364. Lump in My Throat: SAN BLAS in Ivory

SAN BLAS (St. Blaise), the bishop-martyr of Sebaste, in Armenia, is not familiar to many Filipinos, except perhaps in Sebaste (yes, namesake of the bishop’s episcopal see!), Antique, or in Bangar, La Union and Villasis, Pangasinan, two municipalities with barangays named ‘San Blas’.

Apparently, in Pampanga, a prominent family from Guagua are devotees of San Blas, as they keep an exquisite ivory figure of the saint invoked against throat diseases, that has afflicted some members in their clan.

This ivory santo belonged to a couple who ran a successful popular and successful meryendahan in the town. They often lent their image unselfishly to people in the community with various throat issues, who, after touching the revered image, crossed themselves on the neck as they pray for relief.

According to a legend , San Blas saved a boy who had a fish bone stuck in his throat-- just one of the many miracles that he wrought. That led to him being adopted as the Patron Saint of people with throat ailments.

When the childless couple passed away, the image was bequeathed to a niece, an unamarried public school teacher. She cared for the image until she retired and passed away just this year, ahead of her remaining elder sister.  As of yet, the next caretaker of San Blas has not been named.

Typical of many classically carved santos, this San Blas has a manikin body, but has been redressed, his original bishop’s vestments now long gone. His most common iconography includes a mitre (also replaced) and a crozier. Other depictions of him in art includes an iron comb—an instrument of his torture, and a candle, in reference to a candle brought to him in jail. Images of him holding a martyr’s palm are rare.

The feast of San Blas is celebrated every February 3.

 MANY THANKS TO : MR. JERRY PUNZALAN SAGMIT for the information and photos.

341. Santo Stories: LA PURISIMA CONCEPCION of Guagua (under the care of the Tiongco-Villacorta Family)

LA PURISIMA CONCEPCION, Guagua

The story of the beautiful LA PURISIMA CONCEPCION of Guagua begins over a hundred thirty years ago, and has come to involved extended families beginning with Hipolito de Mesa Leoncio and wife Francisca Simon Chingcoangco, the first known owners of the image of the young Virgin.

The couple had acquired the image, and several others, in 1910, from Fr. Maximo Veron, the then-parish priest of La Natividad de la Virgen Church (now known as Immaculate Conception Paris of  Guagua). The other icons included the lifesize  Sto.Entierrro (“Apung Señor), Sto Niño Dormido (sleeping Child Jesus), and San Jose.

STO. ENTIERRO

NINO DORMIDO

 

More of these santos were acquired the same way by the couple’s cousins like the San Juan (Songco Family), Sta. Maria (Lozano Family) and Sta. Filomena (Lagman Family). 

LA PURISIMA CONCEPCION, was often described by the old members of the family as “beautiful beyond compare”, a most appropriate description as the face is exquisitely carved, showing the highest level of the carver’s skills. When descendant,  Johnny Tiongco Villacorta was cleaning the image, he found on its base the carved notation--AÑO 23 ~ 12 ~ 89, which dated the making of the santa to Dec. 23, 1889. 

When the family became Aglipayan converts, LA PURISIMA was transferred to the Aglipayan Church of Guagua and enthroned there. During World War II, LA PURISIMA, along with the family’s treasured images, were spirited away for safekeeping. The Virgin and the sleeping Niño were kept under the kamalig of the Gamboa Family, also kins of the family. The San Jose figure, however, did not survive the onslaught of war, when the Japanese burned the house.

LA PURISIMA used to wear a halo with 12 stars (“Dose Estrellas) which has now been lost, but she still has her star-designed, diamond-studded rostrillo (facial aureole), silver earrings in the shape of cherubs, and a gold pendant. Thankfully, she also has retained her century-old  “tiso de oro” vestments. 

In her old age, Lola Pacing Lozano, the eldest child who died at age 95 in 2004, once wistfully said to her twin siblings Minang and Sidang: “Ikwa tana mengatwa at mangamate obat, ing Virgen tamu sidsad ya parin keng lagu” (We have all grown to this ripe, old age, and some of us have passed away, but our Virgin still remains as beautiful as ever). Indeed,  through all these years, she has remained “beautiful beyond compare!”

