Santacruzan, a Distortion

Santacruzan is the Filipino way of remembering the miraculous discovery of the true wooden cross on May 30 by the empress Elena, mother of Emperor Constantine. And it is the wrong way. As a procession it does not look like a religious activity. It looks like a beauty pageant. That’s why I call it a distortion of what really happened.

What really happened on May 3 centuries ago? Elena went to Jerusalem accompanied by a retinue of women from the emperor’s household. How she and the women dressed up history does not say. Her purpose was to look for the wooden cross on which Jesus was crucified and died.

With local help the imperial diggers found three wooden crosses. Which one was the one on which Jesus hanged in pain until he died asphyxiated? The emperor’s mother Elena sought the help of the local bishop Simeon. He suggested to have each cross touch a sick person. The sick got healed when one of the three wooden beams touched his body. Bishop Simeon, the Empress Elena and the entire Christian community in Jerusalem truly believed it was the true cross. From then onwards began the solemn veneration of a holy relic.

Later on a huge basilica church perhaps at expense of the empress was erected in Jerusalem to honor the victory and triumph of the Holy Cross over sin and death which the Church calls the Paschal Mystery of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. The celebration is held throughout the Church every year on September 14. The Cross is the major symbol of the mystery and of Christian life.

In the super elegant Santacruzan pageantry, a tourist attraction in some places, undue prominence is given to the dresses and jewelries of Empress Elena and her sagalas or ladies in attendance. All of which contradict the meaning of the cross. It is often very small and hardly noticeable. Its veneration is minimal. Hence, I call Santacruzan an irreligious distortion of the history and importance of the Holy Cross.

There must be a way to correct this practice and give the Cross the honor and veneration it deserves.