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The Baclaran Storyby: Fr. Luis G. Hechanova, C.Ss.R_______________________________________.

The Baclaran Story

The Baclaran Phenomenon

The Baclaran Phenomenon is, first and foremost, the incredible number of people who come to the Redemptorist Church in Baclaran every Wednesday to make the Perpetual Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help. It is estimated that at least 100,000 devotees come on regular Wednes-days, reaching about 120,000 on the First Wednesday of each month. The biggest turnout of the year is on Ash Wednesday. The crowd for that day simply defies estimate.

This novena began here almost 50 years ago on June 23, 1948. Not only has the number of devotees continued, it is still growing. Formerly, only during the 5 PM and 6 PM novena did people overflow from the church to the parking lot. But it is only 3 PM of an ordinary Wednesday as I look out from the balcony of the Redemptorist convento, and an overflow crowd is already spilling out of the church.

How the Perpetual Help Icon came to Baclaran

Redemptorist priests and brothers have been in the Philippines since 1906. From the moment of their arrival, they introduced devotion to Our Mother of Perpetual Help through their missions and retreats. In their city churches, they usually directed the so-called Saturday Devotions to Our Mother of Perpetual Help. In Manila, the Redemptorists settled into Malate Parish in 1913 and had a small but popular shrine to Our Mother of Perpetual Help there.

When they transferred to Baclaran in 1932, the Ynchausti family who were old friends and benefactors from Malate, donated a beautiful high altar and insisted that it be a shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. It took a while for the builder, Father Denis Grogan, to be persuaded, as he was devoted to Sta. Teresita whom he made the patroness of both the church and the convento. But when the church was opened, the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help at the high altar became the focus of popular devotion.

During World War II, the Japanese took over the Redemptorist convento in Baclaran and the community was dispersed. The Australian and New Zealand Redemptorists were interred at Los

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Baños, but the Irish superior, Fr. F. J. Cosgrave, was spared internment due to his nationality. Before leaving, the superior took down the icon from the main altar and entrusted it for safekeeping to a family living near La Sane College. Towards the close of the war, their house was burned down and nobody knew what happened to the Perpetual Help icon that had been kept there.

After liberation, one of the La Salle Brothers happened to go to the old Bilibid Prison on Ascarraga Street where the Japanese had stored some of the valuable articles they took from Filipino homes. He noticed a. picture of Our Mother of Perpetual Help and guessed it might belong to the Redemptorists. Informed of this, two Redemptorists, accompanied by a military chaplain, hurried to recover it. The official at the gate insisted that there was no such picture on his list of items and would not let them in.

However, the chaplain found another way to get inside, and sure enough the picture was there. The guard let them take it away saying: "As far as I am concerned, it is not here since it is not on my list." It was with great joy that the Fathers brought it home to Baclaran. And this is the same icon that is now over the high altar in the present Church. So the devotion was already there before the War, but its popularity did not really take off the way the Perpetual Novena did when this was introduced in 1948.

How the Perpetual Novena was introduced in Baclaran

Contrary to popular impression, the Perpetual Novena in the Philippines did not begin in Baclaran but in Iloilo. The year was 1946, shortly after the end of the Second World War. American troops, some from the famous Battle of Guadalcanal, found themselves stationed in Iloilo. Among them were Irish-American Catholics from Boston who were delighted to find that St. Clement's Church in LaPaz, Iloilo City, was run by Irish Redemptorists. One thing disappointed them, though. They missed the Perpetual Novena then flourishing in the popular Mission Church of the Redemptorists in Boston. When I interviewed Fr. Nulty in his declining years, he was adamant that the idea for the novena had not come to him from Ireland (where it had been introduced in 1943) but from these American soldiers stationed in Iloilo (not even from chaplains). He said that he composed the Novena on the basis of the description supplied by the G.I.s on how it was done in Boston. Fr. Patrick Nulty introduced the novena in St. Clement's on May 13, 1946. (1)

The Perpetual Novena proved a great success in Iloilo. The Iloilo House Chronicles record that by Oct. 2pt, 1946, the attendance had reached 500 and by August 18th the following year, 1000. I happen to be a personal witness as a six year old. One of my childhood memories is of our mother teaching us the novena hymns on the family piano, the only thing saved when our ancestral house was burned down at the close of the war. I still remember the traffic jams due to

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the novena on the Jaro-Iloilo road on Wednesdays. In our family, we had to keep reminding each other to avoid that road on Wednesdays, unless of course we were going to make the novena. There are still people in Iloilo who have been making the novena faithfully since those days.

There are two versions as to how the Perpetual Novena started in Baclaran. Father Talty places an express connection between Iloilo and Baclaran. He became very fond of Iloilo because of this supposed link. According to him, "that same year (1946) the Redemptorist Rector of Lipa happened to visit Iloilo. He saw the Novena and determined to have it also in Lipa, where it started the next year. Then came the regular three yearly changes in the Redemptorist communities. The Rector of Lipa, Fr. Gerard O'Donnell, became Rector of Baclaran. His first thought was the Novena. It began at 6 pm. on June 23rd, 1948. Fr. Leo English conducted the first novena." (2)

Unfortunately, the Chronicles of Iloilo House do not help us in establishing whether or not Fr. O'Donnell actually visited Iloilo in 1946 as claimed by Fr. Talty. There is a gap in the Chronicles for the period between April and August 1946. The probability of his having gone there during those months is strongly doubted by Fr. Frank Hennessy who attests: "I don't remember him leaving Lipa, and I was there with him." (3) Fr. O'Donnell's main preoccupation at that time was the re-restablishment of the missions interrupted by the war. There is, however, record in the Iloilo Chronicles of Fr. O'Donnell arriving in Iloilo on July 23rd 1948 to make a five day retreat, but this was after he had started the novena in Baclaran.

The second version makes no mention of any link with Iloilo. Some months before his death, Father English affirmed that they knew of the Perpetual Novena in Iloilo before it was introduced in Baclaran, but he could not recall any connection between Fr. O'Donnell and Iloilo. (4) Instead he mentions a certain influence from Redemptorist American Army Chaplains who urged the Baclaran community to introduce the novena as they knew it in the States. Unfortunately, only one name is remembered, that of Fr. John (Charlie) Wallace of the then St. Louis Province. (5)

Fr. Hennessy's written testimony given to the author is valuable: "In 1948, Fr. O'Donnell was transferred to Baclaran. A fair bit was known about the large novenas in the States still running at the time. G. O'Donnell wanted to do something like that in Baclaran. It was probably talked about a lot but I feel sure that the decision to do so was G. O'Donnell's. Who or how people influenced him could be a matter of conjecture."

It was Frs. O'Donnell and Troy who worked on the original format based largely on the

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American model. Fr. Frank Rower adds the detail that they were also looking at a text of Perpetual Help devotions from Ireland. When nearly done they went to Father English saying that they still lacked one hymn. He recommended Mother of Christ, a favorite from his growing up days in Australia. This was adopted and became one of the hymns most closely associated with the Perpetual Novena in the Philippines.

Whichever version is more true, the facts beyond dispute are:- the first Perpetual Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help in the Philippines was held

in Iloilo on May 13, 1946 and was conducted by Fr. Patrick Nulty;- the first Perpetual Novena in Baclaran was held two years later on June 23, 1948.

Although it was conducted by Fr. Leo English, its introduction in Baclaran is attributed to Fr. Gerard O'Donnell, the then Rector of the Baclaran Community.

Growth of the Baclaran Novena

It is on record that at that first novena, there were only 70 people present and that the following week the number doubled to 150. Before the year ended more novena sessions had to be added since the original chapel was good for only 300 people. By the end of 1949, there were eight crowded sessions of the novena, and many others were following it from the parking area. The church was extended to double its capacity. The Ilonggos who lived along what is now Roxas Boulevard were among the most enthusiastic supporters of the novena in those early days.

