Showing posts with label crucifix. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crucifix. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

326. TATANG: THE SEATED CHRIST OF GUIMBA, by Fred J. Reyes

By Fred J. Reyes / Philippine Panorama, 15 April 1984
Photography: Joey de Vera

THE SEATED CHRIS OF GUIMBA

How “Tatang” Brought Peace and Prosperity to a Family in Nueva Ecija
In Guimba, Nueva Ecija, enshrined in a chapel beside a rice mill, is a life-size crucifix that has drawn throngs of devotees the past 6 years. People reverently refer to the fgure on the Cross as “Tatang”.

“Tatang” is no ordinary version of the Crucifixion. Unlike most other representations of the Holy Cross, Christ here is nailed on both wrists and feet. A block of wood juts out between the thighs, serving as a seat and propping up the upper portions of the body.

The most common crucifix shows Christ nailed on His palms and His feet, and His body pressed flat against the cross.

PHOTO BY JOEY DE VERA

Some Biblical researchers say that this could not have been the way Christ was crucified. His nailed palms, they say, could not have been sufficient to carry the rest of His six-foot frame and would surely have been torn loose after a short time on the cross. Thus, the seat-like projection between His thighs, which the Roman soldiers as an afterthought, both to prevent the palms from being torn apart and to prolong Christ’s agony.

These researchers further say that the French sculptor who made the first such depiction claimed he had seen it in a dream. This crucifix is said to be known in many parts of Europe as “the seated Christ”.


“Tatang”, as the seated Christ in Guilba is beter known among residents and visitors, was sculpted by a Filipino—Rey Estonatoc, who has a studio in Pag-asa, Quezon City. The wooden image shows so profound a suffering that many first-timer to the place, including wizened old men, have been seen crying unashamedly before it.

Rosario Divino Sta. Inez vda. De Santos, matriarch of the family which owns the chapel, says Tatang has brought peace and prosperity to her household and perhaps to hundreds of other people since His arrival there in 1978. She is particularly thankful for the change in the life of the youngest of her four sons, Fred, who she says was once a black sheep of the family.

Fred, she says, used to be unemployed but also was invoLved in some michief or other. “He used to bring nothing into the house but trouble, all kinds of trouble”.

At the height of Fred’s youthful escapades in early 1977, well-meaning friends succeeded in making him enter a cursillo. They had unsuccessfully tried to make him do so twice before.

When he finally attended one, he noticed, after a few sessions, a crucifix of the Seated Christ that had been brought into the cursillo house by a certain Delfin Cruz.

A wooden image of profound suffering.

It was the first time that Fred saw such a crucifix and his curiosity was aroused.When he asked around, one cursillista, Jose Dijamco, told him that as far as he was concerned that was the faithful reproduction of the Crucifixion. Impressed, Fred made a vow to have a replica of the crucifix someday.

Two weeks after the cursillo, Fred became a changed man he ceased to be the troublemaker that his family used to know and now went all over the barrios of Guimba doing apostolate work. In one of his sorties, a friend came up to him to offer a wo-and-a-half acre farm for cultivation. “It was my very first job offer,” says Fred,”and I readily accepted.”

He had just finished planting the farm to rice when a kumpadre offered him 4more hectares for cultivation. Again, he accepted. “Kaya, eto, umitim na ako, kakatrabaho sa bukid”., he now says, calling attention to his deep tan.

The harvest in both farms was bountiful. He reaped 105 cavans to a hectare , which set him off to a good start in the rice business.For the first time in his life, Fred says, he found fulfillment: “So this is how it feels to sweat and get rewarded for your own labor”, he recalls saying to himself.

Still, something seemed lacking in his life. Often thinking about it, he soon began to have dreams about the crucifix, sometimes with the Virgin Mary floating with it in the clouds. When he recounted his dreams to Dijamco, who by then had become his spiritual adviser, the latter reminded him of his promise to acquire a replica of the Seated Christ. N Fred’s request, Dijamco eventually found a sculptor to make one for him.

