Black Nazarene back home safe despite terror threats

Updated: 3:55 a.m., Jan. 10, 2017

Despite threats of violence from terror groups in Mindanao, thousands of Catholic devotees guided the centuries-old image of the Black Nazarene safely and peacefully back to its home, the Basilica Minore in Quiapo, Manila before dawn on Tuesday.

This year’s Traslacion, or procession, which started at around 5:30 a.m. on Monday at the Quirino Grandstand at the Luneta, took longer – 22 hours, about an hour longer than last year’s.

The distance from the grandstand to the church is just over 3 km. But with about a million devotees crowding the winding route through the streets of Manila, the procession proceeded in its accustomed snail’s pace.

As the andas, or carriage, of the cross-bearing Christ reached Plaza Miranda through Villalobos Street at around 3:10 a.m., the crowd at the historic public square went into a near frenzy.

The Hijos de Nazareno, or the Sons of the Nazarene, started guiding the image back through the church gate at around 3:27 a.m.

They closed the gate at 3:30 a.m.

No untoward incidents were reported by authorities, although at least 1,000 people were treated for various complaints, mostly minor wounds, dizziness and fainting spells.

In last year’s Traslacion, two deaths were reported.

The annual Traslacion, regarded as fhe biggest religious gathering in the predominantly Catholic Philippines, commemorates the first parade transferring the revered icon of Jesus Christ from a church in Intramuros to the Quiapo Church on Jan. 9, 1767. /ATM/rga