Some people may still remember that in 1948 an apparition of Our Lady was supposed to have happened in Lipa. The most spectacular feature was the occasional shower of rose petals which bore the image of our Lord, Our Lady or the saints.

One of the altar boys in Baclaran named Tony de Leon was one day poking around the grounds where someone had thrown out some roses. A journalist happened to get curious and asked him what he was looking for. "Rose petals", he replied. Next day, the Daily ,Bulletin reported that petals had fallen in Baclaran! Fr. Frank Hennessy, who was there at the time, claims that this contributed to the popularity of Baclaran as a religious shrine. (7) .Another factor that contributed a lot to the popularity of the Baclaran novena was radio and T.v., especially the radio. According to Fr. Hennessy, "When the broadcasts started, radios, still rather scarce, were put in barrio chapels." Adds Fr. Neville Cox, "The sermons were reviewed by the superior. It went out into the chapels and barrios. Many of the barrio folk listened in and participated." It seems that the first sponsor was the well-known philantrophist Carlos Palanca before it passed to San Miguel Corporation. But this sponsorship was discontinued when

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elections were coming up in 1965 and the politicos wanted prime time on the air.

Although, as we noted earlier, the devotion had already started there before World War II, it was the introduction of the Perpetual Novena in Baclaran in 1948 that made the devotion to Our Mother of Perpetual Help a national phenomenon in the Philippines. Before long her image was in the living room of many Filipino homes as well as in buses, jeepneys, and private cars. Soon nearly every church in the country was making the Perpetual Novena on the same Wednesday that crowds would be coming to Baclaran and other Redemptorist churches. But there is no doubt that Baclaran dwarfs everything else, and the name "Baclaran" holds the magic for the Perpetual Novena in the Philippines.

Perpetual Novena: a special form of devotion

What, then is so special about a perpetual novena and how is it different from an ordinary novena? It is common knowledge that the word "novena" is connected with the number nine just as triduum is connected with the number three. Its origin may even be traced to the nine days spent by the apostles in prayer together with Our Lady after the Ascension and before the coming of the Holy Spirit on the tenth day of Pentecost.

In today's religious parlance, a novena is a series of prayers said over nine days or nine weeks consecutively, usually in preparation for a major feast or to ask for a special favor. The ordinary novena stops after the nine occasions until resumed the next time around, often the following year when connected with feasts, or whenever a devotee decides to resume it privately.

A perpetual novena, on the other hand, i_ a series of nine occasions of prayer but repeated continuously. When one series is finished, it begins again. In practice it becomes an unending series of weekly sessions, usually associated with a particular day of the week, not necessarily Wednesday. It was originally on Mondays when it started in iloilo until changed to Wednesday three years later. It is on Tuesdays or Wednesdays in the US., on Thursdays and Sundays in Rome, and Saturdays in Singapore.

Some people ask what is the particular reason why it is held on Wednesdays in the Philippines, as in many other countries. I must confess that I have not been able to find the historical definitive answer. One version says that it was for the convenience of the priests, giving balance to their workload. Another says it was for the convenience of the faithful in that Wednesday breaks up the week rather nicely for them. Both these versions are true in their

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effects. But, historically, was either or both of them really the motive for the choice of Wednesday?

Fr. Hennessy, who was in Baclaran at the time, offers a less attractive, but probably truer, motive. He says: "At that time... the practice was to have devotions: rosary and benediction on Sunday evenings, the Little Rosary of the Immaculate Conception on Saturdays and Devotions to St. Joseph on Wednesdays. To change this pattern required permission from the Provincial. However, since there was the practice of having devotions to St. Joseph on Wednesday, it was deemed lawful to have the novena and benediction on Wednesdays. The conjecture about workloads, etc., I think, do not have much force. At the time no one had the slightest idea what would happen or how it would grow. The choice of Wednesday happened to be a happy one."

In any case, in the Philippines, the novena is so closely identified with Wednesday that when a group of communication students prepared a film on the novena as their class project, they gave it the simple title of “Mierkoles” (Wednesday). In the Philippines, if it is Wednesday, it must be Novena Day!

Origins in the U.S.

In the form of a regular weekly service, the Perpetual Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help had its origin in the United States. But exactly where and when the very first perpetual novena was started is not very clear.

There is documentary evidence that this form of devotion was started in St. Alphonsus' Church, (also known as Rock Church) in St. Louis, Missouri, USA on Tuesday, July 11, 1922. This is without doubt its start in the mid-western Redemptorist Province of St. Louis (now part of the new Denver Province). But was this the absolute start of the devotions known as the Perpetual Novena?

Fr. Adelino Paz thinks so and so did I, especially after receiving the documentary evidence mentioned above. (7) But during a visit to the United States in August 1997, I inquired when the Perpetual Novena started in eastern United States. The Archivist of the Redemptorist Province of Baltimore, Fr. Carl Hoegerl, led me to a book published in 1921. It is about the Redemptorist Church in Boston popularly known as Mission Church and has this to say: "The custom introduced years ago of having special devotions at the shrine every Wednesday afternoon is still continued. Invariably the church is packed, and frequently there is a large overflow on the side-walk …Every Wednesday the crowd is so great that extra (street) cars have to be run on Tremont Street." (8) This suggests an earlier beginning ("introduced years ago") of the Perpetual Novena in Boston.

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What is beyond question is the fact that it was especially in the form of the Perpetual Novena (that is, as a regular weekly service) that the devotion to Our Mother of Perpetual Help spread to many parts of North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. As already mentioned, it reached the Philippines in this form in 1946 soon after the Second World War.

Novena and Liturgical Changes

In the early 1960s, there were churchpeople who were disturbed by the fact that more people were attending the Wednesday Perpetual Novena than Sunday Mass. I cannot forget a talk of the late Bishop of Calapan, Mindoro, Msgr. W.J. Duschak, S.v.D. shortly before the Second Vatican Council. He suggested that the novena phenomenon served as a challenge to take a closer look at the difference between the two forms of religious expressions. The prayers at Mass were said in Latin by the priest alone, while the novena was said in the vernacular and participated in by the people. The texts of the Mass kept changing, while the hymns and prayers of the novena were mostly the same and the people could recite or sing them by heart. He also pointed out the value of reading out the letters of petition and thanksgiving during the novena. These allowed the people to express in prayer their concrete needs in life, both material and spiritual.

In a word, he concluded, the novena had two elements vital to good liturgy: participation and expression of life. He suggested that the official liturgy of the church should be reformed along these lines. Since then, of course, the official liturgy of the Church has been renewed by Vatican II and is now said in the vernacular with some participation on the part of the people.

What about the novena itself? Despite the positive words of Msgr. Duschak, it too needed re-form. For one thing; the prayers tended to be individualistic and the sentiments too other-wordly, mostly about the "next" life and not enough about ongoing present life. There was also the problem that as they came to the novena, the people also wanted the Eucharist. To meet this need, the practice grew of giving communion outside Mass in between the novena sessions, a practice frowned upon by liturgists of Vatican II.

In the early 1970s, the Redemptorists of the Manila and Cebu Vice-Provinces set up a comm6n Commission to study how the novena itself could be renewed along the Vatican II principles on liturgy and devotion. The Commission, of which I was a member, took the official outline for the new Mass called Missa Normativa and pinpointed the places where the liturgy allowed spontaneous prayer or accepted some improvisization. Into these we inserted the different parts of the novena and came up with a novena text that could be used either with Mass or with Benediction. As much as possible we kept the hymns in their original tunes but adapted the lyrics to make them suit the different parts of the Mass. We adopted the theological principle going back to the Fathers of the Church of directing worship "to the Father, through the Son, in

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The Baclaran Storyby: Fr. Luis G. Hechanova, C.Ss.R_______________________________________. the Spirit" together with Mary, representing the church at prayer. Thus, the opening hymn still used in the Cebu version says:

"Immaculate Mother, we join you and call

On God our dear Father, the Lord of us all.

