362. The Ivory Image of Parañaque's SANTA VERONICA

The processional ivory image of STA. VERONICA, is a representation  of the woman who offered a cloth (likely her veil)  to Jesus so He could wipe His face on the way to His Crucifixion, and on which His likeness was miraculously imprinted on the cloth.Though not mentioned in the Bible, the scene of the meeting endures in Catholic tradition in the Sixth Station of the Cross, "Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus."

Parañaque’s Sta. Veronica has a head and hands crafted from high quality white ivory, This 2008 photo documentation of the santa shows her in a replacement  purple vestment embellished with gold-colored thread embroidery, for the Lenten procession of the Parish of St. Andrew.

She holds a “birang”, with the face of Christ imprinted three times that shows signs of fading due to age. The original “Veronica’s Veil” is believed to exist today in the Vatican and is considered one of the most treasured relics of the Church.

Photos from Dr. Raymundo Feliciano Albums in the care of the Center for Kapampangan Studies.

332. Santo Stories: STA. VERONICA of SAN MATEO, RIZAL

San Mateo, Rizal has perhaps, one of the most organized Lenten processions in the region, with a little over 20 santos participating, a mix of the old and new. The oldest image is believed to be that of the STA. VERONICA, the woman who wiped Jesus’s face with a towel that cause His likeness to be imprinted on the cloth.

 

STA. VERONICA, Holy Tuesday, 2016

The processional image was originally owned by couple Victoriano (Maestro Bito) and Andrea Santos. The image, which had been carved in Pangil, Laguna in the 1800s, and which had participated in the early processions there, was brought to San Mateo in the 1930s, as Bito’s  wife hailed from there. Their STA. VERONICA has since been a regular participant in the annual Lenten rituals in the historic town.

 

STA. VERONICA, April 2019

When the Santos couple passed away, the image of STA. VERONICA was left in the care of their daughter, Mrs. Rosita Santos-Manahan. When, in her old age, she found it difficult to tend to the image, she passed it on to her only child, Tessa Jasminez-Manahan, who, with her family, has been caring for the antique image ever since.

 

IN PROCESSION, 2019

The processional image shows the santa with a roundish, almost glum face. The sudarium that she holds unfolded with both hands, and which bears the painted impressions of the 3 Holy Faces, has been periodically changed.

 

TESSA JAZMINES, current caretaker, in glasses

All other original accessories, are still intact and complete, from her jewel-encrusted corona and paragua, brass appliques, right down to her beautiful, silver paneled carroza. Preparing her has become both a family and a community affair, a responsibility that daughter Tessa has come to love and embrace.

 

STA. VERONICA, 2012

SOURCES:

Tessa Jazmines FP Page

Debosyon at Kasaysayan: Ang Mahal na Araw sa Bayan ng San Mateo, Parokya ng Nuestra Señora de Aranzazu. Souvenir program, 2001.

245. AN ENTOURAGE OF AGOO'S SORROWFUL SANTAS

Agoo, before the founding of La Union province, was once a part of Pangasinan. It is one of the oldest municipalities in the Philippines, and in ancient time, its excellent harbor was frequently visited by Japanese and Chinese traders. Christianization was undertaken by both Franciscan and Augustinian missionaries, until secular priests took over in 1898.

Agoo has been made famous for the alleged Marian apparitions of Virgin Mary to Judiel Nieva, who reported seeing a statue of Our Lady of Agoo atop a Guava tree, weeping with blood. Pilgrims flocked to Agoo to see the "seer", but the highly sensationalized apparitions were declared a hoax in 1993.

But nothing can take way the display of deep Ilocano devoutness and traditional pomp during the season of Lent.. The Good Friday procession is the highlight of the Semana Santa, a devotion manifesting the fervor and faith of the hardy Agoo folks.

There are about 30 carozas beautifully adorned, all lined up at the Plaza dela Virgen, a remarkable tradition dating from the Spanish times and the Penitential Procession of Women in honor of the Mother of Christ, all dressed in black.

The funeral entourage also consists of mourning virgins--saintly women depicting the female characters associated with the ministry and  Passion of Jesus, a selection of which are featured on this page.

All photos were taken in 1994 by Dr. Raymund Feliciano, exclusively for this blog.

Source: http://www.visitmyphilippines.com/index.php title=AGOOSEMANASANTA%3Cbr%3EAgoo,LaUnion&func=all&pid=5663

235. CARU-CARUHAN DE BINANGONAN: Santos in Miniature

MINIATURE TERCERA CAIDA (third fall of Christ). 

