It is common to hear that Filipino Catholics are in love with the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Our love for her is reflected on how we celebrate the Marian devotion noticeable during the month of May,

• For the whole month of May, Filipino Catholics pray The Holy Rosary.
• Flower Offering, the month of May falls on a spring season where flowers are abundant making the festivities more colorful. The rose is commonly offered to Mother Mary, the red rose had come to represent Christ’s passion, and the blood of the martyrs. The most common association of the rose is with the Virgin Mary.
• Agape (love feast) where after the 9-day novena (Katapusan/Tapusan) a communal meal is shared and usually accompanied with games for the children.
• Santacruzan, a notable feature of the celebration where a grand procession is held usually on the last day, however nowadays, it is being done nightly for the whole month of May.

History of Santacruzan

Introduced by the Spaniards in the Philippines since 1800’s has become part of Filipino traditions originated as a way to commemorate and to retell the story of how Queen Helena, or “Reyna Elena,” mother of Constantine the Great, uncovered the Holy Cross, on which Jesus Christ was crucified.

How was the Cross uncovered?

The Roman Emperor Hadrian had built during the 130s a temple to Venus over the supposed site of Jesus’s tomb near Calvary, and renamed the city Aelia Capitolina. When Constantine was proclaimed Emperor of the Roman Empire in 306, he appointed his mother Helena as Empress Constantine was converted to Christianity and is considered a key historical figure responsible for turning Christianity from being the persecuted minority to being the official religion of Rome. He gave her mother, who became a zealous Christian, unlimited access to the imperial treasury in order to locate the relics of the Christian tradition. At the old age of 75, around 300 years after Christ’s crucifixion, the Queen went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem in search of the HolyCross at Calvary. The temple of Venus was demolished, thereby exposing the site where Christ was crucified.

Emperor Constantine himself wrote to St. Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem, ordering him to make a search for the cross on Mount Calvary. Just east of the site, three crosses were found in a rock-cistern as well as the titulus (the wood plaque inscribed with INRI – Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum). The question then arose, “Which was the cross of Christ?”

Queen Helena refused to be swayed by anything short of solid proof, performed a test The three crosses and the titulus were removed from the cistern. A woman, dying from a terminal disease, was brought to the discovery site. She was asked to touch the crosses, one by one. After touching the third cross, she was cured, thereby the True Cross was identified. Historians also relate the later finding of other instruments of the Passion on the site.

It is important to note that,

St. Ambrose preached that when St. Helena found the true cross, “she worshiped not the wood, but the King, Him, who hung on the wood. She burned with an earnest desire of touching the guarantee of Immortality.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem provides some corroboration on the finding of the Cross. In his letter to the Emperor Constantius (Constantine’s son and successor), St. Cyril stated, “The saving wood of the cross was found at Jerusalem in the time of Constantine.”

The anniversary of Queen Helena’s discovery of the cross is on May 3. On the site of discovery, Constantine ordered the building of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. With the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is the Chapel of the Finding of the True Cross.

Our Commemoration & Celebration

Nine days of prayer (novena) in honor of the Holy Cross. On the 9th day (Katapusan/Tapusan), a colorful pageant/parade of Queens (procession and singing of Ave Maria) is held.

“This is also a great opportunity to honor the different Titles of Mama Mary, some Bible characters, symbols related to Philippine Christianity; the fundamental principles of Catholicism (theological virtues) and Reyna Elena & Constantine.”

Symbolism/Representations

Theological Virtues:

Reyna Fe

She carries a Cross and is the symbol of faith, the first theological virtue.

Faith – belief in God and in the truth of His revelation as well as obedience to Him. “Faith apart from work is dead”.

Reyna Esperanza

She symbolizes Hope, the second theological virtue. She carries an anchor. Can also symbolize security, stability, and being grounded (anchored) …demonstrating that a person is in tuned and holds on to the values he/she believes in.

Hope – keeps man from discouragement; sustains him during time of abandonment; opens up the heart in expectation of eternal beatitude.

Reyna Caridad

She symbolizes Charity, the third theological virtue.

She carries a heart. Charity- loving God above all things and our neighbors as ourselves for the love of God. “It is the most excellent of the virtues… “the friendship of man for God”, which “unites us to God”, Thomas Aquinas

 

Bible Characters

Matusalém (Methuselah)

The father of Lamech and the grandfather of Noah. Said to have died at the age of 969, lived the longest of all figures mentioned in the Bible. Depicted as bearded and bent with age, riding a cart and looking preoccupied with toasting grains of sand in a pan over a fire. This is a reminder that the world is transient and will end up like the dust which he is toasting.

 

Reyna Judít (Queen Judith)

She represents the Biblical widow Judith of Bethulia, who saved her city from the Assyrians by slaying the cruel general Holofernes. Also known as “Infanta (Princess) Judít”, she carries Holofernes’ head in one hand and a sword in the other.