Ave, ave, ave Maria. (2x)

In God's Holy Spirit, your children are we,

Inspire us, our model, good christians to be."

Ave, ave, ave Maria. (2x)

Then follows a Penitential Rite and Liturgy of the Word just like during Mass, with the Hail Mary as the responsorial after the first reading. The Prayer of the Faithful begins with the Novena Prayer, followed by the litany of petitions, in other words, an expanded version of the General Intercessions. The hymn "Mother Dearest, Mother Fairest" became an offertory hymn re-named: "Here We Gather" and goes this way:

Here we gather with you, Mary,

Round the altar of your Son,

As we offer to the FatherAll we are, all we have done.

All we suffer when we're sad

All we have when we are glad.

All we dream and all we pray.

All our actions of each day.

Retaining the tune of the Tantum Ergo already known to the people by heart, the Commission came up not just with a translation, but with a completely new Eucharistic Hymn. Few people realize that it is a combination into one hymn of the alternative responses to the acclamation: This is the Mystery of Faith, after the consecration! It is an authentically eucharistic hymn very suitable for Benediction or as a communion hymn in the Mass format. This is how it goes:

Let us raise our voice to proclaim our faithChrist the Lord for us has died. Dying, He destroyed our death. Rising, He restored our life.0 Lord Jesus, we awaitYour last return in glory.,

When we eat the bread and drink the cup

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In the Blessed Eucharist,It is You, our Risen Savior,Your life in us to renew.Through life's journey, be with us,To strengthen us forever. Amen

As can be gleaned from the above, the insertion of the novena into the mass was done with sound theological and liturgical principles. The result is like an elaborate version of a Votive Mass in honor of Our Lady, a far cry from the "hybrid celebrations" resulting from the mixing of practices of piety and liturgical acts without wholesome liturgical and pastoral criteria decried in Paul VI's Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus (1975). In fact, the Commission was careful to do its work in consultation with the Bishops' Liturgy Secretariat and elicited this favorable comment from its Executive Secretary, Fr. Camilo Marivoet CLCM.: "It is an excellent idea to bring the Novena within the Mass … Another excellent point is that the Novena is no longer merely devotional but has shifted from personal and private prayer to social and communa1." (9)When it came to implementing the results of the Commission's work, there was hesitation on the part of some members of the Baclaran Community. Cardinal Sin, who was then Archbishop of Jaro, was the first bishop to give approval to the integration of the novena with the Mass. But the approval of Cardinal Santos in Manila was by no means assured. The Redemptorists in Visayas and Mindanao tested the new format during the solemn novena of nine days preceding the feast (June 27th 1971). The reaction of the people was generally favorable and so, with just minor modifications, they went ahead and implemented it. Although, as already mentioned, the same format allowed for its use with Mass or with Benediction, in practice it was the novena with Mass that became the overwhelmingly more popular version, at least in Visayas and Mindanao. (10)

Although in some parts of the world, the renewal of the official liturgy diminished the popu-larity of the novena, this has not been the case in the Philippines. Both continue to flourish side by side with no signs of abating. In the words of a Filipino Archbishop, "Perpetual Help is, undoubtedly, the most popular religious devotion among Filipinos." (11)

National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help

The present church building is the third built on the site in Baclaran. The first was a small wooden structure dating back to 1932 when the Redemptorists moved into Baclaran. It was in this small church that the first novena was conducted by Fr. Leo English on June 23, 1948. By the end of 1949 the novena had grown to eight sessions with about 60,000 people attending. To meet this demand the church was extended to double capacity by Frs. Taylor and English. This was the second building.

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In spite of the enlarged church, thousands still had to stay in the grounds outside for the Novena sessions. Consequently, the third building, the present National Shrine, was begun in December 1952. The cornerstone was laid by Cardinal Gilroy of Sydney on January 11th 1953 and it was consecrated on Dec. pt 1958 by Archbishop Rufino Santos, assisted by Bp. Antiporda and Bp. Shanley O.CD.. The solemn opening and inauguration took place a few days later on Dec. 5, 1958 by the same Archbishop Rufino Santos, accompanied by Cardinal Agagianian and other bishops.

Fr. Lewis O'Leary, the New Zealand Redemptorist in charge of the ambitious construction project, stresses that the project was a Redemptorist community effort supported by the Superior General in Rome, the Provincial Superiors in Australia and the Fathers and Brothers of the Vice-Province of Manila. Over the five years that it took to build the church, all played their part. He adds a detail worth recording: "Brother Charles deserves a special note. With the church and the grounds filled, many remained in their Buicks and Cadillacs to make the novena and then drove off. Charles thought they were contributing little. He put an extra long handle on his collection bag and made the car dwellers his target. When his rugged boxer's face appeared at the side of the car and the collection bag was thrust in, they gave generously, Charlie returned to the sacristy with a bulging bag and a contented smile. The Rector at times would urge Charlie to ease up and restrain his zea1."

Although there were indeed some prominent donors whose names are duly recorded, Fr. O'leary, who showed me the actual figures, likes to stress that about 75% of the cost of the construction was met by small donors. This came either through weekly collections or through the loose change dropped into the miniature models of the proposed shrine strategically placed near the cashier in the shops and stores of Manila, The caption said: "Ten Cents to Help Build a Shrine." Truly it is a church mainly built not by big benefactors, but by the ordinary people, No wonder they continue to identify so strongly with it.

When they built the present Baclaran Church, the Redemptorists did not consciously set out to make it the biggest church in the Philippines. They built it mainly to accommodate the crowds that had been attending Novenas up to then, with some provision for future increase, Fr. Talty simply mentions that "Baclaran, Sto. Domingo and Taal are the biggest churches in Asia and among the very large churches of the world," (12) But nobody seemed to have bothered to compare the actual dimensions of these churches.

In January 1997, I came across a beautiful coffee table type of book featuring the 29 "Great Churches of the Philippines" built between the late sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, jointly authored by Augustinian Fr. Pedro Galende and Jesuit Fr. Rene Javellana. (13) Out of curiosity, I thought I might contact the authors if they could furnish me the dimensions of Taal. In responding to my request, Fr. Galende added the comment that Taal is reputed to be the biggest church in the Philippines and probably in Asia. But when I compared the dimensions of Taal

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Church that he furnished me and those of Baclaran supplied by Fr. O'leary from his notes going back 40 years, it turned out, to my surprise, that Baclaran Church is actually bigger, as shown below.

Measures Tool Church Bodoron Church

length 100 m. (328 ft) 108. m. (356 ft)width 24 m. (78. ft) 36 m. (118 ft)height 12 m. (39. ft) 22.m. (75 ft)area 2400 sq.m. 3888 sq.m.

(25,584 sq.ft) (42,008 sq.ft)

When I mentioned this to Mons. Quizon, auxiliary Bishop of Lipa, who resides in Taal, he said: "Well, at least we can still say that Taal is the biggest basilica in the Philippines”! And he is right, since Baclaran is not a basilica.

After this discovery, I wrote to inform Fr. O'Leary, now in retirement in Auckland, New Zealand, in May 1997. In his reply he said: "The church, the largest in the Philippines, is certainly a remarkable sight. But a very remarkable thing about this church is something not visible, namely its foundation. The church is built on land skirting Manila Bay. This land is all sand. The church, with its thick walls of reinforced concrete and its towering pillars could not be built on sand. The foundation had to rest on bedrock 29 feet below. This required the driving of creosoted, hardwood piles down to rest on the bedrock. Engineering wise, the grip of the sand on the whole 29 foot length of each pile was as important as having the pile rest on the bedrock. Just as a tightly clenched fist can grip a pencil, so the sand has a vice-like grip on each pile, thus assuring solid foundation for the church to be built on. The piles cost P52,344. The pile driving cost P10,956. The job was done by the American firm Atlantic, Gulf Pacific (AG & P). It was money well spent. Built on such solid foundation the church has withstood two very severe earthquakes with not even a crack appearing in any part of it.”

