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Children celebrate the Lord of Miracles devotion at St. Timothy Parish, San Mateo, Oct. 28. (Photo courtesy Andrea Schettini)
November 15, 2018
Marta Rebagliati
On Sunday, Oct. 28, devotees of a centuries-old Peruvian tradition attended Mass and participated in a solemn procession escorting the image of the Lord of Miracles, patron of Lima, Peru, at St. Timothy Parish in San Mateo.
The event, which included a lively kermesse (festival) with folk music, dance and traditional food, was organized by the men and women of the Hermandad del Senor de los Milagros of San Mateo – one of seven guilds in the Bay Area whose mission is to foster and propagate the devotion to the Lord of Miracles.
Followers wear a variation of the Carmelite habit in purple color, a sign of penitence, sometimes throughout their lives as a token of gratitude for an answered prayer and protection from earthquakes.
St. Timothy pastor Father Alner Uy Nambatac celebrated the Mass to a standing-room only congregation.
“My father was Chinese,” he said. “I am Filipino and I only speak ‘poquito Español’ and I can’t find my homily in Spanish,” as altar servers scrambled to find it, to the applause and laughter of all. The readings and his message highlighted God’s love for his people and his miracles, a testimony that “he is among us.”
Jimmy Cano, secretary general of San Mateo’s hermandad and a parishioner at St. Timothy, told Catholic San Francisco that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the founding of St. Timothy’s “hermandad” which initially had the spiritual guidance of the late Father John S. Isaacs, “We had his untiring help all the time,” he said.
After the procession, an award ceremony recognized the service of longtime members and leadership. A pastel portrait of Jesus donated by a Peruvian artist was raffled off among attendees.
The procession in San Mateo is one of many around the world held to coincide with the procession in Lima, where, since colonial times, throngs of faithful have poured to the streets with great fervor to escort a replica of a mural that still exists, painted by a slave of the likeness of the crucified Christ.
The procession of the patron of Lima makes its way through the Peruvian capital on different days every October and is considered one of the largest and oldest in the world. It demands the presence of a 2,000-strong permanent police squad to safeguard the crowds, sahumeras (women bearing incense), musicians and the 32 men needed to carry the two-ton gold and silver platform on which the ornate painting is. The procession stops in front of the Palace of Government, to allow the Peruvian president to come out and pay his respects.
Here in the Bay Area it was the Peruvian deputy consul Luis Andres García representing the government who attended the Mass and procession. He told Catholic San Francisco that the occasion always “affords the community an opportunity to come closer together,” wherever there is a large concentration of Peruvians as is the case in northern California.
A YouTube video pulls up after searching for: “Bienvenidos al museo del señor de los milagros.”
Marta Rebagliati, a native of Peru, is a former staff member of the Office of Communications of the archdiocese.