. Camera bug that we are, we took just a few shots of the wedding ceremony while we focused on details of this architectural marvel, and its awesome interior with its antique yet beautiful altar, pulpit, rose windows and other artistic decorations. 

We would like to say that the Recoletos tie us up with this church historically because our hometown's Roman Catholic parish is called San Sebastian, who is himself our patron saint although our town fiesta has nothing to do at all with him.  When San Narciso, Zambales became full-fledged town in 1849, the new iglesia was Recollect and the first parish priest was Friar Alberto Serrano de Santa Ana, religioso de la orden de Agustinos Recoletos.  The SVD's would take over the parish in the early part of the 20th century and later the Columban order.

Our tertiary education was public in the Diliman Republic, but a very good townmate friend, now a senior Canadian citizen went to school at the San Sebastian College-Recoletos, which is adjunct to the church.  We had another friend who brought us around to sing-along joints for the beer and the karaoke, and in one of those sorties, we got to meet another Baste (yes, that's what they ID themselves), years before he joined showbiz and rose to become the wowowee tycoon Willie Revillame, who was a drummer of a boy band then.  A nephew graduated as a Baste when his uncle on his mother's side was rector of discipline there in the 1980s.

Thus, from our first brief visita of San Sebastian Church--almost two hours covering the wedding rites and the ritual photo sessions after--we brought home a camera-ful of beautiful memories, the collage of pictures above being just part of the trove.  Given these, we needed to look back to see how it was back then when it was built and new.

There is more to the capsule history in the landmark, which was attached there in 1934. In his work about the Recollects in the Philippines, Manuel del Val (1929) wrote: 

"Besides their convent and church in Intramuros, the Recollects also built the San Sebastian church, a large, all-steel church, and one of the most remarkable edifices in the world. As early as 1621, a modest convent and church were erected on this site, the district then being but poorly populated, but they placed there a venerable image, brought from Mexico, the "Madre del Carmelo", the fame of which soon spread over all Manila due to the miraculous cure of the Dean of the Cathedral, Juan Velez, later Bishop of Cebu, who had been given up by all the doctors. Earthquakes destroyed this building, and a later one stood until 1859. The third church erected on this site, opened in 1868 with elaborate ceremonies, and in which, thereafter, services were held with unusual magnificence, was completely destroyed in the memorable earthquake of July, 1880. The Recollect fathers did not lose courage under these repeated calamities, but determined to build, even at the greatest sacrifice, the temple which today proudly dominates the city. They thought to build this church of iron, and recommended the matter to Senor Don Genaro Palacios for study. He presented a plan which greatly pleased them, and the execution of the work was turned over to the Societe Anonigme d' Entreprises de Travaux Publiques, of Brussels, Belgium. Sections of the church in the form of hundreds of thousands of tons of steel were shipped to Manila, and the company sent Messrs. Pedro Brokel and Desiderio Carpentier to assemble them. These men deserve the greatest praise for their labors, but the people of Manila could also see the Recollect Brother Remigio, on Plaza del Carmen wearing a big straw hat in sunshine and in rain, aiding in the direction of the work. He had given proof of great architectural skill in former works, and should be given credit as well as the two other directors of the construction. The pulpit and the confessionals were designed by the artist Don Lorenzo Guerrero, and their construction and also that of the images was the work of Don Eulogio Garcia. The painting of the temple was done by the distinguished Professor Lorenzo Rocha, assisted by his pupils. This is the wonderful church of San Sebastian, dedicated to Nuestra Senora del Carmen. Its very high towers can be seen from a long distance, and serve navigators as a landmark."

 

The contract for painting of the new church was "let out to natives by the day. They erected some 25 feet of bamboo scaffolding and painted to the top of it, then erected 25 feet more scaffolding and painted to the top of that, and so on until the church was completed. ...Painters receive from 60 cents to $1.25 Mexican (Atkinson, 1902)."

 

"[I]t is probably the most impressive religious edifice in the city, with its tall spires and long vertical lines," wrote Norbert Lyons (1924).  "Twelve stained glass windows manufactured in Europe illumine the interior and there are also four beautiful rose windows. The stained windows illustrate the life of Christ and are well worth examining. A fine cupola rises in the center. It is decorated with frescoes of Carmelite saints. The interior is very impressive, with its long fluted columns and Gothic arches, groined and fan-ribbed at the top. In the high altar stands an image of Our Lady of Carmen and above it, in an exquisitely-wrought pinnacle, a statue of San Sebastian, flanked by two angels. All in all, this is one of the most interesting and most beautiful churches in Manila, making up vhat it lacks in antiquity by its artistic attractiveness."

Around 1855, an American observed that people were constantly going in and out of the large steel church, and "floor up to the altar was filled with kneeling devotees," mostly ladies with their "beautiful soft pina veils of white, contrasting with their rich black hair and brunette faces (Ball, 1855).  These ladies probably walked or rode the horse-drawn carriage to the church through uncluttered streets.

Those ladies are gone forever but San Sebastian Church with all its antiquities inside its all-steel shell still reign above the din of the cellphoning crowd and of tricycles and other tranport vehicles.  Thank God, no American Columban priest ever descended here, and just like what he did to the retablo altar of the San Narciso, Zambales Church, obliterated in one bold stroke the beautiful antique altar of this mighty San Sebastian Church. 

References: 

Atkinson, Fred W. (1902). Education in the Philippine Islands [Chapter XXIX, Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1900-1901]. Washington: Government Printing Office. Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/ahk8492.0001.001 

Ball, Benjamin Lincoln. (1855). Rambles in Eastern Asia, including China and Manilla, with notes of the voyage to China, excursions in Manilla, Hong-Kong, Canton, Shanghai, Ningpoo, Amoy, Fouchow, and Macao, Second edition. Boston: James French and Company. Retrieved  from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/aac6132.0001.001 

Lyons, Norbert. (1924, February). Manila, the City of Churches II - Outside the Walled City. The American Chamber of Commerce Journal. 4(2):8-11. Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/aaj0523.1923.001.

Val, Manuel del. (1929, September). The Works of the Recollect Fathers in the Philippines. The Philippine Magazine. 26(4):217, 228, 230, 232. Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/acd5869.0026.001 

Historical Photo Credits: 

Brown, Arthur Judson. (1904). The New Era in the Philippines. Nashville, Tenn. And Dallas, Texas: South Methodist Episcopal Church. Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/ahz9194.0001.001 

Church, A. M.[ed.]. (c1898).  Picturesque Cuba, Porto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippines; a photographic panorama of our new possessions.  Springfield,Ohio: Mast, Crowell & Kirkpatrick.  Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/AGF6711.0001.001 

Holmes, Burton. (c1918). Manila. Chicago?:s.n. Retrieved from  http://name.umdl.umich.edu/aea0032.0001.00 

Philippine Commission of Independence. (1923). Beautiful Philippines/A Handbook of General Information). Manila: Bureau of Printing. Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/afj2148.0001.001