Draft:San Jose de Baras

San Jose de Baras (El Glorioso Patriarca Señor San José de Baras) is a centuries-old Roman Catholic wooden de tallado image of Saint Joseph cradling the Christ Child on one arm and a traditional staff with a sheaf of lilies on the other, standing atop a cloud base with the heads of two cherubs visible. This Josephian Image is venerated and enshrined in the Diocesan Shrine and Parish of St. Joseph in Baras, Rizal, Philippines.

The image is carved with a classic green robe with a bright golden yellow cape and a hat on his back. While the Christ Child sits on a white long robe facing the beholder with right palm pointing to Saint Joseph. It is often draped in gorgeous embroidered capes offered by his devotees. Metal accouterments adorn the image, including a paragua for Saint Joseph and the diagnostic tres potencias on the Christ Child's head.

On December 7, 2021, as part of the Diocesan Consecration to St. Joseph and Elevation of Baras Church as a Diocesan Shrine and in accordance with the commemoration of the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines, the culmination of the Year of St. Joseph, and the 100th anniversary of Baras' independence, two ex-voto medallions were offered and placed on the staff of the image of El Glorioso Patriarca Señor San José de Baras by the Bishop of the Diocese of Antipolo, Francisco M. De Leon and Baras Municipal Mayor, Kathrine Robles.

Devotion
The feast day of the image is celebrated every 19th of March, the Liturgical Feast of St. Joseph, the Spouse of the Mother of God. It is also the day when Barasenios traditionally offer loaves of bread during the Mass for the ‘Table of St. Joseph’. The offered bread on the said occasion is believed to be an instrument of healing, and it is being distributed in prisons, hospitals, orphanages and to the parishioners during the Caracol Procession.

Claims of miracles
There are miracles attributed to San Jose de Baras, one of which is the separation of the town of Baras from Tanay in the 1920s. A Feast of Thanksgiving was initiated by the first elected ‘Alkalde’, Mariano Vallestero, in honor of San Jose de Baras in January 1921.

Additionally, there is an urban legend that the Barasenios still believe in. When any of his minor or major feast days approach (last Sunday of January, March 19, and May 1), there are sporadic accounts of a father and son dressed in green and yellow fabric roaming around the town knocking on doors, seeking for water. Folklore holds that if people refuse to provide, their homes would be cursed. It is claimed that the father and son would vanish in the blink of an eye after being given or invited to enter the house. Many Barasenios believe that it was San Jose de Baras, also called locally by some as ‘SangHusep’, and the ‘Niño’.

The Shrine
The Diocesan Shrine and Parish of Saint Joseph (famously known as Baras Church) is a Roman Catholic church located in Baras, Rizal, Philippines, which houses the venerated image of San Jose de Baras. It is the town's oldest and most prominent landmark. The Franciscan missionaries constructed the Church in 1682, the same year the town was relocated to its current location, and was finished in 1686.

The Baras Church is known to be the oldest parish dedicated to Saint Joseph in the Southern Tagalog Mainland. It has appeared in a number of well known worldwide and local films, television programs, and advertisements.