The custody of the image of LA PURISIMA CONCEPCION (fondly called “Apung Puring” by the elders),as well as Apung Señor, the Niño Dormido and the replacement image of San Jose has  been entrusted to grandson Johnny “Buda” Tiongco-Villacorta, exacting a promise from him  to continue the family tradition and never to sell them. “Sadsad mula… pakyapusan at sundu mu ing gagawan mi karela agyang magdildil na kayu mung asin.  E yula pamisali, pangaku mu kekami yan” (Carry on..,care for them the way we did even if you go hungry, and have nothing to eat but salt. Promise us never to to sell them..).

CREDITS: All information and photos courtesy of Mr. Johnny Tiongco Villacorta

258. Guagua's Dolorous Virgins IV: DOLOROSA DE SIETE PALABRAS

By now, one should have noted the pattern that Guagua’s Limsons, Lopezes, Jingcos and Bacanis are all interrelated either by blood or by marriage; they are also owners of major processional images, many of them Dolorosas. The same can be said for the fourth Dolorosa of Guagua, fancifully called Dolorosa of the Siete Palabras.

The Dolorosa is owned by Mrs. Teresita “Tita”  Limson-Songco, whose son Jun, had it made in 2000, originally for home devotion. It was made by Dan Garcia and was last painted in 2002.  When the Holy Wednesday Lopez Dolorosa  ceased to join the Lenten processions of  Guagua in the early 2000s, the Limson-Songco Dolorosa replaced her. 

PHOTO: COURTESY OF JERRY PUNZALAN SAGMIT

It has since assumed that role for the last 11 years, as the Lopez ‘Macarena’, has stopped its outings indefinitely. The Dolorosa de Siete Palabras has its own wooden carroza, and is thus the latest to join the long line of Guagua’s celebrated images of the Dolorous Virgins.

PHOTO: JERRY PUNZALAN SAGMIT

PHOTO CREDITS:

Dr. Raymund Feliciano (chevalierfeliciano on flickr)

Jerry P. Sagmit

257. Guagua's Dolorous Virgins III: THE LIMSON DOLOROSA (SOLEDAD)

LIMSON DOLOROSA (SOLEDAD)
Photo: Budhi, From Guagua to Quiapo by Jose Ma. Zaragoza.

 Hailed as one of the most beautiful Dolorosas in the country, the antique ivory Dolorosa of the Limson Family of Guagua is an iconic Lenten image of the town, spoken with the same awe and reverence as the Sto. Sepulcro of the Infante-Velez Family.

 The Limsons are an old Chinese family who settled in Guagua and are presumed to have been known by their Chinese name Sonson Lin. The earliest known Limsons were a generation of siblings who lived in the early 1800s—Vicente, Pascuala and another brother whose name has been lost to memory.

 This nameless brother begot Diego Limson (ca. late 1850s-early 1860s) who married Severina Jingco. It was during Diego’s time that the existence of the ivory Dolorosa was recorded through oral history, so the age of 300 years attributed to the santo may not be a realistic estimate.

 In any case, what is correct was that the image was passed on through Diego’s line of descendants; in fact, the image was named Soledad after Diego’s first great-grandchild. The antique ivory figure was inherited by Diego’s only son, Don Guillermo Limson (ca.1880s) who had two sons, and three other children out-of-wedlock. (It is interesting to note that Guillermo’s youngest sister, Jacinta Limson, married Alejandro Lopez, who ordered a Dolorosa from Spain expressedly to replace the Bacani Dolorosa which was withdrawn by the owners from the Holy Wednesday procession).

 The Limsons’ Virgen de Soledad, a titular variant of the dolorous Virgin, has a head and hands of ivory. The head rests on a half-bust, with manikin arms and wooden framework for her lower body. When assembled, the Soledad stands 5 feet 7 inches tall, rostrillo included.

 During the last World War, the image was desecrated by the Japanese, broken in pieces, placed in a sack and stashed away forgotten in a vault. When rediscovered, the pieces were put back together again and the ivory Soledad was fully restored. The metal crown and the pierced heart of the Soledad are made of silver. Its original manto was taken by the late restorer and vestment maker Carlos Mercado of Sasmuan, who must have transferred the design on new velvet, as the design, as recalled by descendants remained unchanged.

 Today, the Limson Dolorosa or Soledad is still in service, with its own carroza triunfal that replicates the design of the magnificent carroza created for the Lopez’s Macarena. It is lovingly cared for and attended to by Limson descendants. Then, as now, she continues to grace the Good Friday processions of Guagua, as well as the Salubong rites, continuing a hallowed tradition that have become so much a part of the lives of devoted Guagueños for generations.

