MANILA, January 8, 2008— The head of Manila’s Roman Catholic Church will lead the faithful in the celebration of the yearly feast of the “Black Nazarene” on Friday.

Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales will lead thousands of devotees of the Black Nazarene in a Mass at 7 a.m. tomorrow at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila.

The “translacion” or the transfer of the image from Intramuros to Quiapo Church will also be reenacted Friday.

But instead of Intramuros, the reenacment of the “miraculous” image will take place at the Quirino Grandstand where it was brought today for an overnight vigil.

From Luneta, the centuries-old statue will be brought back to the Quiapo Church for the yearly festivities in honor of the Nazareno.

This is not the first time that the traslacion will be reenacted since organizers did the same thing during the Nazareno’s 400th year anniversary in 2007.

In a radio interview, Msgr. Clemente Ignacio, parish priest of the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene or Quiapo church, explained the reason behind the traslacion.

"Actually it is not the feast of the Nazarene that is celebrated on January 9 but the translacion of the image, because if we will abide by the liturgy, the feast is really on Good Friday," he said over Church-run Radyo Veritas.

The priest also said the traditional procession will take on a new route so as to decongest the crowd and prevent any accident.

“We want to decongest the crowd because the Quiapo area is too small,” he said.

Catholic devotees of the Black Nazarene earlier were also urged by organizers not to bring their children in the procession of the Black Nazarene.

“We won’t allow the children to join because of the big number of people that usually join the procession,” Fr. Venus Suarez, assistant parish priest of Quiapo church, said.

The Black Nazarene is being brought out of Quiapo church twice a year every January 9 and on Good Friday. (CBCPNews)