374. LA INMACULADA CONCEPCION OF MALOLOS

The deeply-revered image of La Inmaculada Concepcion (Immaculate Conception) of Malolos is enshrined at the main altar of the Cathedral-Basilica Minore dedicated to her name. It s a pre-war image done by a native carver, Teodoro Ople, who overcame his humble beginnings—he was an orphan—to become a skilled artisan of note. The image was modeled from the well-known Marian painting of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo,” La Inmaculada Concepcion de los Venerables”

In Murillo's painting, Mary is dressed in a white robe with a blue mantle, her hands crossed over her chest, with a crescent moon at her feet, and eyes raised heavenwards. Her pose-- right knee bent and her weight on her left leg—accentuates the undulating  rhythm of the composition. A crescent moon encircles her hidden foot, under voluminous layers of white fabric. 

FEAST OF IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, 1950s

Ople’s depiction minimizes the bent foot, to create a more frontal stance, enhanced by the rhythm of the folds and drapes of Her robe and mantle.

MALOLOS TOWN FIESTA, 1954

The beautifully-sculpted wooden figure of the Immaculate Conception was canonically crowned on 10 March  2012, as granted by Pope Benedict XVI. A flight of steps were built leading to the altar so the image could be touched by devotees. 

Photo: CHURCHES, BASILICAS & CATHEDRALS in the PHILIPPINES (CBCP)  FB Page

A vicaria (replica) image of the Virgin is used for processions while the precioys original image remains in the church for safekeeping. Malolos’ Immaculate Conception is one of the most photographed Marian image in the country, a testament to the profound devotion of Filipinos to the Blessed Mother.

SOURCES:

Diocese of Malolos website: https://dioceseofmalolos.ph/patroness/

 Churches, Basilicas & Cathedrals FB Page

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

299. Guided by the Light: THE MAKING OF A NTRA. SRA. DE GUIA

In my early collecting years,  I must admit I was guided by impulse more than judgment, when buying antiques. That is what happened around 1983, when I made a decision to purchase my first ivory santo, a brown Virgen from the ramshackle shop of Momoy Cabuenos on Arquiza St. which had been there on display for over a month. 

The brown ivory image, with new base.
new wig, original clothes. 1983.

It was not exactly what I wanted—it looked folksy, but definitely old—having browned with age. The solid ivory head was set on a crude body with wire armature arms, on which small “tinidor” brown ivory hands were attached. It had no base, and the old tattered, abaca-lined clothes came with the deal—Php 3,500—the exact amount of money in my pocket.

Had I been more patient, I could have saved more and could have purchased a better- looking santa, but at that time, all that mattered was this desire to have my first ivory image, period. 

It took only a week or so, to realize the “folly” of my purchase, for as soon as I took it home, cleaned it, dressed it and affixed it on cheap-looking, gold-tinged base, I was, to say the least, disheartened. Even with a wig, a crown and a virina, the Virgin looked stiff and unappealing.

I usually take pictures of my santos upon their complete restoration, but not this image. I  just put it behind some of my more better-looking, classically-carved santas I acquired in the years that followed, and stayed in that relegated position for years.

The image, as kept in a corner, next to a
ivory Sta. Veronica. ca. 1983.

When I became acquainted with the works of Dr. Raffy Lopez around 10 years later, I decided to show the image to him to see if there’s any way to give her some “character”, as she looked so plain and ordinary. Dr. Lopez was fascinated by the deep brown coloration of the image;  he even praised its naïve features and folksiness.

He then pored over his files and showed me a picture of Ermita’s famed patroness, the oldest Marian image in the Philippines—Nuestra Señora de Guia (Our Lady of Guidance). 

History tells of its discovery by Legazpi’s men in 1571—the hardwood, 20 inch figure was found  resting on a clump of pandan leaves being adored by natives. It was assumed to have been left behind by Spanish missionaries who came to the islands earlier. “This is going to be your image”, he said.

