Maria Sanctissima: Strong Filipinas

The following article appeared in the VIA Times Newsmagazine for May, 2012.  It is No. 6 in the series on Strong Filipino Women.

Maria Sanctissima: Strong Filipinas (6)

I admit that it might seem a little nationalistic to suggest that the Virgin Mary,

Mother of Jesus, can be considered a “Strong Filipina.” I nonetheless think it is

appropriate, especially in the Marian month of May.  The account below of the Bulahan

Cross (Province of Iloilo, Island of Panay) explains why I think so.  It is about an

experience I had in Iloilo in 1998.  I first wrote the story in 2004 and include it here with

just a few changes and an up-date.

The up-date is about the noted Filipino anthropologist, Dr. Alicia Magos, who

made the story possible.  She appears to have retired from teaching, but she continues to

be active as a writer, researcher, and a popular authority.  When the press recently sought

to clear up some historical questions about a group of indigenous princesses featured in a

popular TV program (“Amaya”), they came to her for the final word.    

   My Chair at the University of the Philippines, knowing of my interest in the

role of women in the Philippines, had introduced me to the noted anthropologist Alicia

Magos.  Dr. Magos in turn graciously invited me to visit her in Iloilo City, the provincial

capital, to consult with her.  She was a specialist on the Babaylans, a sect of priests, male

and female, who dated back to pre-Christian days and were still active in the Philippines,

prominently in Iloilo.  Dr. Magos was away when I visited her offices, but she left me in

the good hands of her two research assistants.  Our discovery occurred in mid-morning.

After merienda, Eliodora and Randy shared with me some remarkable data that a

third research assistants had gathered.  Eliodora had realized at this point that my interest

in the Babaylans was aimed particularly at the traditional role of women as leaders.  The

third research assistant had visited the Bulahan (“Blessed”) Church at Centro and made

a study of its religious iconography, especially the Bulahan Cross.  Eliodora knew I

would be amazed.  I was.  I inquired where Centro was, with the idea of going there,

but Eliodora responded, “somewhere in the hills,” with an added wave of the hand that

meant, “far away.”  In other words, “we can’t get there today.” 

Fortunately the third research assistant’s notes were complete and were

accompanied by photographs.  I spent the rest of the morning examining these items with

Eliodora’s help.  The Cross of the Bulahan Church offers tangible evidence that Filipinos

wedded Christianity and their earlier religious beliefs in the figure of Mary.  Dr. Magos

had told me about a new (expanded) Trinity, and here it was. 

Above the entrance to the church, as shown in one of the photos, is a symmetrical

cross, with upright and transverse parts of equal length.  Clearly visible near the four

outer edges of the cross are either initials or names related to the four—that’s four—

divine persons in the one God.  The initials are on the upright branch and stand for Latin

phrases: DES (“Dios Espiritu Sancto” or God the Holy Spirit) at the top; MS (“Maria

Sanctissima” or Mary Most Holy) at the foot.  The names, in the local language of the

Centro region, are on the transverse branch: AMAY (Father); ANAK (Son).

The local people who attend this church apparently continue to reverence the

female deity in the person of Mary, now in conjunction with the three male divinities of

the Christian Trinity.  A second photograph, this one taken inside the church, confirms

this view.  A statue of Mary, rather than a cross, occupies the place of honor above the

single altar.  At one side is a statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; at the other side is

another statue of Mary.  The congregation numbers over two hundred devout attendees. 

The two photographs confirmed, for me, that Filipinos, from the early days after

the arrival of the Spaniards in the sixteenth century, identified Mary with their Mother

Goddess.  From their perspective, their Mother Goddess, in the guise of Mary, welcomed

the new deities as equals.  That makes Mary a Strong Filipina indeed, and perhaps helps

to explain the continuing prevalence of Strong Filipinas, like Dr. Magos for example.  

Bob Boyer welcomes e-mails at <robert.boyer@snc.edu> .