The crucifix was finished in October 1978, and Fred, along with Dijamco and a close friend, Cris Ang, drove in a van from Guimba to estonactoc’s studio in Quezon City to get it.“A storm was raging then”, recalls Ang. “But on our way back, it seemed to have calmed down.”

He also remembers that the crucifix they brought back with them attracted lots of curious (and awed) onlookers along the way, so that they had to stop a number of times to enable people to take a close look. As a result, it took them 8 hours, instead of the usual 3, to get back to Guimba.

The crucifix also seemed to have grown heavier, according to Ang. Only 4 people were needed to load it into the van in Quezon City but when they arrived in Guimba, 12 pairs of hands had to bring it inside the chapel owned by Fred’s family.

NAILED AND BOUND FEET. PROLONGING CHRIST'S AGONY.
Photo: Joey de Vera

Fred says his dream about the crucifix has never recurred since its arrival and he now feels completely at peace with the world. “I used to attend mass only 5 or 10 times a year and I stayed outside the church at that. Now I remember God through Tatang every day of the year.”

And instead of scaring people away during his days of mischief, Fred now seems to draw people to him—people in need of help, especially. But Fred doesn’t mind giving them help. “When you give to the poor, you’re fulfilling the tithe required by the Church.”

His mother, Rosario, who tends a small sari-sari store besides managing the family rice mill, says she is the happiest about the things that Tatang has done fro her sons and the rest of her family.

“We used to have every kind of problem, financial and other wise,” she says. “Now all these problems seem to have vanished. We’ve paid all our debts and sent our children to the best schools and have something lef to buy lands and other properties.”

Here 3 other sons—Renato, Oscar and Albert, who had their own “youthful flings” have also grown prosperous, apart from being law-abiding and God-fearing men. Oscar, a town councilman and military officer, assists at Mass every Sunday. A son of Fred and a son of Roberto are in the seminary, studying for the priesthood.

Matriarch Rosario vda. De Santos, with
granddaughters. Peace with the coming of Tatang.

Tatang, for his part, has become something of an institution in Guimba. Every now and then, people attribute “little miracles” to him. Sometime, in 1979, when a rift divided the town’s cursillistas, the statue,  made of hard ipil,  reportedly developed a crack on the face, from the forehead to the bridge of the nose. The crack was said to have closed only after the cursillistas had settled their differences.

The chapel, while privately owned,  is open to everyone, and Fred says, that like him, countless other people may have been moved by the seated Christ to change their ways.

He attributes to tatang all the good things that have happened to him and his family. “He is as powerful as the man-God he represents.”

Fred says, however, he never asked Tatang directly for the material things that he has now. “Ask him for anything, except material things.”

All that he prayed for, Fred recalls, was faith, fortitude and endurance in the “rat  race” of this world.

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

309. A PRIVATE COLLECTOR'S TREASURE-TROVE OF SANTOS

In one of the exclusive villages in Makati is the residence of a private collector--an academician,  translator, author and professor, who has cultivated a taste for fine Philippine antiques. A fellow Kapampangan, I met this getntleman at our cultural study center, which attracts many scholars of history and cultural heritage workers like him. I had the privilege of being invited to his home, where I had a peek at his modest collection of local sacred art. These are mostly santos that run the range from folk to classical, simple to ornate, wood to ivory. Just look at the treasures that his house holds: 
**********

 A small, ivory Nino with a dressed manikin body, and housed in its own urna.This must have been a part of a Holy Family tableau.

 A folksy trio representing the Holy Family. The heads and hands are made from carved bone. The santos have primitive bodies with wire armature arms. In their original embroidered satin dresses.

 A very small polychromed Bohol Virgin with a replaced ivory head and hands, standing on a cloud base carved with cherubs. It is housed in an equally colorful urna.