It was a perfect choice, all things considered. What’s more,  the Marian title had a special connection to my hometown, Mabalacat. The Estado General of 1879 reports that the Mabalacat parish was elevated to a vicariate status under the titular patronage of  Nuestra Snra. De Guia most probably around 1836—so that sealed it for me.

In  the next few months, Dr. Lopez undertook the conversion and restoration of the ivory image. The long, unproportional body had to go, and a new one was made. Features like eyebrows and lashes were added on to the brown ivory face.

A cloud base was carved, while a latero meticulously carve the pandan leaves from tin plates that were then painted green.The blue green cape and ecru tunic of satin were sewn, gold-embroidered with pandan leaf and floral motifs. A new set of crown and 12-star halo were ordered. Only the wig with its long, wavy hair was saved.

When the assembled image was presented finally to me after 2 months, I could not helped but be overwhelmed by its incredible transformation. The brown Madonna that I used to conceal behind other, prettier ivory santas now possesses a quiet, dignified beauty unlike any other, thanks to the guidance of Dr. Lopez. 

Today,  in my little home, my Ntra. Sra. De Guia now stands centerstage in one shelf,  reserved for the most special and most precious santas in my collection. 

237. THE HOLY VIRGIN OF INSTANT MERCY, by Gene Cabrera

Originally published on Free Press, 
12 December 1953, pp. 59-61 

Pulilan is a town in Bulacan some 46 kilometers north of Manila. San Francisco is a small barrio of Pulilan.

Every first Sunday of Lent, throusands flock to San Francisco. From Pampanga, from Nueva Ecija, and provinces farther north come the celebrants. Manila faces are to be seen. They come to celebrate the feast of “Mahal na Birhen ng Biglwang-Awa”, that is “the Holy Virgin of Instant Mercy”.

The Biglang-Awa Virgin is an oil painting about 12 inches wide and 16 inches long. It is brought down from a small wooden house, then placed on an altar. People, young and old, kneel around the altar, praying.You can see the crippled, the sick, the blind, the pregnant women, the desperate. Another group sit in front of the kubol reading the Book of the Passion.

The procession starts. The Virgin is mounted o a small carriage. The devotees and a band follow. After the procession—the feast begins. All the food is contributed by people who believe in the Virgin. There are sacks of rice. Nearly everybody eats from banana leaves. A big plate is passed around. People give money. This happens every year in barrio San Francisco. Not even the Japanese occupation stopped the feast of the Biglang-Awa Virgin.

This is the story of the”Mahal na Birhen ng Biglang Awa", according to Claro Plamenco, whose family takes care of the image.

 “Legend says that the painting as found many, many years ago. It happened like this. A group of Chinese were sailing in a big boat. Suddenly, a sharp object pierced the bottom of the boat,making a big hole through which the water gushed. Then the Chinese looked up to heaven and cried, “ Biglang-Awa! Biglang-Awa!” (Instant Mercy, Instant Mercy!). And the image appeared from nowhere, sealed the hole in the boat and saved the lives of the Chinese. Hence the name “Mahal na Birheng Biglang-Awa” or Holy Virgin of Instant Mercy.

 “Mang Claro,” I interrupted, “ you said that the Biglang-Awa Virgin is miraculous. Now what miracles can you tell me that the Virgin has performed?”

 Mang Claro told me about the old woman who came all the way from Gapan, Nueva Ecija. The woman was afflicted with a dreadful disease. She said that the Virgin appeared to her one night in her faraway town. She prayed in front of the Virgin. She rubbed her body with the coconut oil from the lamp of the Virgin’s altar. Then, she took a bath at a nearby well.

 “Did the sick, old woman get well afterward?,”I asked Mang Claro. 
“Oh yes!”, Mang Claro said.
 “Has the Virgin performed miracles for your family?”