Reyna ng Saba (Queen of Sheba)

She represents the unnamed queen who visited King Solomon, and was overwhelmed by his wisdom, power, and riches. She carries a jewelry box. She is included in the Santacruzan because the Golden Legend describes how she venerated the beam of a bridge she was crossing, prophesying the wood’s future role as part of the True Cross.

Reyna Ester (Queen Esther)

She is the Jewish Queen of Persia , who spared her people from death at the hands of Haman

through her timely intervention with King Xerxes. She personifies the cardinal virtue of prudence; carries a scepter capped with the Star of David.

All the Jews in Persia were ordered to be killed and through Esther, the Jews were given the permission, by an order from the King to assemble and defend themselves

Samaritana (Sta. Photina)

The Samaritan woman at the well; traditionally named Photini with whom Christ conversed. She carries a water jug on her shoulder.

“Like this woman may we continue to seek Jesus so that we may never be thirsty”

Sta. Verónica

The woman who wiped the face of Jesus who bears her veil; in traditional Hispanic-Filipino iconography, the cloth bears three miraculous imprints of the Holy Face of Jesus instead of one.

“Like Sta. Veronica, may we be moved with sympathy whenever we see a suffering neighbor”

Tres Marías

Each Mary holds a unique attribute associated with the Entombment of Christ.

Mary of Bethany

The woman who said “yes” to Jesus’ death on the cross by anointing his feet (carries bottle of oil/ointment).

Mary the Mother of Jesus

The contemplative in total abandonment at the foot of the cross, who accepted the loss of Him whom she loved more than anyone else.

Mary Magdalene

The pardoned sinner, who, on the morning of the Resurrection, was told by Christ not to cling to him and to turn herself toward his brothers in order to find Him among them. She carries a bottle of perfume.

The three Marys constitute our acceptance of the fundamental moments of the Christ’s Incarnation, Passion and Resurrection. The three Marys stand for the all-encompassing human attitude in the face of God. The total act of faith comprehends the whole of the divine love-cycle: the love of the Father, the Son and the Spirit. It also includes faith, hope and charity: the faith in Incarnation, the hope against hope in the midst of a sea of Passion, and the communion of charity with the Resurrected.

Symbols Related to Christianity

Reyna Banderada

She represents the coming of Christianity to the Philippines. She is dressed in red and carries a yellow triangular flag.

Red dress is the color of blood symbolizing Christ’s death on the Cross and teh Fire of the Holy Spirit and Yellow flag is the color of Vatican flag

Aetas (Agta/Ita/Negrito)

The dark-skinned indigenous people of the Philippines. They were the very first inhabitants of the islands and they present the state of the country before Christianity was introduced by the Spaniards. They believe that good and evil spirits inhabit the environment, such as the spirits of the river, sea, sky, mountain, hill, valley and other places.

Reyna Mora (Queen Moor)

She represents tje Muslim Filipinos, who are concentrated in Mindanao and large cities. Islam arrived in the archipelago two centuries before Christianity, and is now the country’s second-largest religion. Mary is also honored in Islam; a full chapter in Qur’an is dedicated to Mother Mary.

Note also that we are expected,

to work sincerely for mutual understanding and to preserve as well as to promote together (with the Muslims) for the benefit of all mankind social justice and moral welfare, as well as peace and freedom” – Pope Paul VI (Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions Nostra Aetate)

Reyna Sentenciada

Her hands are bound by a rope/iron. She represents the early Christians, especially the virgins, who were martyred for the Faith; also represents the convicted innocents and Judith who was sentenced for killing Holofernes. She is sometimes accompanied by two Roman soldiers.

Revelation 2:9

Do not be afraid of anything that you are going to suffer. Indeed, the devil will throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will face an ordeal for ten days. Remain faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Marian Titles

Reyna Justicia

She is the image of the “mirror of justice”. Blindfolded, carries a weighing scale of justice and a sword.

Saint John Henry Newman commented: By “justice” is not meant the virtue of fairness, equity, uprightness in our dealings; but it is a word denoting all virtues at once, a perfect, virtuous state of soul—righteousness, or moral perfection; so that it answers very nearly to what is meant by sanctity . How she came to reflect His Sanctity? It was by living with Him.

Reyna de la Paz

She carries a dove that symbolizes peace. The loveliest name of the Messiah to come was “the Prince of Peace,” (Isaiah 9:6). No one whose life was modeled after that of Jesus as much as that of Our Lady’s. She helps in establishing the Kingdom of Peace on earth. She who brought into the world the Prince of Peace, will not forget the world now.

“Holy Mary” is the first invocation of our Litany; “Queen of Peace” is the last. They are both the same—”our life, our sweetness and our hope,” our eternal peace, in the Kingdom of Peace, with the Prince of Peace and the Queen of Peace. “Blessed are the peacemakers;”

Reyna de las Estrellas

She carries a wand with a star.

Revelation 12:1 “great sign of the woman in the sky, clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” Twelve is a number of perfection; it symbolizes the twelve tribes of the Old Testament people and the twelve apostles in the New Testament. In this particular devotion, the number twelve–the twelve stars–are seen in reference to the graces, privileges and charism received by Our Lady from God.

