ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE Devotees flock to the “Kamay ni Hesus” shrine in Lucban, Quezon, during the Holy Week in this photo on Easter Sunday. To reach the five-story statue of the resurrected Christ on top of the hill, visitors must climb the 300-step “Stairway to Heaven.” PHOTO COURTESY OF KAMAY NI HESUS FACEBOOK PAGE
LUCENA CITY — More than 4 million people, mostly on an annual pilgrimage, flocked to the popular “Kamay ni Hesus” (KNH) shrine in the breezy town of Lucban, Quezon province, during the Holy Week.
Fr. Joey Faller, known as a “healing priest” and KNH administrator who built the shrine in 2002, said 4,055,065 people visited the shrine from Maundy Thursday until Easter Sunday.
“It was the result of careful planning and execution by the KNH staff, police, local government and barangay authorities, and concerned national government agencies,” Faller told the Inquirer in an interview on Sunday.
READ: Cheers, jeers: Cleanliness hits, misses in Holy Week pilgrim sites
READ: Holy Week’s pilgrimage of tourists
Hand-held clickers
He said the shrine staff and security guards had hand-held clickers to count visitors.
Faller described the flow of visitors inside the five-hectare religious complex as orderly.
He said this year’s visitors—devotees, picnickers, adventure seekers, kibitzers and “balikbayan”—started arriving in droves on Palm Sunday.
Faller once described the crowds of pilgrims as an “avalanche of faith and devotion.”
Over 800 volunteers and about 80 policemen in uniform and plain clothes helped secure the peace and order at the shrine during the whole week.
Annual vow
Bethelda Fontarum, 51, a government employee in Lucena City, said they traveled to the shrine on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday to fulfill their annual vow.
READ: Healing week
Fontarum always looks forward to visiting KNH, particularly to hear and witness Faller’s healing Mass.
“I always feel a deep connection to God, [and I believe] that I will be healed of all my sickness,” she explained.
Faller holds daily Masses at the newly built and open-air “healing dome” that accommodates up to 7,000 people.
Pilgrims believe that the priest possesses a gift from God for curing the sick.