 Mang Claro said that his children slept in the room where the lighted altar of the Virgin stood. That his children were constantly awakened at night by the “knocking” of the Virgin. Whenever the light of the small oil lamp was put out by a gust of wind---the Virgin “knocked”. The Virgin kept on knocking until one of Mang Claro’s children got up and lighted the lamp again. The Plamenco children testified to this “miracle”.

 The image is painted on the surface of thin wood. The Virgin’s head has a crown of gold and is circled by eight small, shining stars.She holds on her right knee the Holy Infant. The edge of the Virgin’s mantle has a wide line of gold paint. TheVirgin and the Child are between two lighted candles. In the distance are Spanish galleons of old. The brush strokes are fine, the colors well-blended. Hues of red and brown dominate the painting with touches of flesh ochre.The paint is cracked, a sign of age. The artist? I could not find his signature.

 On November 3, this year, I went to Bambang, Pasig, Rizal. There, I found the owner of the Biglang-Awa Virgin. He is 52-year-old Pedro Joson. I confronted him with the declaration of Plamenco about the Virgin and her miracles. Joson denied the miracles.

 “I do not know of any miracles. Ask the people of San Francisco.”
 “Is it true that the left-overs after the feast of the Virgin, the food and the sacks of rice, go to you and your family?”

 Joson admitted this but defended himself by saying, that as the owner of the Virgin, he was entitled to certain privileges.

 “Look at me. Look at my family. Look at my house. We are poor. Many people made money selling images of the Lady Mediatrix of Lipa City.Many people are making money selling images of Our Lady of Perpetual Help of Baclaran. Me? I will never commercialize the image of the Holy Virgin of Instant Mercy. I would be rich if I did so. I am still a low-paid government laborer. I have seven mouths to feed.”

 The Virgin gives him food.
That’s enough.

197. A RELIGIOUS RESTORATION IN PAINTING

The Sunday Times Magazine 
19 January 1964, pp. 24-25 

 A doctor wields his scalpel to restore life to an art that has been dead for many years from age and neglect. For the past two years, Dr. Gregorio G. Lim—a physician by profession and painter by avocation—has been collecting old Philippine santos (religious wood statuettes) of the 17th, 18th, and 19th-century vintage. Not very long ago, he started adding to his collection some religious paintings on wood panels which he salvaged from the heaps of statuettes in the shop of an art dealer.

At that time, very few collectors would have bothered about the paintings because the pictures were hardly recognizable and would have taken so much time and expense to clean and restore them. The avid an curious arrtist that he was (and still is), Dr. Lim did not allow himself to be fool or daunted by the deteriorated appearance of the paintings. With a good amount of patience and ingenuity, he believed that he could retouch the pictures back to their original looks.

 Dr. Lim’s interest, resourcefulness and imagination have paid off. Today, he has about a hundred of the wood-panel paintings in his collection—“veritable art treasures”, in the words of the doctor who considers them more colourful than the sculptured ones and certainly more fascinating because of the challenging task of restoration.

The problem of restoration is manifold. First, the old paints have become powdery so that they often peel off at the slightest touch. Second, the many years’accumulation of dirt and mud has almost become an integral part of the original paint. There, too, is the discovery of two or more pictures over the original painting; thus, the removal of these ‘’over paintings’’ taxesone’s knowledge of how paints behave after application. 

 Dr. Lim cautions those who would attempt to do the job of restoration to exercise utmost care. ‘’Many good paintings have been lost,’’ laments the doctor, ‘’because of careless or impatient hands’’.

 For an idea of how painstaking and time-consuming the work of restoration is, Dr. Lim describes in detail his first experience with a centuries-old painting. ‘’I came upon a badly painted-but clear picture on an old panel which nobody paid attention to, because it had no artistic quality. What attracted my attention were several small cracks in the paints. Peeling off a very small area, I discovered old paints underneath. I bought the panel and and did the scarping of the overlaid paints with a surgical knife. After carefully exposing the middle areas of the panel, I was surprised to see the outline of a face and neck partly hidden by a smaller second painting of the Madonna. The third and topmost painting was superficial so that it was easily scraped off. The second overlay, however, proved tough because it was very adherent to the original. The removal of this second picture taxed my patience. I did it meticulously, pinpoint by pinpoint, especially on the facial area. Then, with little retouchings, the masterpiece in its original form was uncovered.’’

