Photo Release

CONSULATE GENERAL ATTENDS NAZARENO ENTHRONEMENT

On 17 August 2025, the Consulate General, represented by Consul Melvin Almonguera and Protocol Officer Martyn Asker Orcine, joined the Filipino Community during the enthronement of the Black Nazarene at St. Peter Damian Catholic Church in Bartlett, Illinois. The Nazareno enthronement was a first in Chicagoland.

Some 400 Filipino faithful coming from all over Chicago and its surrounding suburbs attended the event. Fr. Rene Mangahas, a Filipino priest, was the main celebrant of the Holy Mass following the blessing of the image. The Black Nazarene was then enthroned inside the church after its procession around the parish complex.

The image of the Black Nazarene was commissioned in the Philippines, through the efforts of the church’s Filipino parishioners headed by Mr. Benjamin Sabalvaro. Devotion to the Black Nazarene is very popular in the Philippines. The dark image of Jesus Christ kneeling on one knee and carrying a large wooden cross was first brought to Manila from Mexico by Augustinian Recollect missionaries in 1606. The Black Nazarene is enshrined at Quiapo Church in Manila, which, on 11 December 1987, was granted the recognition as the Minor Basilica of the Nazarene because of its role in strengthening a deep popular devotion to Jesus Christ. END