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Opinion
Continuing Crusade
By Bong Lacson
Sep 06, 2010
“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-four years ago, Bishop Cesar Ma. Guerrero, the first to occupy the bishopric of San Fernando, uttered those words, noting “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 “at the very gates of Manila.”
Marked as apostates 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.
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 charity end of the crusade – Lamac – was institutionalized – all the barrio folk, even the poorest of them, shared some goods that would accompany the images to their next destination and given to the neediest there. Thus:
“Ding sablang pisamban ampon din visitas / a kecang delauan, O Virgen a maslag / ding anggang memalen pigdala mong lamac / metula lang dacal keca pasalamat / kasalpantayanan miunlad, milablab, / ing pamicalugud agad linaganap. (All the churches and chapels / you visited, O virgin most brilliant / all the people who received grace / were full of joy and thanksgiving / their faith rekindled / love instantly spread) Again, forgive the literal, very unliterary translation.
The Cruzada in effect became an equalizing and unifying factor among the faithful, regardless of their socio-economic situation. And relative peace did come to the province.
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 four 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 bordering on socialism” still obtain.
Mucha piedad pero poca caridad. The poor casamac in the farms, the exploited worker in the factories, the harassed servant in the home, the homeless in the streets – all manifests of a continuing cycle of injustice, of avarice, maybe even of man’s inhumanity to man.
The Cruzada continues.
O Virgen de los Remedios / damdam ka king kekeng aus, / iligtas mu ke’t icabus / king sablang tucsu at maroc / ibye mu ing kecang lunus / panalangin muke king Dios. (O Virgin of all Remedies / hear our supplication / save us / from all temptations and evils/ grant us your mercy/ to God pray for us). You just have to forgive me for mangling the essence of the song in my uninspired translation. At least you get the drift there.
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-four years ago, Bishop Cesar Ma. Guerrero, the first to occupy the bishopric of San Fernando, uttered those words, noting “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 “at the very gates of Manila.”
Marked as apostates 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.
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 charity end of the crusade – Lamac – was institutionalized – all the barrio folk, even the poorest of them, shared some goods that would accompany the images to their next destination and given to the neediest there. Thus:
“Ding sablang pisamban ampon din visitas / a kecang delauan, O Virgen a maslag / ding anggang memalen pigdala mong lamac / metula lang dacal keca pasalamat / kasalpantayanan miunlad, milablab, / ing pamicalugud agad linaganap. (All the churches and chapels / you visited, O virgin most brilliant / all the people who received grace / were full of joy and thanksgiving / their faith rekindled / love instantly spread) Again, forgive the literal, very unliterary translation.
The Cruzada in effect became an equalizing and unifying factor among the faithful, regardless of their socio-economic situation. And relative peace did come to the province.
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 four 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 bordering on socialism” still obtain.
Mucha piedad pero poca caridad. The poor casamac in the farms, the exploited worker in the factories, the harassed servant in the home, the homeless in the streets – all manifests of a continuing cycle of injustice, of avarice, maybe even of man’s inhumanity to man.
The Cruzada continues.
O Virgen de los Remedios / damdam ka king kekeng aus, / iligtas mu ke’t icabus / king sablang tucsu at maroc / ibye mu ing kecang lunus / panalangin muke king Dios. (O Virgin of all Remedies / hear our supplication / save us / from all temptations and evils/ grant us your mercy/ to God pray for us). You just have to forgive me for mangling the essence of the song in my uninspired translation. At least you get the drift there.
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