When I was a kid, I wasn't particularly attracted to the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. All I can remember is that her picture hung above the door of my grandmother's bedroom. This print was within a light box of some sort and it had piercings through it. So when you plug it on, the little light bulb from the back produced quite a scary sight for a child, at least for a child like me. Her eyes piercing, her gaze unwavering. Can you blame me? This type of religious folkcraft was very popular in the Philippines. You can purchase them outside Baclaran Church in one of the myriad of stalls that line its perimeter.
Baclaran Church, the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in the Philippines. A virtual mecca of Christendom wherein devotees from near and far converge every Wednesday to say the "perpetual" novena, who many attest does not fail to grant one's wishes. The very first of such novenas was celebrated on June 23, 1948. There were only a handful of people in attendance, 70 to be exact. A decade later, the church had to be expanded and what once sat only 300, now seats 2,000 with an additional 9,000 standing. Its open archways afforded people to squeeze into the church to catch a glimpse of the small icon aloft its aureole of angels in the main altar.
Declared to be the most visited church in Asia with an average of a 100,000 visitors on a regular Wednesday, rain or shine, Baclaran Church has never closed its doors since it was consecrated over half a century ago. I used to visit it in the middle of the night, when all was quiet with just the occasional alley cat to be my companion. I can still smell the burning candles that pilgrims have left behind to invoke in their stead their numerous pleas to our heavenly Queen...
Baclaran Church, the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in the Philippines. A virtual mecca of Christendom wherein devotees from near and far converge every Wednesday to say the "perpetual" novena, who many attest does not fail to grant one's wishes. The very first of such novenas was celebrated on June 23, 1948. There were only a handful of people in attendance, 70 to be exact. A decade later, the church had to be expanded and what once sat only 300, now seats 2,000 with an additional 9,000 standing. Its open archways afforded people to squeeze into the church to catch a glimpse of the small icon aloft its aureole of angels in the main altar.
Declared to be the most visited church in Asia with an average of a 100,000 visitors on a regular Wednesday, rain or shine, Baclaran Church has never closed its doors since it was consecrated over half a century ago. I used to visit it in the middle of the night, when all was quiet with just the occasional alley cat to be my companion. I can still smell the burning candles that pilgrims have left behind to invoke in their stead their numerous pleas to our heavenly Queen...
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