The architect of Baclaran was the well-known architect, Cesar Concio, Sr., who must be credited with such a light design for such a big space and for the good natural acoustics. Originally, it was to have a tower, but this was scuttled due to its proximity to the airport. The church is both simple and solemn, large yet intimately prayerful in atmosphere, a "populist" church in the best sense of the word.

Fr. Talty puts the capacity of Baclaran Church as 2000 seated and 9000 standing, while the builder of the church, Fr. O'Leary, puts it as 3000 seated and 8000 standing, or a total capacity of

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11,000 under its roof. The pews actually used at present are 108 in number and can seat 15 adults comfortably. This gives us an actual seating capacity of 1620. Since the above estimates include the galleries seldom occupied by people, I would consider it safe enough to put the actual total capacity at about 10,000. With this capacity and with 5 masses and 10 novena sessions on Wednesdays, all full and with crowds spilling out to the parking lot at some of them, there must be at least 100,000 in attendance on regular Wednesdays, swelling to 120,000 on the First Wednesdays of the month.

So in terms of physical size, capacity and actual attendance of people, Baclaran is the biggest Christian Church and Marian Shrine in the Philippines, and most likely in all of Asia. I say most likely because I have no scientific evidence to compare it with other churches in Asia. But the probability is high since the Philippines is the only country in Asia with an overwhelmingly Catholic population and more than half of the Catholics in Asia are found in the Philippines. Thus, the like hood of any other church in Asia being bigger than Baclaran is very remote.

In 1952, the then Apostolic Administrator of Manila, Mons. (later Cardinal) Rufino Santos, declared "the Blessed Virgin under the title of Mother of Perpetual Help as the Titular Patroness of the new Church of the Redemptorist Fathers in Baclaran, Rizal." This was to change it from the original titular which was Sta. Teresita of the Child Jesus, the favorite saint of Fr. Denis Grogan who built the original church and convento. The convento continues to be dedicated to Sta. Teresita whose statue can be found in the circle near the front door.

In 1958, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines declared Baclaran church a National Shrine. In a letter to Fr. O'Leary dated February 7, 1958, the late Archbishop Jose Ma. Cuenco of Jaro was proud to reveal the role he played. He tells how, after the reading of the petition, he immediately stood up to endorse it for the following reasons. "Devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour has become national in the Philippines, as in many parishes the novena to the Perpetual Succour is held. That in Baclaran every Wednesday about 70,000 come to the Novena of Perpetual Succour. This number is unique in the world. That the new church is the longest in the Philippines. That the Redemptorist Fathers are the best promoters and propagandists of devotion to Our Lady." After his short speech, "all the Bishops present, with no dissenting vote, approved your pious petition for the honor and glory of the Blessed Virgin." Incidentally, Archbishop Cuenco was a regular Wednesday novena-goer in St. Clement's, Iloilo City, until the last Wednesday of his life. (14)

Baclaran Church and Pope John Paul II

The Philippine sun had already set when the jet landed at Manila that balmy evening of February 1973. Karol Woytila, the Cardinal Archbishop of Krakow, Poland, was on his way to the Interna-tional Eucharistic Congress of Melbourne, Australia. A radio message had reached Manila International Airport that the Polish Cardinal and his two companions wanted to say Mass during

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The Baclaran Storyby: Fr. Luis G. Hechanova, C.Ss.R_______________________________________. the stopover.

There were two problems that needed to be ironed out. The old Manila International Airport terminal had no chapel and the airport authorities did not like to see a cardinal saying Mass in a back room. Leaving the airport to go to some church also posed a problem. Poland, then a communist country, had no diplomatic ties with the Philippines. The Airport Authorities solved the last problem by deciding to take responsibility for the Cardinal's leaving the airport. But where to take him? They rang Cardinal Santos, Archbishop of Manila, for advice. The Cardinal replied: "Baclaran is close by. Today is Wednesday. Let him experience Baclaran."

The three V.I.P. transit passengers were taken off the plane and escorted directly from the tarmac to the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in Baclaran. It was 8:15 PM when Cardinal Woytila and his companions concelebrated Mass at the main altar. The regular masses and novena sessions were over by then, but still some 400 people came for communion, an edifying site that made a lasting impression on them. Afterwards they had supper in the community refectory and were driven around Rizal Park before being brought back to their plane.

The visit came as a complete surprise to the Redemptorists of Baclaran who had never heard of Cardinal Woytila nor of the archdiocese of Krakow. But Celestina Mabutas, a lay helper, is one who keeps a camera (handy in the sacristy for any important looking personality who might come to the shrine. She clicked away while the Polish Cardinal was saying Mass in the church and while he was taking supper in the community refectory. Little did she realize that those photos would later become famous when that Polish Cardinal would become Pope John Paul II and would return to Baclaran and to that refectory less than ten years later! In fact one of her photos shows Cardinal Woytila with some bottles of San Miguel beer in front of him. This is not suggesting that he drank them all himself! But being Polish, he would not have refused a bottle or two. Oscar Villadolid, San Miguel VicePresident for Public Relations and later Philippine Ambassador to the Holy See, used to joke his friend in Baclaran, Fr. Jimmy Ryan, that he must give him that photo to use in. a San Miguel ad.

On Feb. 15, 1981, Pope John Paul II made his first official visit as Pope to the Philippines. His first stop from the airport was at Baclaran Church where he met the thousands of religious women gathered to receive him. He began with a lengthy prayer in which he said: "Today, I have been able to come here for the second time in my life. The first time that I stopped here was when I was going to the Eucharistic Congress in Australia; and as I celebrated Mass in the late evening I was the witness of a truly filial devotion, and of the immense trust that you, 0 Mother of Perpetual Help, enjoy among the faithful, the people who live in this great

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The Baclaran Storyby: Fr. Luis G. Hechanova, C.Ss.R_______________________________________. capital city of the Philippines."

Since the Pope was running somewhat late in his schedule, the organizers of the Papal visit asked that a light merienda (snack) be prepared for him in the Baclaran sacristy after his meeting with the religious women. But he insisted on going ahead with the original plan that he would make his way to the community refectory where he had once taken supper. This meant walking along the upper gallery down one side of the church on to the convento through an open balcony where he blessed the crowd below. It was with great joy that he sat down once again in the refectory to recall that earlier visit. He was that sentimental, like the true Pole that he is.

Church That's Never Closed

Part of the Baclaran Phenomenon is the fact that the church is open 24 hours a day. It is a church that is never closed, not even when curfew was declared during the Marcos Martial Law era. According to Father O'Leary, permission for this was granted by Rome after being assured of adequate security. Three shifts of private security guards assure good order night and day and there has never been a single case of vandalism.

Perhaps the closest to a security problem ever experienced in Baclaran was last Sept. 20th, 1997, eve of the big rally against Charter Change (ChaCha) jointly called by former Pres. Cory Aquino and Cardinal Sin. At least three bomb scares happened in churches, one of them at Baclaran. After receiving a phone call, the chief of the security guards found a suspicious looking package behind the statue of St. Gerard Majella near the entrance of the church. (One newspaper mistakenly reported the statue to be that of St. Ignatius of Loyola!) It was a bomb and it was detonated outside in the car park causing no injury to anyone.

It is edifying to often see at night a taxi without passengers pulling up into the parking lot and the taxi driver going in for a brief prayer before resuming his nocturnal rounds of the city. A visiting Redemptorist Consultor General recently went to the choir loft ill the small hours of the morning and counted 150 people in the church. To be sure, some would be sleeping soundly in the benches. But others, surprisingly, could be observed praying fervently, even walking on their knees. Many of those who visit in the early morning hours come from the nightspots along Roxas Boulevard. Often these are celebrities who want to avoid the glare of the media. Some, no doubt, would be the paid entertainers themselves.

