Friday, January 19, 2024

It is the 19th of January 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

For the third consecutive year, we return to the Philippines- the only Asian nation with a predominantly Christian population- we will remember a distinct event and then dive into a few distinctive aspects of the Filipino Christian church.

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X A very happy 417th birthday to the Church of Saint Augustine in Manilla, which was consecrated on this day in 1607. It is the oldest church in the Philippines, dating back to 1571- it has seen fire, rebellion, earthquakes, and foreign invasion. Following the Japanese invasion during World War II and the American-led assault on Manila, it is the only remaining stone structure in the city center.

The church saw British looting during the occupation in 1762. It was also converted into a concentration camp during the Japanese invasion during World War II. Elements of the building, like an old Bell Tower, were destroyed by an earthquake, but the adobe stone building still stands today.

It is the cultural center of the Filipino faith, having been named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1993. Like the Filipino faith itself, it is a curious blend of indigenous architecture, Spanish-Mexican baroque, and Neo classical Roman Catholicism. Today, the church in the Philippines remains predominantly Catholic- it was Catholic Orders in the wake of the Reformation that brought the faith to the Philippines, and it was the Augustinians who founded the church that today is a symbol of the faith in the country.

Christianity in the Philippines is a blend of 16th-century Catholicism, indigenous practices, and a blend of the amalgam of various Christian missionaries that have left their mark on the Filipino church.

One distinctive is the Missa de Gallo (the Rooster’s Mass)- a practice inherited from Spanish-speaking countries that involves a series of midnight masses that can last into the morning (hence its association with the Rooster).

The month of May is dedicated to Marian devotion with flowers strewn across altars and, depending on the calendar, a procession honoring the finding of the True Cross and Novenas (a series of prayers said over nine days).

Easter is the high holy day for Christians in the Philippines with the annual chanting and reading of the Pasyon- a Filipino epic poem that tells the story of the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ. Dramatic reenactments have long held a place in Filipino culture, and this leads us to a curious tradition that is usually picked up by some news outlet every Easter season.

Part of the reenactment of the passion cycle includes many flagellants- Christians who physically whip themselves to the point of bleeding as penance for sin. This has led to the reenactment of the crucifixion with as many as 12 physical crucifixions, complete with 4-inch nails piercing the hands and feet of volunteers. Tens of thousands will flock to the town of Pampanga north of Manila, where, for the past 34 years, Ruben Enaje has been nailed to a cross as part of the procession- he will typically spend 10 to 15 minutes on the cross before being taken off.

The Catholic Church in the Philippines has denounced the practice, with one Bishop noting that “Holy Week is not the time to showcase man’s propensity for entertainment and Pharisaical tendencies.” But this is the nature of the faith that has been fiercely independent, idiosyncratic, and, at times, syncretistic. Today, we remember the Filipino church on the anniversary of its oldest building- the only church to still stand today from the church’s origins to today- the Church of Saint Augustine in Manilla, consecrated on this day in 1607.

The last word for today is from the daily lectionary- back in Psalm 62:

Surely the lowborn are but a breath,
    the highborn are but a lie.


If weighed on a balance, they are nothing;

    together they are only a breath.

Do not trust in extortion

    or put vain hope in stolen goods;


though your riches increase,

    do not set your heart on them.

One thing God has spoken,

    two things I have heard:


“Power belongs to you, God,
    and with you, Lord, is unfailing love”;


and, “You reward everyone

    according to what they have done.”

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 19th of January 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man perfectly happy to imitate Christ with humility and charity and will leave the nails for his woodshop- He is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man reminding you it’s “flagellants”- people who whip themselves, not its homonym- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.