Celebrating the Cavinti town fiesta on Saturday, August 9, 2008, the Cavintinians of Southern California held their annual dinner dance after the traditional Catholic mass commemorating the Transfiguration of Christ.

Up to today in Cavinti, the town’s patron saint is called San Salvador. The truth is that Cavinti’s patron saint is not just a saint, but Jesus himself. The Transfiguration is one of the greatest mysteries of the Christian faith and very hard to understand even to those who are raised Catholics.

As Cavintinians, we were raised believing in the power of the Transfiguration that our faith is so unshakeable that though we are already thousands of miles away from our hometown, we still celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration.

Another thing that makes Cavintinians unique, not just among the Christians but also to those who believe in the Transfiguration is because we call Him ‘San Salvador’ and not ‘El Salvador’ the proper name for The Transfiguration.

Perhaps, the ‘wrong grammar’ made Cavintinians a very closely-knit group. For centuries, it has always been ‘San Salvador’ and not one Archbishop since the 1600s had corrected it.

Even when the Archdiocese of San Pablo noticed it, the rebuke was verbal and the parish of ‘San Salvador’ was never officially told to change its name. So, as Cavintinians, we continue to celebrate the fiesta for San Salvador.

It might be a small grammatical mistake made hundreds of years ago, and San Salvador continues to be honored and celebrated as the faithful continues to believe.

[MARI OBLENA DAVIS]
Photos by SONNY BELLEZA

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