After the World Youth Day held in Manila in January 1995 graced by the Pope's presence, some Italian priests came away very impressed to have found a church that is never closed. When Pope John Paul II held his traditional meeting with the Roman clergy during Lent that

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year, one of them spoke about Baclaran and, to warm applause, suggested to the Pope that it might be imitated in Rome! I haven't heard of any move in this direction. The nearest thing to it is the fact that the four major basilicas, unlike the other churches in Rome, do remain open even during the holy siesta hour.

Integral Evangelization

Another impressive thing about Baclaran today is the effort to project a view of evangelization that integrates the horizontal with the vertical, the material with the spiritual, in a word: integral evangelization.

Prayer Forms and Sacramental Ministry

One of the most striking features of Baclaran Church is its prayerful atmosphere. You can see it in the faces of the people at prayer. With what faith they seem to be able to communicate with the Lord and His Blessed Mother. It is common to see people walking on their knees from the front door along the center aisles. At the front of the church where there are a number of statues, the people usually reach out to touch them as they pray. More recently, when all the masses and novena sessions are over, the people have been allowed to come up to the sanctuary. Some sim-ply remain on their knees in prayer. The more common sight is a line of people coming right up and remaining transfixed for some time in prayer with their hands touching the tabernacle but stretched upwards towards the icon above and beyond their reach.

Late on Wednesday nights, long after the novena sessions are over, it is not uncommon for movie, TV and sports personalities to drop in for a discreet visit, away from the madding crowd. Some years ago, one young movie actor said that before he got into the entertainment world, he once walked all the way from Baclaran to his house north of the Pasig River because he didn't have enough money for his fare.

The sacrament of reconciliation continues to be assured to thousands of penitents. This is a strong Redemptorist tradition going back to their founder, St. Alphonsus, who has been declared by the Church the Patron of Confessors and Moral Theologians. On Saturdays, one priest could be hearing confessions for six to seven hours. Apart from the Redemptorists, Jesuits from the China Province used to come regularly in the 1960s to help hear confessions. These days, the former Superior General of a missionary congregation comes as a volunteer every Wednesday to hear confessions for four to five hours without a break.

Penitential services with general absolution are held on First Wednesdays, First Fridays,

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some Saturdays of Advent, on all Wednesdays of Holy Week and during the Easter Triduum. For the clergy and religious, there is a special confessional at the entrance of the convento where the penitent simply rings a bell and enters the confessional. The priest enters from inside the convento without seeing the penitent.

Importance is given to creative liturgies, especially during Holy Week and special occasions like fiestas, religious professions and ordinations. In fact, Baclaran was a pioneer of sorts in the country in experimenting with indigenous liturgical expressions for the ceremonies of Holy Week. Credit is due to Australian Fr. Vincent Warren who came back from a renewal course in the early 1970's with enthusiasm for inculturated liturgy. The Redemptorist Community has many stories about his experiments but I will just mention one story and it is about the Palm Sunday liturgy.

Fr. Warren asked some people how Filipinos welcome guests. One said: "garland." Another said: "archway." A third said "band" and Fr. Warren ended up with three bands! "Instead of a donkey, what would you use?" he asked. "A horse," someone replied and there is a striking photo of Fr. Warren mounted on a horse, a gold crown on his head and Benediction Cope flowing over the back of the horse. The trouble is that someone had also suggested" fireworks" and when you combined all these elements together, something had to give! When the fireworks were set off some of them didn't fly skywards but went straight for the convento wall. And they were set off a trifle too close to the horse which shied, forcing Fr. Warren to dismount. Another photo shows him as the Christus no longer mounted on the horse but walking into .Jerusalem with the horse following behind!

The explosion of creativity in those days in Baclaran inspired other churches to do something similar during Holy Week. Perhaps the feature he introduced that has endured the longest is the dancing of the traditional Filipino folk dance Pandanggo sa Ilaw (Dance of the Lights) around the Paschal Candle. It is still done in Baclaran during the Easter Vigil and is much more meaningful to the people than the singing of the Exsultet.

The Church Team is composed of the church staff (all lay) and many volunteers like altar servers, ushers, Eucharistic ministers, choirs, etc. Their on-going spiritual formation is assured by a charismatic group called Tinig ng Espiritu Santo Catholic Community which organizes retreats, recollections and similar activities for on-going formation.

Vocation promotion is done through "search-ins," posters and personal contact with the members of the Vocation Center located in the convento. A Vocation Month is celebrated once a year during which representatives from different religious congregations of men and women take turns to preach.

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Baclaran is the base of the Redemptorist Mission Team (RMT) which does urban mission work in nearby parishes. The team includes some Sisters belonging to the Missionaries of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, (a congregation co-founded by a Redemptorist in Mexico) and lay missionaries, men and women. In the parishes missionized they try to introduce or strengthen the Basic Ecclesial Communities or Batayang Pamayanang Kristiyano (BPK) with the help of a Community Building Team (CBT). The old type of missions consisted almost exclusively in preaching, catechetical instructions and the administration of the sacraments.

In the new approach the Preached Mission (PM) is interwoven with retreats, recollections and a whole series of 14 seminars. A big emphasis is given to understanding the Bible and to training in its use for reflecting on the realities of life, especially the actual problems of the community (water, garbage, drugs, etc). There are also seminars on creative liturgy, the meaning of signs and symbols, marriage enrichment. Training is provided for acquiring organizing skills, Christian leadership, evaluation skills, community action, youth work, etc, etc.

One of the most important activities in Baclaran is, of course, the preaching of homilies during Mass and of sermons during the novena sessions. It has, in fact, been called by the Redemptorist Superior General, Fr. Juan Manuel Lasso de la Vega, the Redemptorists' most important center of evangelization in the world through devotion to Our Mother of Perpetual Help. Despite its tremendous physical size as a building, I find preaching in Baclaran a joyful experience. With good acoustics and a good sound system, it is easy to make contact with those in the front rows who are usually a very responsive crowd, while feeling the attention of the thousand others too far away to see clearly.

An important feature of the Perpetual Novena is the reading of letters addressed to Our Mother of Perpetual Help. As pointed out earlier, Msgr. Duschak thought that this was a significant wav for people to express their concrete everyday problems through prayer. While some countries have done away with the practice of writing letters, Singapore continues to receive many good letters of thanksgiving in English and these are sent to other countries to use in their novenas. In many Redemptorist churches in the Philippines, there are forms for ticking off the petitions and thanksgivings and the totals are read at each novena. Baclaran does not use forms like those but classifies the letters that come in and continues the practice of reading some petitions and thanksgivings. In some instances, the thanksgiving letters are as good as sermons in themselves or make good launching pads for sermons. Sr. Rosario Battung RGS has made an initial study of letters sent into Baclaran and has written an article about it. She is continuing her study and will give a talk about this during the Pilgrimage-Congress, June 23-27, 1998. (15)

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Beyond the Novena: Social Ministries

When the Marcos era (1965-86) brought in its wake rampant violations of human rights and outright church persecution, the Philippine Church gradually began to become more prophetic in the face of this challenge. In Baclaran, the preaching also began to address the social realities of the day, including controversial issues concerning justice and peace.

Justice and Peace Involvement, Through Martial Law and Beyond

The Rationale of the Baclaran Justice and Peace Program reads: "The contemporary situation of the Philippines challenges the (Redemptorist) Congregation to be more radical in witnessing to the Gospel today. The oppressive situation in our country-the widening gap between the rich and the poor, the pervasive poverty of our people, the exploitation and destruction of our environment, the many evils in our society-opens our eyes and hearts and calls us to revitalize and inculturate our Alphonsian spirit of commitment to the poor."

