SEMANA SANTA 2022

Pabasa ng Mahal na Pasyon

The text is an adaptation of the pre-Hispanic Filipino art of chanting epic poems as a part of oral tradition. After Christianity was introduced by the Spaniards in the 16th century, the Passion cycle was adapted into this native narrative form.

The indigenous form of the Pasyón was first written down by Gaspar Aquino de Belén in Ang Mahal na Pasión ni Jesu Christong Panginoon Natin na Tola (modern orthography: “Ang Mahál na Pasyón ni Hesukristong Panginoón Natin na Tulà”, "The Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Which is a Poem"), written in 1703 and approved in 1704.

An 1852 recension by Aniceto de Merced, El libro de la vida ("The Book of the Life [of Jesus]") did not gain popularity with the masses.