Front of Manila Cathedral minutes before the start of the procession, everything looked nice and ready...too bad it's still raining hard
On the other side of Manila Cathedral, approaching Plaza Roma are the different contingents of the Philippine Military
Any moment now...
Leading the procession...
Patroness of the Philippine Army
San Andres, patron saint of Intramuros
Andrew, like his brother Simon Peter, was a fisherman. He became a disciple of the great St. John the Baptist, but when John pointed to Jesus and said, "Behold the Lamb of God!" Andrew understood that Jesus was greater. At once he left John to follow the Divine Master. Jesus knew that Andrew was walking behind him, and turning back, he asked, "what do you seek?" When Andrew answered that he would like to know where Jesus lived, Our Lord replied, "Come and see." Andrew had been only a little time with Jesus when he realized that this was truly the Messiah.
From then on, he chose to follow Jesus. Andrew was thus the first disciple of Christ. Next, Andrew brought his brother Simon (St. Peter) to Jesus and Jesus received him, too, as His disciple. At first the two brothers continued to carry on their fishing trade and family affairs, but later, the Lord called them to stay with Him all the time. He promised to make them fishers of men, and this time, they left their nets for good. It is believed that after Our Lord ascended into Heaven, St. Andrew went to Greece to preach the gospel. He is said to have been put to death on a cross, to which he was tied, not nailed. He lived two days in that state of suffering, still preaching to the people who gathered around their beloved Apostle. Two countries have chosen St. Andrew as their patron - Russia and Scotland. Taken from St. Andrew
San Jose in Plaza Roma
The Annunciation
Dela O and the child in her womb
The rain keeps getting in the way...but as they say the show must go on...
Our Lady of the Nativity
Mary in the Christmas Story
Dormicion
De Guia and the MALP Hermandad Members
Mary untier of Knots
Mary Untier of Knots or Mary Undoer of Knots is a Baroque icon (German: Wallfahrtsbild or Gnadenbild) by Johann George Melchior Schmidtner, of around 1700, in the Catholic pilgrimage church of "St. Peter am Perlach", otherwise Perlach church, in Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany.
It shows the Virgin Mary untying knots and at the same time treading on the head of a snake, representing the devil and symbolising the prophecy in Genesis 3.15 that "[thy seed] shall bruise the serpent's head". Below Mary is illustrated an incident from the Book of Tobit: the Archangel Raphael with Tobias on the way to Sarah, daughter of Raguel, to ask for her hand in marriage.
The concept of Mary untying knots is derived from St. Irenaeus of Lyons' book Adversus haereses (Against Heresies). In Book III, Chapter 22, he explains that "... the knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Mary set free through faith." Taken from Mary Untier of Knots
Vessel of Honor
Mirror of Justice
Our Lady of Goodwill and Pieta
Health of the Sick
Mary, health of the Sick
Last minute decorations but still made it in time for the procession
Our Lady of the Holy Trinity
Dancing images of Mary
Our Lady of Angels with St. Anthony and St. Francis of Assisi
Our Lady of Cabra...dramatic entrance with the huge moving tent...
Amabilis
Our Lady of Stars
Our Lady of Aranzazu
The standing Aranzazu
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
De Baranggay
A Filipiniana Virgin
Exiting Plaza Roma
Montserrat
The Black Madonna
Caysasay
Our Lady of Sorrows
Turumba sa Mahal na Birhen
Nazarena...more images to come, I can't believe myself...I was already wishing the procession will soon end...aside from the rain, the winds grew stronger...so wet and so cold...
And the procession continued...
Esperanza de Macarena in Plaza Roma
Pallio-side
Our Lady of Fatima
The Coronada's
Canonically crowned images of Mary in the Philippines
Queen of Pasig...
...the Immaculate Conception
Divina Pastora in Plaza Roma
Our Lady of Piat
The different del Rosario Images of the Philippines: Orani, Piat and La Naval
The Immaculate Conception, Cofradia's Festejada Image
Exiting Plaza Roma
The Immaculate Conception of Mary is a dogma of the Roman Catholic Church, according to which the Virgin Mary was conceived without any stain (in Latin, macula or labes, the second of these two synonymous words being the one used in the formal definition) of original sin.[1][2] It is one of the four dogmata in Roman Catholic Mariology. It is completely distinct from the Virginity of Mary and the virgin birth of Jesus, though it is a popular mistake to confuse them. Mary is sometimes called the Immaculata (the Immaculate One), particularly in artistic contexts.[3]
The proclaimed Roman Catholic dogma states "that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin".[1] Being always free from original sin, she was from the start filled with the sanctifying grace that would normally come with baptism after birth. Although widely-held since at least Late Antiquity, the doctrine was not formally proclaimed until Pope Pius IX did so in 1854 in Ineffabilis Deus. Today, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary is nominally celebrated in many countries, both either as a public holiday or Holy Day of Obligation. Taken from Immaculate Conception
Going to Intramuros amidst the strong rains was challenging. Taking pictures behind a sea of umbrella's proved hard and frustrating at times. Being soaked in the rain and vulnerable to the wind tested my endurance. But the thing is, it doesn't matter, I have seen another GMP! Viva Inmaculada Concepcion! Viva!