When Redemptorist Father Rudy Romano was kidnapped in Cebu on July 11, 1985 amidst strong suspicion of military perpetrators, Baclaran Church gave his case all out support, even dedicating a hall in his memory. Today, near the guard station facing Redemptorist Road, there is a marker imbedded into the wall that records the visit of Cardinal Thomas O'Fiaich, Primate of Ireland, who came to show his solidarity with Fr. Rudy Romano's case on Dec. 5, 1986.

At a corner of the lawn fronting Roxas Boulevard, there are two statues dedicated to all who, like Fr. Romano, remain" desaparecidos" (disappeared). These are the hundreds of silent victims of human rights violations who merely vanished into thin air and probably ended in unmarked graves. They are specially remembered each year during All Souls' Day. Perhaps the only vindication of their cause is the fact that the Marcos dictatorship ended with the ignominious flight of the dictator and his family out of, the country after the "snap elections" of January 1986 and the massive "People Power" protests in February that year.

Without too much fanfare, Baclaran made its own contribution to the cause of justice and peace during those trying times. When the main opposition leader, Ninoy Aquino, returning from exile in 1983, was assassinated at the Manila International Airport (now named after him), it was to Baclaran that his family and welcoming party went to pray. A spokesman addressed the Sunday congregation asking for prayers for Ninoy and for the country he said was worth dying for. That tragic event rudely awakened the middle class from its complacency and timidity,

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ushering in an era of unprecedented activism.

One of the most original expressions of dissent that was used against the Marcos regime after the Ninoy assassination was jogging. Some thought it a ludicrous show of the Filipino's lack of seriousness. Others saw it as typical of Filipino creativity. On Sundays, a group, led by Ninoy's brother Butch and their sympathizers, would jog from Rizal Park along Roxas Boulevard and end up in Baclaran for the 9 a.m. Mass. They were conspicuous for the yellow bands around their foreheads and now and again would get the preacher's attention and even some kind of recognition or mention during the sermon. Usually they were given a chance to deliver a short message to the assembled congregation. Activities such as these, and the strong preaching on justice and peace subjected Baclaran church to a continuous surveillance by the Marcos Intelli-gence forces.

When Marcos called a "snap election" and Ninoy's widow, Cory, was persuaded to run against him, things began to heat up to boiling point. During the counting of the ballots, some computer technicians began to notice how the official figures on the tally board kept showing a widening Marcos lead, even as the citizen's NAMFREL count was showing the very opposite. Sensing a highly sophisticated scam manipulating the results, 35 of the technicians found the courage to walk out, dealing a major blow to the credibility of the whole electoral process. Not surprisingly, the Marcos people attacked the walkout as "staged" for the benefit of the foreign press. One cited the fact that the group that walked out proceeded to Baclaran where they were interviewed by the press, "when we all know that the Redemptorist church is a haven for the opposition."

What happened in fact was that someone from the crowd shouted out the suggestion for them to proceed to Baclaran. There, one of the priests, Fr. Warren, happened to notice the group outside in the grounds. When he heard what they had done, he brought them into the convento in an act of humanitarian sympathy, to shield them from inquisitive reporters. He prepared a bit of supper for them and provided them with mats and sheets so they could spend the night in what used to be the community oratory on the second floor. They stayed there through the small hours of the morning until it was thought safe enough for them to transfer elsewhere (to the Ateneo, I believe).

When Marcos endeavored to nullify Cory's victory, the Bishops issued their now famous pastoralletter declaring the elections so "unparalleled in the fraudulence of their conduct," that there was "no moral basis" (on Marcos' part) for continuing to govern. Cardinal Sin chose to air the official hierarchy's stand during the 6 PM Mass at Baclaran. Cory, who was present, began to address the crowd, but a gun threat caused the people to make a hasty exit.

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Then came the brutal assassination of the former governor of Antique, Evelio Javier, whose remains were brought to Manila for burial. From the Manila Domestic Airport,. the remains were brought to Baclaran Church where a concelebrated mass was immediately said. This was followed by an all-night vigil and another mass the following day, attended by _ory. The huge crowd accompanied his remains on foot from Baclaran all the way to Ateneo, Evelio's alma mater, a distance of some 20 kilometers. He had been an idealistic Atenean who went back to his native province to try to reform the political system. He had succeeded as far as getting elected governor, a feat in itself considering the rough and dangerous game that was the politics of those days. In the end, the system got him and murdered him. Thousands viewed Evelio's remains and saluted him as a martyr for the cause of justice, thus helping to galvanize opposition to the perpetuation of Marcos' rule. One consolation from this whole episode is that the suspected mastermind, a traditional politician and warlord, is actually in detention at the moment of writing, having surrendered after fleeing the country.

Social Services

Today in Baclaran, the proclamation of the Word from the pulpit is complemented by social services which try to address the concrete day to day problems of the people, especially the abandoned poor. A social worker is on hand on a full time basis to respond to the various needs of the "walk-ins" who come to the shrine for every imaginable type of assistance. Among the more common types of financial assistance given are: for medical treatment, hospitalization, medicines, food, clothing, transportation, funeral, etc. The employment of a capable layperson for this work makes good sense. Not only does she have the professional skills to deal with these people, but it also avoids the paternalistic-dependent relationship that is invariably present when it is a priest or religious who responds to them. Two recent developments are worth noting: the involvement of social work students as volunteers and the integration of this service with the Justice and Peace Program, thus ensuring that the approach is not a mere dole out with no conscientizing component regarding the causes of poverty in the country.

On Sundays and Wednesdays, the Medical-Dental service is augmented by many volunteer medical students and professionals. There is an effort to support the development of appropriate indigenous health care like acupuncture, herbal medicines, etc. While taken by surprise at the conversion of the old sacristy into a clinic, it is actually sensible. Most concelebrations nowadays begin at the front door of the church and no longer in the old sacristy, while the space around the sanctuary is more than ample to provide a place for vesting for daily mass and even for a concelebration. This social service is a reminder that the life and min istry of Jesus involved healing as a manifestation of God's Reign.

There is an Outreach Program that tries to respond to natural and man-made calamities through relief and rehabilitation work. For example, the program responded after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo to the needs of the lahar (mudflow) victims in Bacolor, Pampanga. It also responds to the needs of people in the Resettlement Site at Wenceslao Village, the Batis Center for

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Women, etc. The Solidarity Assistance Committee (SAC) coordinates the work of some 200 volunteers. This Committee also gives publicity support to the causes of indigenous people, the urban poor, squatters and slum dwellers, migrant workers, peasants, the labor sector, prisoners, the sick, health, environment issues, the handicapped, women, youth, etc. As this is being written (Wednesday, Oct. 22, 1997), there are streamers displayed on the grounds announcing a rally of peasants against poverty. Their representatives are being given a chance to communicate their message to the people during some of the novena sessions.

The St. Gerard Family Life Center has professionals and trained peer counselors who give counseling on matters affecting the family, especially responsible parenthood and pro-life issues. (One of its projects is giving decent burial to fetuses around the statute of Our Lady which also serves as a marker for the victims of abortion.) Babies abandoned by their mothers in the church have been given for adoption through appropriate agencies. Some of the adoptions have turned out remarkably well. This apostolate is named after the Redemptorist St. Gerard Majella who is popularly known as "the saint of mothers." Some people who have no children pray to St. Gerard or try to procure a relic of the saint. As an aside, let me mention that one of my sisters-in-law, who had not conceived after some years of marriage, once asked me for a relic of St. Gerard. I gave her one and she became the mother of twins!