CREDITS: 
Photos: Ralph Laurence sales, flickr
Toto Gonzalez, Dr/ Dindo Limson Juco

Limson family tree, online
Online Interview with Dr. Dindo Limson Juco
Jerry Punzalan Sagmit

256. Guagua's Dolorous Virgins II: THE JINGCO-BACANI DOLOROSA

THE BLUE-EYED DOLOROSA OF FAMILIA BACANI-JINGCOS

The Bacani Dolorosa is an exquisitely-made processional wooden figure of the Dolorous Virgin, an heirloom image of the Bacani (Bakani) Family of Guagua. Family lore tells of the image being used for processions on Holy Thursdays even during the Spanish times. But more likely, it is a handiwork of their relatives--the Jingcos--who were a family of sculptors led by Sabas Jingco, and later, his son Maximino Jingco, a U.P. Fine Arts graduate who opened a taller de escultura y pintura in Betis in 1927. The younger Jingco studied under the tutelage of Isabelo Tampinco. This also explains why the Dolorosa is often referred to as the Jingco-Bacani Dolorosa. 

The patriarch, Dr. Jose Irisari Bacani was a well-known medico cirujano, a graduate  of University of Sto. Tomas (1917) who later pursued higher studies in the U.S. Upon his return, he worked briefly at the Philippine General Hospital, then settled back to Guagua in 1919 to practice his profession. In 1920, he married Consolacion Valenzuela where they raised three daughters.

The Dolorosa, over the years, has been repainted, and now has a fairer complexion like ivory;  it is hard to tell from a distance whether it is real ivory or plain wood due to her most recent encarnacion. It always participated in the pre-war Holy Wednesday procession in Guagua, until its carroza was completely burned at the height of the World War II in 1942. In those dreadful times, Guagua town was razed to the ground.

As a result, the family withdrew the Dolorosa from the Holy Week processions of Guagua. This prompted the Lopezes,  another prominent family of the town, to have another sober-looking Dolorosa made in Spain—known today as the Macarena.

Rosario Bacani Guanzon

The Bacani Dolorosa, meanwhile, was left in the care of one daughter, Rosario Bacani Guanzon. It would take 50 years before this beautiful Dolorosa resurfaced again in the 1990s—as a participant in the Marian procession held in Guagua in 1991 and 1998.

Apung Charing shared the Dolorosa with siblings and relatives, allowing them to keep the image in their homes for as long as six months. After which, the image was secured and kept once more by Mrs. Guanzon in nearby Sta. Rita town, where she keeps a home.

The Bacani Dolorosa has not been seen publicly since.  Dressed in her red embroidered vestment and caped with her wide manto, the Dolorosa cuts a striking figure, especially when she wears her silver rostrillo. It is hoped that the people of Guagua will behold the face of this beautiful Dolorosa once more in the near future.

PHOTO CREDITS: Jerry Punzalan Sagmit

255. Guagua’s Dolorous Virgins I: THE LOPEZ DOLOROSA

MATER DOLOROSA OF THE LOPEZES OF GUAGUA.
in its own silver-plated carroza triunfal, 1952.

Through the years, Guagua, Pampanga has taken pride in having not just the most beautiful Dolorosa images in the region but also in having a pool of several statues of the sorrowful Virgin that are used in their Lenten celebrations.

One well-known Mater Dolorosa that exists to this day is the statue commissioned by town millionaire Don Alejandro Lopez. Married to Jacinta Limson, Lopez had humble beginnings. As a teaching graduate of the Philippine Normal School, he taught at Pampanga High School from 1912-1913, and rose to succeed Benito Pangilinan as a Division Superintendent of the Bureau of Education.

 In 1920, he engaged in commerce and agriculture, where he found his fortune and rose to prominence as director and vice president of the Pampanga Sugar Mills Planters Association. For his wife, he built the grand Villa Jacinta, the first all-concrete residence in Pampanga in 1929, at a cost of Php28,000.

 One of the sure signs of wealth in those days was the ownership of a religious image. When the Dolorosa of the Bacani family ceased to join the Holy Wedneday procession of Guagua after the war, Don Alejandro Lopez proceeded to order a beautiful wooden Mater Dolorosa image all the way from Spain.

