Tacloban City (CNN Philippines, January 9) — Devotees of the Black Nazarene from the Eastern Visayas region joined the nation on Tuesday in celebrating the Traslacion by holding their local versions.
Hundreds of devotees from Northern Samar joined the procession in the morning across Catarman, the capital of Northern Samar, while devotees in Tacloban, the regional capital of Eastern Visayas, had a motorcade with the image of the Black Nazarene across the city’s main streets.
The replica of the Black Nazarene of Quiapo is enthroned at the Diocesan Shrine of Padre Jesus Nazareno in Catarman, Northern Samar, where it arrived in 2014.
In Tacloban, the replica is enshrined at the Saint Rock the Healer Parish in Manlurip, San Jose. It arrived in Tacloban in 2021, five years after the original image of the Black Nazarene visited the city in 2016 as part of the commemoration of the third anniversary of Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan).
Since 2015, devotees have been celebrating the Traslacion, accompanying the image as it is paraded across Catarman.
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In the message of Palo Archdiocese Archbishop John Du that was read during the mass at the Saint Rock the Healer Parish, Leyte Roman Catholic Chancellor Fr. Gwen Padagdag reminded churchgoers to always remember the \”unconditional and unending\” love of God every time they will look at the face of the Black Nazarene.
\”We have a God who took upon himself the suffering that was supposed to be for us,\” Archbishop Du said. \”Because he knows that it was unbearable for us, he became man and carried the heavy weight of the cross. He knows what we undergo and He knows every worry and difficulty we have.\”