In Binanongan, Rizal, miniature statues of saints take center stage instead of the usual life size ones. This recalls the religious tradition in Colombia, where children process their own child-size santos.

AGONY IN THE GARDEN (Nanlumo)

This relatively-new Binanongan tradition is called "caru-caruhan" (play carrozas), and it is held during the Lenten season. It began sometime in the 1980s, when children began imitating the Holy Week tradition of bringing out images for the annual Lenten ritual.

JESUS AND STA, VERONICA

Along Regidor St., the children would parade their homemade santos made of sticks, cloth and other available materials. Over the years, the image became more sophisticated, well-made and life-like,

SCOURGING AT THE PILLAR

The wooden tabletop  images are small, no more than 20 inches tall, and are outfitted and arrayed in embroidered vestments and metalworks. There are single representations of Lenten characters as well as tableaus.

JESUS  MEETS HER MOTHER MARY

.

The little santos have their own mini "andas" on which they are borne during the procession. The event is highly organized, and there is even a cofradia dedicated to propagating the devotion and practice in the hope of instilling religiosity among the youths.

ECCE HOMO

The group plans the program, including the Wednesday procession that culminates in the gathering of the santos depicting scenes from the passion of Christ in an exhibit hosted by the St. Ursula Church.

CHRIST RECEIVING HIS CROSS

This unusual tradition lives on in Binanongan where it is also known as the Caro-carohan de Regidor to honor its place of origin.

STA, VERONICA

It has become a popular tradition, regularly covered by the media, and visited by local tourists and devotees, who delight in watching the miniature santos as well as the spirited display of devotion of Binangonan youths.

STA. POTINA

Featured here are representative images from the 2008 procession, taken by Holy Week photo documentarian Dr.Raymund Feliciano.

STA. SALOME

220. WHERE HAVE ALL THE SANTOS GONE? Part I

HEADS WILL ROLL. All these exquisite antique santo heads from the Philippines were auctioned off on ebay, by the controversial antique dealer, Rory Bacus. The fate of unsold santos remain unknown. 

One of the most controversial dealers of Philippine religious antiquities was the late Rory Bacus of Cebu, who listed his business as an exporter-importer of woodcarvings. In the early 2000s, Rory Bacus, under the name "robacus", posted regularly on the international auction site, ebay, many religious artifacts, examples of which are shown here on this page.

Bacus has been associated with the loss of many old religious images from Cebu parishes, which includes figures of Virgen Dolorosa, Baby Jesus of Mount Carmel, San Jose, Nazareno and Sta. Monica, from the Santa Monica Parish in Dalaguete, Cebu.

These, along with 158 icons, including 58 crucifixes and other sacred artifacts, were recovered in a raid conducted in the house of Bacus in late April 2003. Bacus had also been allegedly involved in the disappearances of many images from different churches in and outside Cebu.

In October 2003, the Archdiocese of Cebu charged the noted antique dealer of fencing various religious artifacts. Included in the complaint at the City Prosecutor’s Office was an affidavit of Rosa Navarro, the treasurer of the Badian pastoral council who testified that she was able to recognize a cherubim icon, among the  icons seized by the police from Bacus’ house in a previous May 2003 raid.

On April 25, 2003, prior to the serving of the search warrant, the police were also able to retrieve ten antique religious icons at a house in Guizo, Mandaue City, reportedly owned by Bacus. Agapito Torrentira, councilor of Inabanga town in Bohol, and barangay captain Emiliano Divino, of the same place, came to Cebu and identified two of the icons recovered as among those stolen from barangay Cambitoon chapel, of the town.

A second police raid conducted later yielded  the images of San Isidro Labrador, San Agustin, and Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, verified by the 2 Bohol officials as items stolen from their place.Carcar residents, Josefina Roldan, Angeliza Tanodtanod, and Silvina Francisco had also stated that they had identified another icon from Bacus, as the one stolen from a chapel in barangay Perrelos of the town.

However, Bacus’' lawyer had earlier questioned the search that the police had conducted, arguing that they used a general warrant, which was not specific as to what objects will be searched. The lawyer also contended that the police were not able to establish that icons seized were indeed stolen, as alleged. She said those icons could not be declared as illegally possessed if there is no evidence to show these were stolen somewhere. (TO BE CONTINUED)

Sources: http://www.philstar.com/nation/226051/cebu-archdiocese-sues-antique-dealer
All pictures were grabbed and saved from actual postings on ebay between 2000-2003.