Despite a busy daily schedule of preserving or restoring health to ailing bodies at the Blessed Heart Hospital where he is the director, Dr. Lim manages to find time for his restorative art in painting. His usual hours for his hobby are from four to six in the early morning and late at night when “I can no longer sleep after a medical call.’’

 Dr. Lim’s hobby is in itself a distinct contribution to the historical and cultural wealth of the country. His restored paintings have brought to light the fact that during the Spanish regime, many unknown—and most probably untutored—Filipino artisans displayed remarkable skill in their production of religious works which, in some cases, bore amazing resemblance to the style of classical masters.

 As for his own paintings, Dr. Lim’s works rank among the best in the country. He has won various awards in art competitions both here and abroad. These include first prize, APAA exhibit in Atlantic City; award of merit, 1955 in New York; second prize, 1958 exhibit, AAP, in Manila; and honourable mention, 1960 exhibit, AAP , Manila. Specializing in still-life, Dr. Lim, has had several one-exhibits sponsored by the AAP of which he was once president; from 1956 to 1958.

The 56-year old physician-painter is a 1935 graduate of the UP college of medicine with anatomy and surgery as his field of concentration. In 1955, he took advanced courses in general medicine at the University of Vienna, after which he practiced at the famous John Hopkins for two months. At present, he is president-elect for 1964 of the Philippine Academy of General Practice, secretary of the Philippine Medical center and member of the Juan Luna Centennial Commission.

 The skill and dedication that Dr. Lim has shown in his profession he has brought to bear on his avocation render in symbolic form the saying that life and art are one and indivisible.

185. MARIAN IMAGES OF PAMPANGA

MARIAN IMAGES, from Marian Festival of Pampanga, 29 November 2003, on the occasion of Guagua Town Fiesta, with the theme Virgen Maria: Modelo Ning Lugud (Virgin Mary: Model of Goodness). Marian Festival Chairman: Mrs. Estella G. Navarro/ Co-Chair: Mrs. Alma S. Twano.

VIRGEN DEL CARMEN

Owned by the late Dr. Angelo Roque, c/o Mrs. Lourdes Orense and Family.

VIRGEN DE LOS DESAMPARADOS

Owned by Dra. D. Ancheta del Rosario and Family

VIRGEN DOLOROSA

Owned by Mrs. Consolacio Bacani / Mrs. Rosario Guanzon

VIRGEN DE LA EXPECTACION

VIRGEN DE LAS FLORES

Owned by Mr. Emmanuel Canlas and Family

MARY, HELP OF CHRISTIANS

Owned by Mrs. Nenita Singian and Family

STA. MARIA MADRE DE DIOS

Owned by Mr. Jayvi D. Lusung and Family

VIRGEN DE MANAOAG

MARY, MEDIATRIX OF ALL GRACES

Owned by Apo Lina and Company

NTRA. SRA. DE LA VICTORIA

Owned by Mr. Eustaquio Pinlac and Family

VIRGEN DE SOTERANA

Owned by the Barangay Pastoral Council of Bancal

VIRGEN DEL ROSARIO

VIRGEN DE LOS REMEDIOS

Owned by the late Mr. Serve Capati

VIRGEN DE LA NAVIDAD

Owned by the Jingco Family/ Mr. Richard J. Calaguas and Family

ROSA MISTICA 

Owned by Mr. Aldrin S. Bernardo and Family

VIRGEN DELA CANDELARIA

Owned by Engr. and Mrs. Angelito Twano and Family

VIRGEN DE LA MERCED 

Owned by Mr. and Mrs. Pablo L. Narciso and Family 

VIRGEN DE LAS ESTRELLAS

Owned by Mr. and Mrs. Cesar  L. Diyco and Family