“AQUI en la Pampanga hay mucha piedad pero poca caridad.”
For the
sake of those indios pobresitos ignorantes en la lengua de Madre España,
we ilustrados y insulares take that to mean “in
Pampanga, there is much piety but little charity.”
Fifty-nine years ago, Bishop Cesar Ma. Guerrero, the first to occupy the bishopric of San Fernando, uttered those words in lamentation over “the stark class differences between the rich and the poor, the strife between the landlords and the tenants, and a deteriorating socio-political-economic situation bordering on socialism.”
These were manifest situations of the imperative of revolution in his See. And a revolution did indeed obtain then in Pampanga, with the Huks already knocking “at the very gates of Manila.”
Denounced as apostates, damned as atheists pursuing the establishment of a “godless society,” the Huks naturally had to be stopped, and their ideology uprooted to “save the country and Mother Church.”
Fifty-nine years ago, Bishop Cesar Ma. Guerrero, the first to occupy the bishopric of San Fernando, uttered those words in lamentation over “the stark class differences between the rich and the poor, the strife between the landlords and the tenants, and a deteriorating socio-political-economic situation bordering on socialism.”
These were manifest situations of the imperative of revolution in his See. And a revolution did indeed obtain then in Pampanga, with the Huks already knocking “at the very gates of Manila.”
Denounced as apostates, damned as atheists pursuing the establishment of a “godless society,” the Huks naturally had to be stopped, and their ideology uprooted to “save the country and Mother Church.”
A
strategic policy of the Cold War placed the Church at the bulwark of the war
against communism in Asia, especially so with the Philippines being the only
Christian nation in this part of the globe.
Thus, Bishop Guerrero organized the Cruzada – the Crusade for Penance and Charity – in 1952. In revolutionary praxis, the Cruzada served the ends of a counter-revolution. Unrepentant communists would readily see it as the affirmation of the Marxist dictum: “Religion is the opium of the people.”
Images of the Virgen de los Remedios and Santo Cristo del Perdon were taken all around the Pampanga parishes were they stayed for days, the faithful seeking their intercession and intervention through non-stop prayers and nightly processions.
A hymn to the virgin was composed with peace as recurrent refrain: “…ica’ng minye tula ampon capayapan / quing indu ning balen quequeng lalawigan / uling calimbun mu caring sablang dalan / ding barrio at puruc caring cabalenan / agad menatili ing catahimican…” (…you gave us joy and peace / to the mother of our province / when taken in procession / in all the barrios in the towns / peace descended upon them…) Forgive the poor translation.
Thus, Bishop Guerrero organized the Cruzada – the Crusade for Penance and Charity – in 1952. In revolutionary praxis, the Cruzada served the ends of a counter-revolution. Unrepentant communists would readily see it as the affirmation of the Marxist dictum: “Religion is the opium of the people.”
Images of the Virgen de los Remedios and Santo Cristo del Perdon were taken all around the Pampanga parishes were they stayed for days, the faithful seeking their intercession and intervention through non-stop prayers and nightly processions.
A hymn to the virgin was composed with peace as recurrent refrain: “…ica’ng minye tula ampon capayapan / quing indu ning balen quequeng lalawigan / uling calimbun mu caring sablang dalan / ding barrio at puruc caring cabalenan / agad menatili ing catahimican…” (…you gave us joy and peace / to the mother of our province / when taken in procession / in all the barrios in the towns / peace descended upon them…) Forgive the poor translation.
The unrepentant Marxist instantly finding there one more
affirmation of religion as “the sigh of the oppressed creature,
the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions.”
But
as the Good Bishop Guerrero discerned, the road to the heavenly gates is not
all about piety. The charity end of the crusade – lamac – was
institutionalized – all the barrio folk shared some goods, even the poorest of
them the little they could afford, that would accompany the images to their
next destination and given to the neediest there.
Thus the hymn goes: “Ding sablang pisamban ampon ding bisitas / a quecang delawan O virgen a maslag / ding anggang memalen pigdala mung lamac / metula lang dacal, queca pasalamat / casalpantayanan miunlad, milablab / iIng pamicalugud agad linaganap (All the churches and chapels / visited by you O virgin most radiant / all the people whom you gifted / rejoice and offer their thanksgiving / their faith increased, rekindled / their love spread.) Again forgive the literal translation.
Thus the hymn goes: “Ding sablang pisamban ampon ding bisitas / a quecang delawan O virgen a maslag / ding anggang memalen pigdala mung lamac / metula lang dacal, queca pasalamat / casalpantayanan miunlad, milablab / iIng pamicalugud agad linaganap (All the churches and chapels / visited by you O virgin most radiant / all the people whom you gifted / rejoice and offer their thanksgiving / their faith increased, rekindled / their love spread.) Again forgive the literal translation.
In
effect, the Cruzada became an equalizing and unifying factor
among the faithful, regardless of their socio-economic situation. And relative
peace did come to the province. For a time.
The breadth and depth of the devotion to the Virgen de los Remedios of the Capampangan moved Pope Pius XII to approve her canonical coronation as the patroness of Pampanga on September 8, 1956.
Fifty-nine years hence, “the stark class differences between the rich and the poor, the strife between the landlords and the tenants, and a deteriorating socio-political-economic situation” still obtain in Pampanga, though to a much lesser critical degree than at the birth of the Cruzada, what with the spectre of communism exorcised with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1990s yet.
The breadth and depth of the devotion to the Virgen de los Remedios of the Capampangan moved Pope Pius XII to approve her canonical coronation as the patroness of Pampanga on September 8, 1956.
Fifty-nine years hence, “the stark class differences between the rich and the poor, the strife between the landlords and the tenants, and a deteriorating socio-political-economic situation” still obtain in Pampanga, though to a much lesser critical degree than at the birth of the Cruzada, what with the spectre of communism exorcised with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1990s yet.
With
the same conditions still extant, a new spectre has come to haunt humanity:
that which Pope Francis defined the "allure of a
materialism that stifles authentic spiritual and cultural values and the spirit
of unbridled competition which generates selfishness and strife."
“We see
signs of an idolatry of wealth, power and pleasure, which come at a high cost
to human lives,” the Pontiff said.
We see signs
there of the very temptations laid down by the devil before Christ Himself.
The Cruzada of penance and charity enters a
new field of battle. Onward Christian soldiers…
(Updated from my Free Zone published in the now-defunct Pampanga News
issue of July 6-12, 2006)
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