Every first Sunday of December, the old city of Manila witnesses the Philippines' greatest Marian procession, the "Grand Marian Procession" in honor of the Immaculate Conception, Patroness of the Philippines. It is a rare moment of liturgical splendor in what is otherwise a terrible liturgical desert, featuring blue copes and tunicled acolytes (remnants of the liturgical privileges that the Hispanic colonies had) and dozens of statues and paintings of the Blessed Virgin, from the most famous to the most obscure (such as the Our Lady of the Dormition). This year's procession had 80 statues.
The Immaculate Conception
Relics
Where is the procession?
Tunicled acolytes
Tunicled acolyte
Incensation of an image of the Virgin. (Take note of the blue cope.)
Incensation of Our Lady of the Rosary
Archbishop Diosdado Talamayan of Tuguegarao with tunicled acolytes
Nuestra Senora de la Anunciacion
Nuestra Senora de la Esperanza
Nuestra Senora de la Dormicion
Divina PastoraMore pictures can be found here.
For this year, incredibly enough, five of the acolytes (including some of those who assisted the archbishop and the rector of the cathedral) were sourced from the corps of TLM servers of the Parish of the Lord of Divine Mercy, the only church under diocesan auspices in Metro Manila that has a daily Traditional Latin Mass. Fifteen other acolytes -- the majority -- came from the Hermanded dela Sagrada Pasion, which is devoted to the preservation of Catholic pious traditions.