 The wooden processional Dolorosa was created by an unknown sculptor from a taller in Madrid, Spain called Casa Garin. The shop, which also sold other religious articles for worship, operated until 2004. The classically carved Dolorosa, with its beautiful mournful features, had only a wooden conical frame for its lower body, without legs or feet. It was outfitted with a silver rostrillo and a silver heart pierced with 7 daggers.

 The Spanish-made Dolorosa was shipped to the Philippines and arrived in Guagua in 1952. Even as it was being made, Lopez also ordered from Victoriano Songco of the Catholic Trade Center, a magnificient carroza fit for the Dolorosa. (Siongco, in a few years, would also make the replica of the Virgen de los Remedios, patroness of Pampanga).

 The result was a grand carroza triunfal, shaped like a chariot, which was wrapped in silver-plated panels. The float was prefaced by two trumpet bearing angels up front, and light-carrying standing angels flanking its sides. The border of the carroza was lined with cherubs and puttis.

 On 9 April 1952, the Lopez’ Mater Dolorosa, arrayed in richly-embroidered vestments was enthroned on her fabulous carroza triunfal, and was blessed and inaugurated at the Villa Jacinta with the family and VIP guests in attendance.

 For years, the Mater Dolorosa participated in the Holy Wednesday processions of Guagua, but when the patriarch passed away, disputes of the heirs over family property caused the Dolorosa and the carroza to be assigned ownership to a male heir, who entrusted it for safekeeping to a neighbor. Recently, it was reported in local news that the silver accessories of the Dolorosa were stolen, but it was widely believed that they were sold by one descendant. Only the cape or manto survived.

The future of the Lopez Mater Dolorosa remains uncertain; its carroza triunfal has been duplicated as it has also broken down;  this new carroza is now in use to convey the antique Limson ivory Dolorosa for the annual Viernes Santo and Salubong rites.

NOTE: One of the last appearances of the Lopez Dolorosa (popularly called Macarena)  was in the Holy Wednesday procession of Guagua in 1992. Photo courtesy of Dr. Raymund Feliciano.

244. Krus ni Kristo #1: APO SEÑOR OF GUAGUA

APO SENOR OF GUAGUA. An age-old crucifix  that
has been revered in Wawa town ever since one can remember.

The origin of this 7 ft. black Nazarene nailed to a cross is shrouded in mystery; for as long as oldtimers remember, it has always been revered in the town, installed in a barrio chapel of Sto. Cristo since the Spanish time. The chapel was burned down duing the Peacetime era, and so “Apo Señor”, as he came to be known by the townsfolk, was transferred to the main Parish Church.

Every 23rd of April, the "Dakit ning Apung Señor" ritual happens, in which the Crucifix is fetched from the church complete with a marching band, for enshrinement in the chapel, where it is processioned in time for the May fiesta.

221. Santo Stories: SEÑOR DESMAYADO OF THE DYCO FAMILY, Guagua

SEÑOR DESMAYADO OF THE DYCO FAMILY, Guagua. Photo by Dr. Raymund Feliciano.

In Guagua, Pampanga, the last time the processional image of Christ sprawled and tied to a column was processioned, was in 1942. The Dyco family that owned it had decided that the image was going to be an heirloom to be bequeathed to descendants, so for a long time, it was kept at home. A fire that razed its carroza sealed the fate of the treasured Desmayado. It would take 62 years for the image to be processed again, coming out for the Lenten rites only in 2004, borne on a carroza obtained fortunately from the L.M. Subdivision chapel.

 The antique Desmayado image itself was commissioned by one of Guagua’s leading citizen, Don Tiburcio Dyco, carved by hand in 1882 by the accomplished sculptor, Sotero Dionisio Garcia (b. 12 Apr. 1844/ d. 10 Jun. 1917) of Quiapo, Manila. The young Sotero trained under the tutelage of Jose Arevalo, and, after mastering the craft of woodcarving, he set up his own taller at the entresuelo of his house along Sta. Rosa St. With the help of Juan Sales who helped source projects for his shop, Garcia started to receive important commissions for religious statuaries, carrozas, retablos and altar pieces.

Some of his known works include the four figures on the façade of the Manila Cathedral; the statues of Saints Peter, Paul, and the Immaculate Conception enshrined in the central niches of the same Cathedral; the images of Sta. Maria Magdalena, San Juan, Veronica and Oracion en el Huerto (Agony in the Garden) at the Recoleto Church of Manila.,

For the Dycos, he carved a most expressive Desmayado—a figure of an exhausted Christ, writhing on the floor, his left arm tied to a pillar by the wrist, his body bloodied and covered with welts. Christ’s s eyes are drawn up in supplication, his mouth agape, grimacing from his indescribable torture.