For street children, Baclaran has the Sarnelli Drop-In Center which provides them a refuge and a program of rehabilitation. Sarnelli was a Redemptorist in the time of St. Alphonsus who worked among the prostitutes of Naples. After his recent beatification, he has become a kind of informal patron of.Redemptorists engaged in the social ministry. Baclaran was the first to name a social project in his name. Started in 1995, there are 26 boys in two centers, one being temporarily located inside the Redemptorist compound due to the difficulty of finding a suitable house to rent (the neighbors don't like it too close to them). More recently, the Redemptorist Community has actually bought an old house for this apostololate, but the remodelling is taking longer than expected due to the presence of white ants. It is heartrending to listen to the case histories of these kids and the reasons for their leaving home and ending up in the streets. It takes a professional psychologist (an SVD priest), a dedicated staff, and volunteers to help them sort out their problems. The rehabilitation work takes quite some time, hence the need for a residential center.

The Redemptorist Community at Baclaran has never tried to run a big religious store. After almost fifty years, all that's there is a two counter store at a corner near the old sacristy. But an interesting recent development is a livelihood project producing Mother of Perpetual Help kits

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which include a novena booklet, holy water, rosary, etc. made by former entertainers of Japanese tourists, the so-called "Japajukis". Not only is this a livelihood and rehabilitation project of a grassroots nature, it is also an example of the encouragement of entrepreneurship being promoted at Baclaran.

The whole complex of Baclaran employs some 70 people either on a full-time or on a part-time basis. One of its programs of long standing is educational assistance to working students. As of this writing there are nine boys who are given employment possibilities while studying for a college degree. As soon as they graduate they have to yield their place to other working students. Some 300 - 400 students have been assisted by the Educational Assistance Program through scholarships and employment opportunities.

There are not many saints who were artists during their lifetime. In Rome, one of the most famous centers for classical music is the so-called Accademia Nazionale di Sta. Cecilia which recently acquired the well-known Korean Chung as its conductor. But the link between music and its patron Sta. Cecilia is very dubious to say the least. It is possible that she ne_er had a musical note in her head, or maybe never even existed! In the case of St. Alphonsus it is different. He was tutored in the arts in 18th century Naples when the city was at the peak _f its culture. He was a painter who painted a crucifixion when he was still a young lawyer. He himself was the architectural designer of the first houses of his religious congregation. He learned to play the clavichord and composed music and popular hymns. The original of his "Duetto" is in the British Museum.

Today in Italy, the most popular Christmas song is Alphonsus' Tu Scendi dalle Stelle (You Have Descended From The Stars). It is played on pipes by lowly shepherds along the streets of Rome to ask for money, as well as sung in poliphony in concert halls and basilicas. At Christmas parties of religious, when there is community singing, the Redemptorists present are usually asked to take a bow for their founder when Tu Scendi is sung. It is really rare to find another founder or saint who has contributed something significant to art.

In celebration of the 300th year of Alphonsus' birth, the Redemptorists of Baclaran put on an art exhibit during the Solemn Novena in preparation for the feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Help on June 27, 1997. It showcased the paintings of Redemptorists in the Philippines, as well as those of budding artists being encouraged by the Baclaran Community. This latter group, who call themselves Sining Bayan, also use_ three panels of the Redemptorist convento building near the front door to display their art talents. Currently, the theme is nationalistic in the context of the centennial of the Philippine Revolution of 1896 and the first Declaration of Philippine Independence in 1898. There is also a painting of St. Alphonsus as founder of the Redemptorists.

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The Baclaran Storyby: Fr. Luis G. Hechanova, C.Ss.R_______________________________________. Filipino Migrants Spread Devotion to Many Countries

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), there are now some 6 million Filipinos in 149 countries of the world. (16) With this great migration of Filipinos abroad in search of work, they have brought the Perpetual Help devotion with them to other lands.

Many Filipino migrant workers in the Middle East and elsewhere endure privations, both material and spiritual. An increasing number of letters of petition and thanksgiving are being received at Baclaran Church from Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). Consequently, their pastoral needs are becoming one of the ne,w concerns of the shrine. In fact, it is not uncommon to see people with tape recorders taping the novena and sermons to send to their loved ones abroad.

In some parishes in Canada and the U.S., the Filipinos have become the mainstay of their local parish or have helped to start a parish. It is they who keep the Perpetual Novena alive. According to a Redemptorist who studied in Chicago, a Filipino group there did not feel at home with the format of the novena in the Redemptorist church so they looked for another church where they could have it following the Baclaran format. In the New York area, Fr. Bernabe Sison works in a parish with hardly any Filipino church goers. When he introduced the Perpetual Help Novena, Filipinos from other parishes started coming regularly every Wednesday! Now other parishes are following suit.

Even in Rome where the original icon is found, the so-called Perpetual Novena was not worth mentioning until ten years ago when migrant Filipinos began to hold a weekly novena on Sundays and Thursday afternoons. On Sundays, the Mass is preceded with a novena for those who cannot come during the week due to their work. The other day for the novena is Thursday because that is the day when domestics have a half day off. And since the novena is said in English, it attracts people of other nationalities including Indians, Sri Lankans, Irish, Americans, etc. Lately, Perpetual Novena sessions have been started also in Italian on Tuesdays and in Polish on Wednesdays.

Nearby, only ten minutes' walk from the Redemptorist church, is the Filipino Chaplaincy in Rome located in the Church of Sta. Pudenziana. The Chaplain told me that, being a Salesian, he wanted to introduce devotions to Our Lady Help of Christians but hesitated, fearing that no one would come. He decided to introduce the Perpetual Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help and immediately he had a full church. Someone from our church was quite upset when he heard that the Chaplaincy was starting a novena at the same time as ours and in a church so close by. Overhearing the comment, I said: "Don't worry, both, churches will be full." And they are!

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The Meaning of Icons:

Our age is fond of icons. In computer-speak, icons are simple images that stand for something else, usually something more complicated and elaborate. The media are fond of identifying certain persons as "icons," role models who stand for or symbolize a certain value, way of life, etc. Princess Diana was one. Mother Teresa another.

The English word is derived from the Greek, EIKON, meaning image. Theologically, one speaks of Christ as the icon par excellence, "the image of the invisible God." In the eastern churches, an icon is a certain representation of a divine reality, usually a sacred person. It is more than" sacred art" which is a mere depiction of something divine. An icon is something more. In a Mysterious way it evokes not just the memory of a sacred person but the person's very presence. In the language of western theology, it is "sacramental." Hence, before starting to paint, the icon painter begins with a prayer in which he asks the Lord to direct his hand so that it may faithfully portray the divine and lead people into contact with it. The proper way to treat icons is not to display them as works of art, but to place them in a way that evokes prayer.

Icons often also carry a theological or spiritual message and can serve as instruments for instruction or catechesis. Hence the famous saying of St. John Damascene: "ll someone asks you to explain your faith, bring that person before the icons in the church "

What, then, is the theologico-spiritual message of the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help?

Mother of God

The most fundamental theological and spiritual message of the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help is that Mary is the MOTHER OF GOD. This is emblazoned on the icon itself by the greek initials for Meter Theou, Mother of God, also rendered in Greek as Theotokos (God-bearer). The son she is carrying is identified also by Greek initials for Jesus Christus.

In the first six centuries of the Church's history, the main theological question centered around the person of Jesus Christ. Who was he and who is he?

In the first place, he was known as Jesus, born in Bethlehem but grew up in Nazareth, in Galilee, the son of a local carpenter named Joseph, as ordinary a man as the guy next door. At 30 years of age, he abandons his profession and starts proclaiming the imminent coming of the Reign of God. He begins to attract crowds both by his forceful manner of preaching and by the cures that he performed. He gathers a group of followers for training, a bigger group called"

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disciples," and a smaller, more intimate group, called "apostles." But both his message and his person did not please everybody, least of all the authorities, civil and religious who were identical at that time. He ended up being executed like a common criminal by crucifixion, the form that capital punishment took in those days.