 This is a large Santo Nino, darkened and reddened with age. Outfitted with glass eyes, it has a clownish expression and the carving style has a distinct folksy feel.

 I helped the collector acquire this beautiful  3-foot image of the Immaculate Conception by introducing him to an office mate whose fiance's family once ran an antique shop in Greenhills that has since closed down. Despite the crack on the body, the carving of this figure, and its original encarna, are superb.

 A wooden, painted icon of the Holy Trinity. It is painted on a thin, wooden board. Bohol provenance.

 This century-old processionl head of a Cristo for an Agony in the Garden tableau is an outstanding piece, finely carved with details like the high cheekbones, exposed teeth, deep nostrils, and the fine strands of hair on his beard,

 Crucified Christ rendered in ivory, hangs on a hardwood cross outfitted with silver accessories: cantoneras (finials), YNRI, rayos, Christ's potencias, and tapiz. Ot is housed in a glass dome (virina).

 A primitive Sacred Heart of Jesus. The moonface-figure has very little details as seen from the simple drapes on his vestment.

 Another wonderful example of a polychromed Virgen from Bohol enshrined in her own nail-less urna or altar, painted with still-vibrant colors.

 A forlorn-looking Christ the King figure seated on his thrown, missing a scepter and a crown.Such figures are enthroned in family homes, often in the living room.

 Sleeping Santo Nino in ivory. prized in many Filipino homes, Heirloom Nino Dormidos are often passed from generation to generation.

 A naif carving of San Isidro Labrador, patron saint of farmers and laborers. This small santo,with its trademark polychrome painting,  comes from Bohol.

A well-carved crucifix, with the corpus of Christ in wood. The dead Christ wears a silver loincloth, and his head sports silver tres potencias and a crown of thorns. The end finials of the cross plus the YNRI, are all made of silver.

Saturday, August 20, 2016

263. Krus ni Kristo #2: STO. CRISTO DE LONGOS OF BINONDO


THE SHRINE OF THE STO. CRISTO DE LONGOS, Binondo, Manila

In the oldest Chinatown in the world—Binondo—one can find an ancient Sto. Cristo fished out from a well in the barrio of Longos some time in the 16th century. Legend has it that the Chinese deaf-mute who discovered the blackened corpus of Christ in his pail, shouted in surprise—and regained his speech.

 After a cross was made for the image, the Sto. Cristo was housed at the Capilla de San Gabriel, until the 1863 earthquake damaged the chapel. The undamaged cross was then transferred to the Binondo Church. The original image of Sto Cristo De Longos was displayed near the side entrance of the church.


 A landmark shrine was erected at the corner of Ongpin St and san Nicolas St.—the site of the well where the Sto. Cristo was retrieved. Here, devotees come to see the wooden cross, honoring Christ in a fusion of Filipino-Chinese customs and traditions. The Christian cross is adorned with sampaguita garlands while Buddhist incense sticks are lit and prayers are offered by visitors of the shrine.


 A confraternity--Hermandad del Santo Cristo de Longos—founded in 1704, propagates the devotion to the miraculous Holy Cross.

PHOTOS: courtesy of Dr. Raymund Feliciano

Monday, March 21, 2016

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.


Thursday, March 12, 2015

216. THE 1ST PHILIPPINE EXPOSITION OF CHRISTIAN ART

In March 1937, the1st Philippine Exposition of Christian Art was held in the Philippines, a first-time exhibit of antique religious and ecclesiastical art culled from private and church collections. The pre-war exhibit was organized in time for the holding of the 33rd International Eucharistic Congress in Manila, and was held at the Victoria Gardens, Manila.

 Some of the precious heirloom santos on display include the Buencamino family’s “Last Supper”, a tableaux of 12 seated santo figures representing Christ’s disciples, plus the carved likeness of Christ himself. This grouping still exists today. Just as awe-inspiring was a set of crucifixes that , as one magazine recorded, “won praises from lay visitors and foreigners as well as church dignitaries who were in the city to witness the 33rd International Eucharistic Congress.” Here are the pictures of the exhibited crucifixes and the original captions that described them.

