Servientes de Fuga is a Holy Week tradition in Fuga Island in Aparri, Cagayan.
Fuga Island in Aparri is one of the most archaeologically significant places in Cagayan Province. However, it is also known for its unique Holy Week tradition of the Liturgy of the Hours through the chanting of revered Latin texts.
This is done by a group of twelve men who are known by the name “servientes” literally, servants or ministers. That this was done by men is already a unique feature of the island’s religious traditions, as in most present-day parish communities, women usually take the role of prayer leaders.
A closer inspection of the texts they sing revealed that they were singing rudiments of the medieval Liturgy of the Hours with its psalms, antiphons, and canticles.
Owing to the presence of the massive church and convent ruins in the island, it must have been what was left of what the medieval Spanish missionaries have taught the islanders’ ancestors.
Sources:
Baclig, Kevin Domingo. Know Magazine, Immaculate Conception School of Theology, June 2017. ICST Publications: Vigan City.
https://www.pressreader.com/philippines/the-philippine-star/20150830/283283161437374
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