by Edgar Martínez-Bermúdez y Marvin J. Ramírez
Men’s Processión take over SF streets Spanish radio program, Aquí Nicaragua’s director Mario Palacios, walks holding the cross, symbol of Christianity, during the Procession of Men march, which went by 25th Street to Mission, while Monsignor Silvio Fonceca (lower photo) holds the Eucharistic chalice. photos by Edgar Martinez-Bermudez
While almost the whole world lived the first hours of a new year 2008, Catholic parishioners marched on the streets of the San Francisco Mission District, singing: Long Live, Christ King!
People of different ethnic backgrounds stopped while others stood out of their home doors and windows to watch the procession pass. Approximately 200 people followed Monsignor Silvio Fonseca, who, walking slowly, held the Eucharistic chalice.
Escorted by members of the San Francisco Police Department in two motorcycles and a patrol car, the Procession of Men, the only one of its kind in the United States, celebrated its 25th anniversary since its formation by a group of Nicaraguan Catholic men in San Francisco. During recent years, nevertheless, it has been joined by persons of other nationalities.
In 1946, members of the Jesuit order originally organized the Procession to Christ King. During Christmas of 1948, Father Jesuit Ignacio Fernandez de Pinedo, came to Nicaragua, and on the fi rst day of January, he created the first Procession of Men.
Begun in Nicaragua in the Christmas of 1948, the fi rst Procession of the Men was organized by Father Jesuit Rev. Ignacio Fernández de Pinedo, with the intention to integrate the men into the church, since mainly women participated in the church, while men did not. Originally the celebration was baptized as the Procession of Men, but its organizers in San Francisco changed it to Men’s Procession.
Between songs and praises to Christ King, every 1st of January of each year, followers intone the religious anthems, Singing of the Cantares, in which they affirm that “God Is Here;” and in You Will Reign, they allude to Jesus as the King.
Mons. Fonseca was assisted at the religious ceremony by the Nicaraguan deacon, Roger Hernández, one of the pioneering celebrants. Mons. Fonceca came from Nicaragua for a second year in a row for this special celebration of the beginning of the year.
During a mass ceremony held before the procession, Mons. Fonceca warned that Nicaragua is in danger of falling again into violence.
“The violence might return… ,” he said, stressing that Nicaragua is in a situation “ where the culprits are innocent and the innocent are culprits, where one buys justice with a few dollars… where unemployment is on the increase and this produces hunger, and hunger drives theft, and theft drives violence… the judicial power is corrupt, and the peace is felt to be threatened every day.”
The celebration took place at the traditional St. Peter’s Church; and the procession started out at Alabama Street, moved to 25th, and then followed up to Mission Street, the principal artery of the Hispanic quarter of San Francisco. As every year, the procession was organized by the Committee Christ King.
