The Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene, or Quiapo Church, launched a journal called “Nazareno Studies” at a gathering of Catholic scholars on Tuesday, March 14.

The journal is a fruit of the research initiatives made by the scholars of different backgrounds during the First National Research Forum on the Black Nazarene that was held online in March 2022.

Nazareno Studies’ maiden issue carries the theme “Black Nazarene: Devotion and Discourse”, with 17 articles and a foreword by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization.

The event at the basilica was organized by the Quiapo Church with professors from the University of Santo Tomas (UST), historian Michael Charleston “Xiao” Chua, among others.

Quiapo Church Rector Fr. Rufino Sescon Jr credited his predecessor, Msgr. Hernando Coronel, as “the spirit behind this endeavor” to further deepen the devotion to the Black Nazarene.

The National Research Forum on the Black Nazarene will be continued as a biennial event to yield further discussion about the Nazareno devotion.

The research forum has also invited scholars of various fields that explore the Black Nazarene devotion and the Quiapo phenomenon to be part of the Nazareno scholars community.

Quiapo Church is one of the country’s most visited churches with millions coming to the basilica, especially every January 9, the Feast of the Black Nazarene.

Fr. Sescon also revealed their plan to push for the elevation of Quiapo Church as a national shrine.