But that was not the end of him. Three days after his death and burial, extraordinary events began to happen. First, his mortal remains disappear and his tomb found empty. Then he appears to his friends sometimes as real as he .once was, like walking along with the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, or showing his wounds to doubting Thomas, or eating breakfast by the lake shore. But sometimes, he would suddenly appear in their midst defying closed doors and just as quickly disappear.

Then, telling his disciples to gather in Galilee and await "the Comforter" he was going to send them, he performed an extraordinary feat in their sight. He levitated towards the sky until he disappeared leaving them agape, eyes squinting and mouths open. And true to his word, ten days later, while they were at prayer with' his mother Mary, they experienced a rush of wind and tongues of fire hovering over them. This had an extraordinary effect on themselves and they came out of that room boldly proclaiming to all the world that Jesus was indeed the Promised Savior that God's Chosen People, the Israelites, had been waiting for all these years.

But the thing that struck them most and left them dumbfounded was that this Promised Savior turned out to _e more than just another prophetic leader in the stature of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Elijah, etc. whom God had used in the past. He was no less than God himself in human flesh! As they tried to reminisce on the heady days of Jesus of Nazareth, they began to recall snippets of divinity shining through his person and activities, even before the mind-boggling event of his resurrection. Like what happened at Mt. Thabor when he was suddenly transfigured into luminosity. But if he really was the Son of God in the real sense of being equal to God, how real was his humanity, that body that was crucified on the cross? Now that took some absorbing and it took six centuries to resolve officially.

It is bad enough to be faced with an extremely complex reality called a supernatural mystery. It is worse when you leave it to philosophers to try and express in intelligible language. But it was a question one could not run away from, at least not in the context of the Hellenic world of the first centuries of the Christian era. Fortunately or unfortunately for him, Jesus was born into a Palestine colonized by the Roman Empire, a political world strongly influenced by Greek culture and dominated by philosophers. It was a time of intellectual curiosity that wanted to have a

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rational explanation for everything, as Paul saw in Athens. And once christianity broke away from its moorings in the Jewish religion and became a religion apart after the Council of Jerqsalem, it began to have many members totally steeped in the GrecoRoman world. In the written memories of Jesus called the Gospels, his own people are already called "The Jews." like they were a people apart.

That Jesus was truly God was defined by the Council of Ephesus which declared him to be of the same nature as God the Father (homoousion, in the language of Greek philosophy). This definition so tilted the balance in favor of his divinity that some theologians began to treat his humanity as if it was surreal. It took the Council of Chalcedon to give the proper balance by declaring him to be "one (divine) person in two natures, human and divine." In other words, "true God and true Man."

This profoundly christological formula had implications for Mary who was pronounced at the same time to be "Theotokos," Mother of God. It is first and foremost a statement about Christ, before it is a statement about Mary. It affirms the double reality of Christ as both truly divine and truly human, at the same time that he is a single person. It is due to this mysteriously profound reality, this absolutely unique fusion of humanity and divinity in Christ Jesus that it is possible to call Mary "Mother of God." And every time that Mary is called Mother of God, this christological reality is affirmed and proclaimed.

This doctrine has tremendous implications for human existence whose depths have yet to be fathomed. It goes to the very heart of Christ's Incarnation. It speaks of how intimately God has chosen to identify himself with humankind. In the one person of Christ, the divine is united to the human in the deepest extent conceivable, and vice versa. "Being divine in nature, he did not claim in fact equality with God but emptied himself, taking on the nature of a servant, made in human likeness, and in his appearance found as a man...," Phil. 2, 6-11

Consequently, nothing human escapes the eyes and the concerns of Christ. He is the Pantocrator the universal Savior who was the first to love us an. 4, 10), who even laid down his life for our salvation. By identifying himself with the human condition, the Son of God transforms human existence and makes it possible for us to become in turn children of God. We are that already as of now and what we can further expect is still being kept as a pleasant surprise. an. 3, 1-2)

One family of icons of the Mother of God is called Hodegetria, meaning "pointing the way."

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They usually depict Our Lady pointing with an oversized hand to her Son seated on the opposite arm holding a scroll (the Word of _od) or with his fingers in a gesture of blessing (Savior). Something of this is in the Perpetual Help icon. Our Lady is shown with her son on her left arm and she points to him with a tight hand unusually bigger than normal. So the Perpetual Help icon can also be said to be an icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria.

This then is the first message of the Perpetual Help icon: Mary is the Mother of God who points to her Son as our Savior. Her being Mother of God is an affirmation of what Christ is and her pointing him to us is a statement of hope regarding what we can be in and through Christ. This is the first thing that the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help proclaims.

Virgin of the Passion

The icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help is not totally unique, but has a similarity with other icons. Sometimes people are surprised to see an icon that looks like her in some ways but also somewhat different. The fact is that it belongs to the family of icons called VIRGIN OF THE PASSION and this type of icon is typical of those produced on Crete by the so-called Creto- Venetian school. As we already said in the previous chapter, there are many variants of the Virgin of the Passion. The one called "Perpetual Help", having been stolen from Crete and brought to Rome in the 15th century, has passed from the Orthodox Church to the Roman Catholic Church where it has been propagated universally.

The most distinctive characteristic of this type of icons is the depiction of angels carrying the instruments of the Passion. If the angels are absent, they are icons of the Mother of God, but not of the Virgin of the Passion. On the left side as we look at the picture, we see the archangel Michael carrying the lance, the reed with the sponge, and the vessel of vinegar. On the right, we see the archangel Gabriel carrying the cross with the crown of thorns and the nails. There is no mistaking their identity because their initials are written on the Icon.

This scene evokes the event of the Presentation at the Temple when old man Simeon recognizes the child as the promised savior. Yet he was going to be a savior with a difference, one who was going to be a sign of contradiction. As for Mary, she will not be unaffected because a sword will pierce her own soul (heart). The Child's face is turned towards the instruments of the passion and one of his sandals is shown falling off.

The traditional interpretation of this scene is that the Child Jesus gets frightened at the prospect of having to undergo his passion and clings to his mother's hand for comfort. The way the naked sole of the Child's foot is turned towards us (much more deliberate in certain variants)

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leads to the interpretation that it is meant to show his vulnerability to suffering. The passion is for real, he will really suffer as any human person would in the circumstances. To sum up, it is as if Mother and Child are being given a sneak preview of the passion that Jesus has to undergo in bringing about the salvation of humankind. Yet the Mother's face is not turned towards the instruments of the passion but at us, as if she has something to say to us about her Son and His Passion.

In his book cited above, Fr. Ferrero poinJs out that the angels holding the instruments of the passion with veiled hands also appear in icons depicting the Risen Christ e.g. as he goes down to the dead to announce his resurrection. He concludes that the instruments of the passion carried with veiled hands by the two archangels suggest not just the suffering side of Christ's Passion, but also his resurrection. This is such a significantly new perspective that Fr. Ferrero mentions it in the subtitle of his book: "Mother of Perpetual Help: An icon of the Holy Mother of God, Virgin of the Passion, with a preview of the Glorious Passion of Christ."

To western ears, this might sound farfetched, but I think it makes sense when viewed within the context of eastern theology. The oriental tradition has always tended to emphasize the glorious aspect of the passion rather than the suffering side. Thus, their cross is not a crucifix with a corpus of the suffering or dead Christ. It is usually decorated and bejewelled to emphasize that the passion ended in resurrection. In other words, they always think of salvation as coming through the glorious passion of Christ. If this was the intention of the icon painter, then in looking straight at us Our Lady is reminding us that although her Son suffered through his Passion, He has actually attained our salvation by rising from the dead. In giving that encouragement and consolation to us who are still struggling in this life, she is truly Our Mother of Perpetual Help.

Thus, we have in the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help the whole story of Redemption, the core doctrine on which our Christian faith is based.

(* Excerpts from the book THE BACLARAN STORY by +Fr Luis G. Hechanova, C.Ss.R.).

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