Rev. Fr. Hermel O. Pama, O.P., PhD, an anthropologist and faculty member of the , presented his research paper entitled 鈥淭he Voice and the Voiceless: Startling Sacred and Sacred Starts,鈥� during the April 25-26, 2019 International Conference on Religion and Spirituality in Society, in Granada, Spain. The conference bore the theme 鈥淯niversal Religious Symbols: Mutual Influences and Specific Relationships.鈥�
Fr. Pama鈥檚 study explored 鈥渧oice as a paradigm of culturally-appropriated hierophanies, with its binary, the 鈥榲oiceless鈥� referring to silent manifestations employing visual and other experiential modes of communication.鈥� According to Fr. Pama, the phenomenon is common among the Catholic cult of saints in the Philippines. He cited the Nuestra Se帽ora de Pe帽afrancia in Bicol and the Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of Manaoag in Pangasinan, both of which draw thousands of pilgrims throughout the year.
While the Pe帽afrancia was fished out of the river, the Manaoag appeared and called from atop a hill. Both revelatory models, according to Fr. Pama, 鈥渁re found in the narratives of the sacred as Santong Boses (sacred voice), in the religious tradition surrounding Mount Banahaw in the Southern Tagalog region.鈥� The study 鈥渆xplored voice as contested power, and as universal paradigm in God talk: as startling starts, and at the start / incipience of religion as a startling experience.鈥�
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