MEXICO, Pampanga, Philippines – After an original musical about Pope Francis, the excitement of Kapampangans over the papal visit this January has resulted in the creation of a biscuit molded in the pope’s image.
Chef Lillian Borromeo, 74, whose kitchen is in Barangay Parian here, makes the famous biscuit molded from the image of San Nicolas, but due to popular demand she now bakes the same biscuit molded in the image of Pope Francis, who will visit the Philippines from Jan. 15 to 19.
“I had never really planned to make the Pope Francis biscuits,
but some people simply were so
insistent so I had a mold made for him,” Borromeo said.
The original San Nicolas biscuit dates back to the Spanish era and was made in honor of San Nicolas de Tolentino who died in 1306. The saint is considered the patron of bakers.
The biscuit used to be blessed and distributed to the sick during the feast of San Nicolas Tolentino every Sept. 10.
In the Philippines, flour made from local arrow root is used as a main ingredient for the biscuit that made Borromeo famous.
Robby Tantingco, head of the Center for Kapampangan Studies at Holy Angel University in Angeles City, noted that Kapampangans know all the creative ways of welcoming the pope.
“The other welcome was the original stage musical on the pope by the Teatru Kapampangan to be re-staged at the Holy Angel University and the Cultural Center of the Philippines,” he noted. The musical features local talents, and is titled “We Love Pope Francis, the Musical.”
Borromeo, who won a national cooking competition in 1977, said that news about the Pope Francis biscuit has spread to other parts of the country. There were people from as far away as Cebu and Iloilo who came to her house to buy the biscuits.
“I have not increased the price. I sell the original San Nicolas biscuits for P200 a box with 24 pieces and the pope’s biscuits cost the same,” she said.
Borromeo said the wooden mold for the pope biscuits was done by a certain Arnel, a furniture maker from Sta. Ursula in Barangay Betis in Guagua, Pampanga.
The chef is a deeply religious woman who has been helping poor folk.
“I am 74 years old, and this is God-given grace that I must spend helping other people through my God-given talent,” she said.
Apart from authoring a book titled “Atching Lillian’s Heirloom Recipes,” Borromeo also hosts a regular cooking show on local television.
San Nicolas is also known to be the patron saint of at least 46 towns in the Philippines. The saint became famous for the legend of Guadalupe’s San Nicholas or the “miraculous” appearance of the shrikes, known locally as the tarat, during his feast day, and the sacramental bread – which is more of a biscuit – known as Pan de San Nicholas.
Borromeo said that buyers of the biscuits have them blessed so that these could be given to the sick in the hope they would be cured.
“In the case of the Pope Francis biscuit, I hope people who can’t be near him during his visit to the Philippines would be able to find solace in having him in the biscuit,” she said.
The Ecology Ministry Network (EMN) of the Archdiocese of Manila appealed to the faithful attending the events of Pope Francis to show mercy and compassion to the environment by keeping the venues of papal activities clean.
During the papal visit, do not only show mercy and compassion to the poor and victims of calamities, but the environment as well.