Saint Bonaventure, in his Sermons on the Blessed Virgin Mary deals extensively with the twelve-star symbolism. In Sermo VI (devoted to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary), he compares the twelve stars to Mary’s prerogatives or privileges.

Reyna de las Flores

She carries a bouquet of flowers.

Mary is the most beautiful flower that ever was seen in the spiritual world. It is by the power of God’s grace that from this barren and desolate earth, there have ever sprung up all flowers of holiness and glory… Mary is the Queen of them. She is the Queen of spiritual flowers; and therefore she is called the Rose, for the rose is fitly called of all flowers the most beautiful.

Reyna Rosa Mystica

She carries a bouquet of roses that symbolizes the Immaculate heart of Mary.

Rose is the queen of all the flowers, and there is something in the Heavenly arrangement of it’s petals and color. There is something in it’s scent and symmetry, in the modesty of it’s green leaves, which makes it very special. It is the flower which captures the heart at nearly every stage of it’s growth. Mary is the most beautiful of God’s creation, indeed “the Incarnate Rose,” especially chosen for God’s garden. She is the “rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys” [Song 2:1]. White is the color of her purity; gold, the tint of her royalty; red, the shade of her suffering. The rose grows out from a stem of thorns and in the heart of this flower, the red of the Cross of her son was forming. Without thorns a rose is not a rose, and without the thorn of great suffering, Mary could not have become the Mystical Rose of God’s Paradise. Moreover, she is the Mystical, or hidden Rose. Why do we hear nothing of the Blessed Virgin’s body and its separate relics? Why is she thus the hidden Rose? Plainly because that sacred body is in heaven, not on earth.

Divina Pastora (Shepherdess of the Divine Shepherd)

She bears a shepherd’s crook. The title “Divine Shepherdess” may be somewhat ambiguous. It should not lead us to attribute a goddess-like status to Mary. Mary, as mother, is the guardian of the Divine Shepherd, Jesus Christ. This is why the title “Divine Shepherdess” should be read as Shepherdess of the Divine Shepherd. The same title is well known in several Latin American countries, where she is known as the “Divina Pastora.”

Reyna del Cielo

She carries a flower and is accompanied by two little angels.

The title was derived in part from the ancient Catholic teaching that Mary, was assumed into heaven, body and spirit, and that she is there honored as Queen. Understanding Mary as queen mother sheds light on her important intercessory role in the Christian life. Just like the queen mother of the Davidic kingdom, Mary serves as advocate for the people in the Kingdom of God today. Thus, we should approach our queen mother with confidence, knowing that she carries our petitions to her royal son and that he responds to her as Solomon did to Bathsheba: “I will never refuse you.”

Reyna de los Profetas (Queen of Prophets)

She bears an hourglass. Mary is Queen of Prophets not only because the prophets foretold Her, and in fore-telling Her reverenced Her for the great office for which She was destined—that of “the Woman” of the Redemption—but also because She was a prophetess Herself, the greatest of all the prophets: “My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior—for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.” The Magnificat proclaims Her a prophet without a peer.

Reyna de las Vírgenes

She is the greatest of virgins, all pure, immaculate, exemplar of virginity, Queen of all who vowed themselves to the virgin life for the love of God. She carries a rosary and is accompanied by two little angels.

Mary is regarded by all virgins as their Queen, because it is Her special province to guard them. St. Ambrose says, “In Heaven She leads the choirs of virgin souls: with Her the consecrated virgins will one day be numbered.” She is also regarded as Lily of the Valley- signifying purity.

Reyna del Santísimo Rosario

She carries a big Rosary that symbolizes the mysteries in the life of Christ (Rosary is Christocentric; summary of the Gospel).

Rosary is the garden of the world where every Catholic delights to walk and breathe in the fragrance of Mary’s presence, from the little child to the mighty Doctor of Theology. The greater the Saint, the greater his love for the Rosary. It is in the Rosary that Mary speaks a universal language.

The apparition at Lourdes was a new proclamation of the Rosary, a declaration of Our Lady that the Rosary was dear to Her and that She wished to be identified with it.

Reyna Elena

She represents Empress Helena of Constantinople who found the True Cross; a small crucifix that she carries in her arms symbolizes her attribute as a zealous Christian. She is escorted by a young boy, his son Emperor Constantine.

Flores de Mayo or Santacruzan is about thanksgiving, remembering who we are, where we came from. We are a nation who love the Virgin Mary so much, a nation who honor, respect and treasure our culture and traditions as a way of attaining holiness.

Above all, we are a nation who adore Jesus because.

BY HIS HOLY CROSS, HE HAS REDEEMED THE WORLD.

-by Sylvia dela Torre-Bataller

Sources:

The Holy Catholic Bible
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Mense Maio Encyclical of Pope Paul VI
www.vatican.va
www.catholic.com
www.catholic.org
www.udayton.edu
www.cardinaljohnhenrynewman.com
www.aleteia.org
www.salveregina.info
www.wikipedia.org

www.filcatholic.org