Quick Facts (Carmel 400)

Carmel Nazareno at Quiapo

Did you know that . . .

  • There’s a commonality in the devotion to the Black Nazarene of Quiapo and the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel: They are brought to Philippine soil by the 17th century Augustinian Recollect missionaries (Recoletos).
  • The third batch of Recollect missionaries received the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel image as a gift from the Discalced Carmelite nuns of Mexico City
  • The image of the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel first arrived in the country with the Recollects on May 4, 1618, a First Friday. The 400th anniversary of the arrival of the said image also falls on a first Friday.
  • The Recollects first housed the image Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in their convent of San Juan de Bagumbayan. Three years later, in 1621, it was transferred to their newly built San Sebastian Church in Quiapo.
  • The stone-and-brick San Sebastian Church was inaugurated with the image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on May 5, 1621. For the next 200 years, the San Sebastian Church would become the only shrine and center of Carmelite devotion in the country.
  • The image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel endured fires, pillages and three strong earthquakes while housed inside San Sebastian Church. (Quakes occurred in 1645, 1863, and 1880). As solution, the Recollects erected what we know today as Asia’s first all-steel, earthquake-proof church for the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.
  • Pope Leo XIII raised San Sebastian Church into a Basilica in 1890. The following year, in 1891, the All-steel Basilica was inaugurated by Manila Archbishop Bernardino Nozaleda.
  • The original image of the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel was canonically crowned on August 15, 1991 as a sign of the Filipino people’s age-old devotion to her
  • There are 3 towns in the country named after the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel:
    • Carmen, Cebu
    • Carmen, Bohol
    • Del Carmen, Surigao del Norte
  • There are 3 parishes founded by the Recollects and placed under the patronage of the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, namely:
    • Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Balilihan, Tagbilaran City
    • Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish-Recoletos in Cebu City
    • Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Tagana-an, Surigao del Norte
  • The Recollects recently established 3 communities with pastoral apostolate in the following:
    • Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Brgy. Inagawan, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan
    • Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Project 6, Quezon City
    • Nuestra Señora del Carmen Quasi Parish in Brgy. Dugmanon, Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur
  • During the Traslacion of the image of the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel from Quirino Grandstand to San Sebastian Basilica via Quiapo Church, the Black Nazarene will appear for the “Dungaw”.

This is peculiar for the Black Nazarene because it is the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel that usually does the “Dungaw” from the San Sebastian Basilica during the Traslacion of the Black Nazarene

  • Plenary indulgence will be granted to those who will join the religious activities on May 4, with the usual requirements that they go to confession, receive communion and pray for the intentions of the pope.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Frei Bo

Frei Bo

Priest-Religious of the Order of Augustinian Recollects, Province of St. Ezekiel Moreno. Webmaster.