Devotees flock to Cagayan de Oro for Nazarene feast

MINDANAO FAITHFUL Catholics flank the statue of the Black Nazarene during the “traslacion” on C.M. Recto Avenue in Cagayan de Oro City. More than 250,000 devotees joined the procession in honor of the Black Nazarene. —JIGGER J. JERUSALEM

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Eduardo Hapson, 62, a resident of Barangay San Vicente in Sumilao town, Bukidnon province, made sure he was at St. Augustine Metropolitan Cathedral here when the image of the Black Nazarene was taken out for the annual “traslacion.”

At 5 a.m., Hapson joined thousands of people who followed the image as it snaked through the city’s major streets back to its home in Archdiocesan Shrine of the Black Nazarene, locally known as the Nazareno Church.Joining the traslacion had been a ritual for Hapson, in thanksgiving for his “second life” that he credited to the Black Nazarene, whose feast was celebrated on Jan. 9.

About 250,000 devotees joined the vigil on Wednesday night at the cathedral and the three-hour procession.

The police had stepped up security measures like the jamming of telecoms signals and the deployment of policemen and soldiers as escorts for the Nazarene image during the traslacion, according to spokesperson, Police Maj. Evan Viñas.

The devotees came from various places in northern Mindanao, Zamboanga peninsula and Caraga region.

The holding of an elaborate Nazarene feast here began in 2009 when a “callejeron” or replica of the Black Nazarene was given by the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Manila, as a gift to the Nazareno Church. The image was brought here on a C-130 military plane, through the efforts of the shrine’s parish priest then, Msgr. Rey Monsanto.

Stories of “miracles” had drawn more devotees to the parish to visit the image and other faithful to help propagate the Nazarene devotion.