109. VERONICA UNVEILED

Since my younger days, the antique figure of our town’s Sta. Veronica had always been an object of my interest and fascination every time Holy Week came along. Owned by the heirs of Jose Siopongco, it was exquisitely carved, a lonely but lovely figure, with a face conveying restrained sorrow and delicate hands holding a banner with the 3 imprints of the face of Christ.

Sta. Veronica was on top of my want-list of Semana Santa figures, notwithstanding the fact that the town already had one. But antique Veronicas are hard to come by in the market; I have only seen one or two available—one was too short for my taste, and the other, too expensive.

One day, a newly-met dealer called to tell me that he had a number of santo heads just arrived. Would I care to take a look? Now, this dealer lives in the hinterlands of Fairview and, on that particular day, there was a typhoon brewing. I was a bit hesitant to go, so I asked him to send photos of the santos through his cellphone. Unfortunately, his Jurassic age phone did not have an image-sending feature, so I had no choice but to go there. This better be worth it, I remember telling myself.

I t was raining cats and dogs when I got to his warehouse. As soon as I got in, dripping wet and cold, he showed me the santo heads from a Tercera Caida tableau and I was not disappointed. But then he pulled out one more box, and out came this small santa head, which I assumed was another Magdalena as it came with a long brunette abaca wig. My first impression was that it was a newly-made image, even suspecting that it came from the Vecin workshop as it was stylistically similar to his creations. But this dealer told me it came from Unisan, Quezon, and the box, which had been shipped to the dealer, confirmed this. What was even more intriguing was the fact that this head also came with what looked like a set of ‘Veronica’ hands.

And so, for a reasonable price, this ‘Magdalena’ head with ‘Veronica’ hands was added to my Fairview loot. That same week, I brought the image to Mr. Vecin for restoration. I asked him also about the provenance of the image--if this had, perhaps, been a commissioned work for some clients in Quezon. He told me that this was not from his shop, but he was certain that this image was vintage, made in the last 40 years, judging from the wood which had smoothened out with age. He also concluded that the hands were not original to the piece—not only where they small for the image but the finish also did not match the facial painting. This, therefore, must have originally been a Magdalena that had been converted into some other santa.

 Nevertheless, I decided to keep the mismatched hands with the Magdalena head and asked Mr. Vecin to make a body for it. My own Sta. Veronica, this image shall be. After a month of on-and-off work, the head and hands were assembled on the finished body.

I requested for some minor adjustment in the arms of the half-finished santa, as I found them a bit long and disproportional. This was immediately done, and so the image was primed for painting, work that would take another two and a half weeks.

A few weeks later, the body and the base were painted. The original encarna of the head was still in excellent condition, so no retouches were necessary.

 I tried on the original abaca wig, which was in fairly good condition, and it instantly gave some degree of completeness to the Veronica-in-the-making.

The smallish hands did not look small at all. This slight flaw will further be hidden with the long-sleeved tunic which will be part of Veronica’s wardrobe.

 The vestments were ordered from Ramon Gutierrez, and my instructions were to copy the garment styling of the 19th c. Hidalgo Veronica, complete with a turban and one shoulder-drape. We agreed on a light pink tunic and navy blue cape. But when I went to check and bring it home, alas, it was attired in traditional vestments. Mr. Vecin reassured me that it was easy to follow the draping of the Hidalgo Veronica. He already had a ready turban--but which I forgot to bring in my haste, plus the silver antique 'payong' halo that he needed for the Veronica head.

Into my car went my Sta. Veronica. The original wig was askew, the vestments were rumpled, and it was rather difficult to appreciate the image in a reclining position. On that day, I was also in a mad rush, so I had no time to really look at the restored image up close. I even forgot to take pictures of the santa standing up.

Two days after the image got home to Pampanga, I finally had a chance to scrutinize it. In place of a payong, I had an antique French diadem, an ebay find, to place temporarily on her pretty head.

I was satisfied with the way the restoration turned out to be, considering that this was just a reconstituted image--not really an antique--but with an old, traditional look that's enough to evoke memories of our Semana Santa past.

To give my Sta. Veronica sense of completeness, I even taped a scanned paper copy of the Holy Face for her to hold. Oh, you get the idea.

So here is my newest Santa-- lo and behold--Sta. Veronica, finally unveiled!