Black Nazarene pre-dawn procession on Good Friday draws devotees

Hundreds of Catholic devotees flocked to the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene, more famously known as Quiapo Church, as the life-sized image of Christ was brought out for a procession before dawn on Good Friday. The Black Nazarene was taken out to Plaza Miranda at around 3 a.m. Friday following a Mass inside Quiapo Church. Some devotees who participated in the event had brought their own replicas of the Black Nazarene mounted in carriages. The pilgrims struggled to get close to the statue, believed to be miraculous, to wipe it with their white handkerchiefs and towels. The statue of the Black Nazarene, believed to have been brought from Mexico to Manila in 1606 by Spanish missionaries, is taken out of the church for procession twice in a year: during its feast on January 9 and on Good Friday. In January this year, the procession for the Feast of the Black Nazarene clocked in at 22 hours, the longest ever for the said occasion. ––A.M. Marzoña/KG, GMA News