 Five years after its carving, the Dyco patriarch decided to add three “Hudyo”soldiers to surround the fallen Christ figure. The task fell to Eulogio V. Garcia, son of Sotero with Petrona Velarde, who carved the characters in 1887, inscribing the neck with the date and his name. The heads and hands of these figures are still extant, but with bodies gone; they are no longer in use.

 The elder Garcia became a local politico, served several terms as gobernadorcillo, and eventually turned over his religious statuary business to Eulogio. Eulogio would go on to become a successful carver and sculptor, as his father.

 Today, as in the past, the Desmayado of the Dycos-Carreon—along with the Santo Sepulcro of the Ynfante-Velez family, the Mater Dolorosa of Limson—are among the Guagua’s most revered and most prized objects of veneration, around whom the devotion of the old town revolves, all during the days of the Holy Week.

219. EL STO. ENTIERRO DE GUAGUA

EL STO. ENTIERRO DE GUAGUA. Considered as one ofthe most beautiful and most opulent in the country, the Sto. Entierro of the Velez-Ynfante Family is shown here during the Good Friday procession in 20__, Phot courtesy of Dr. Raymund Feliciano.

 The Santo Entierro of Guagua has been the soul of the Velez family over the last 250 years. It takes a week to prepare, polish, assemble, clean and light up this elaborate silver carroza for the Good Friday procession. 150 volunteers are chosen each year from the Barangay Santa Filomena, Guagua to serve the Senor Milagroso.

The Santo Entierro in its magnificent calandra, in 1949. Picture source: Budhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture, Vol. X, No. 2, 2006. "Guagua to Quiapo", by Ramon Ma. Zaragoza. p. 22 

Sampaguita garlands are the only floral decorations allowed. When lighted candles proved to be unsafe for the crowds during the procession, electric lights were installed in the virinas of the carroza, requiring power from 11 heavy duty truck batteries. In addition, thirty violinists volunteer their services. The image of Jesus in repose is reputed to be the most beautiful of its kind in the country.

217. SACRED LEGACY: Santo Collection of the Zaragozas of Guagua and Quiapo

The Zaragozas are an old family whose lineage can be traced back to the Cepeda family of Sta. Teresa de Avila. A relative of the mystic saint, Gen. Agustin de Cepeda arrived with Legaspi in Manila and became its mayor in 1657. Another relative, Agustina Zaragoza fought against the French at the age of 18 in 1808, to become the toast of the Spanish Army.

The family’s Philippine bloodline was begun by Rafael Zaragoza, who was assigned to Nueva Ecija to protect the Spanish interest on the burgeoning tobacco industry in the Philippines. He fathered two children, Jose and Miguel Zaragoza. Jose married Rosa Roxas of Quiapo, with whom he had a son, Elias--the first Filipino to graduate from Yale University in 1906.

I first heard of the Pampanga connection of the Zaragozas of Quiapo from stories in Guagua about the spectacular Santo Sepulcro of the Velez-Infante that has been processioned annually every Good Friday, for over two centuries. A member of the family, Rosario Velez R. Infante would go on to meet and marry Elias Zaragoza, thus establishing the Guagua-Quiapo ties.

The family history is recounted in one journal, written by a descendant, Arch. Ramon Ma. Zaragoza, entitled “From Guagua to Quiapo”. Ramon’s father, incidentally , is the 2014 National Artist for Architecture, Jose Ma. Zaragoza, renowned for designing sacred structures including his masterpiece, the Sto. Domingo Church. In his family chronicle,

Zaragoza called to mind those bygone days when his forebears participated in Quiapo fiesta processions, fielding the twin carrozas of Sta. Teresa de Avila and San Juan de la Cruz.

He also wrote about the religious artworks that filled their ancestral houses, which survived numerous catastrophes and saved by current family members—including the prized La Dormicion dela Virgen Maria—a most exquisite antique ivory treasure that is now under the care of Arch. Ramon.

 On this page are a few more of the ivory santos from the Velez-Zaragoza collection, all reproduced from “”From Guagua to Quiapo”: Budhi, A Journal of Ideas and Culture, Vol. , No. 2, 2006. Ateneo de Manila Press.

With Arch. Ramon Ma. Zaragoza.