CHRIST UPON THE CROSS 
The image of Christ sculptured about 160 years ago, and at present the property of Doña Consuelo David de Jesus of Sta. Cruz, Manila.

THE IVORY CHRIST 
The Ivory Christ the first and only one of its kind in the Philippines and probably in the whole world today. It is made of pure ivory supported on a cross on a block of wood of Philippine ebony. This image stands about 2 feet tall (mountings excluded) and is a cherished possession of a family in Naga, Camarines Sur.

THE NUEVA ECIJA CRUCIFIX 
The Nueva Ecija crucifix which is said to have been made in 1732, is not, as one would expect, a church property. On the contrary, it belongs to the municipality of Gapan, Nueva Ecija and is at present, in the custody of its lay officials. Many a Gapan townsman, 200 years ago, knelt and prayed before this crucifix not in devotion, but in atonement for theft, slander and slight offences.

Monday, June 30, 2014

199. CROSSES: A Heritage of Art and Religion

by Santiago A. Pilar 
The Philippine Star, 
Monday, April 30, 2001 



 On April 6, Friday, before the Holy Week, the Ayala Museum on Makati Ave., Makati City, inaugurated ‘The Art of the Cross’, an art exhibit featuring crosses. The show will go on until June 30, roughly coinciding with the traditional Christian season of Eastertide.


For the folks who reach a spiritual high from the Visitas Iglesias they made during the Semana Santa, this is the fix that will keep them up there. And, of course, if you are a cultural buff in search of rare, centuries-old items, or simply, pieces of scholarly interest, then ‘The Art of the Cross’is a must-see for you.

Unfortunately, the museum was closed during the Holy Week, so the show opened to the public again only on Tuesday , April 17, the museum’s first working day after the holidays.


To complement the exhibit, the Ayala Museum has also prepared a set of lectures given by the country’s top authorities in the Spanish colonial cultural field.

The first of these, appropriately, was “Weave!”, delivered by Elmer Nocheseda on the morning of April 6.
Nocheseda is the guy who can tell you all about the many styles and techniques of weaving the palaspas, the crosses fashioned of young palm fronds blessed by the priests on Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday).


On the afternoon of April 6, ‘Holy Week, Filipino Style’ was the topic of Ateneo social scientist Dr. Fernando N. Zialcita.

 The other parts of the lecture series are: ‘Subli: Laro at Panata’ given by U.P.professor of music history, Dr. Elena Rivera-Mirano, last April 28, 3-5 p.m.; ‘Viva Santa Cruz’, to be given by the highly respected Dr. Nicanor G. Tiongson on May 5, also 3-5 p.m. On May 12, also 3-5 p.m.,jewelry expert Ramon Villegas will talk about ‘Heirloom Crosses’.

An exhibit on crosses is certainly something that does not need so much justification in this country which is predominantly Christian.

And even if the depiction of images of Christ, Mary and the saints may be a practice exclusive to Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians, the custom is not altogether so strange as to shock or offend those who are not in favor of it.

In the name of art and culture, we have accepted the relevance of Buddhist and Hindu images have to our Chinese and Indian friends.

We have also been so used to almost daily allusions to, or representations of, Venus, Adonis, Hercules and other members of the Greco-Roman pantheon such that we have hardly seriously thought of these personages as deities revered in pagan Greek and Roman times as fervently as we do our God and Christian spiritual beings.

 Filipinos in general have never had any difficulty in accepting the Roman Catholic culture of iconism, perhaps because image-making was a custom rooted in pre-Hispanic Philippine life.

The cross motif has also been present in the country even before the Spanish coming. Crosses formed part of the repertory of designs incised on excavated pre-Hispanic earthenware. The textile specialist Sandra Castro points out that many ethnic groups in the Philippines like the Mandayas, Mangyans and Bilaans, have also utilized cross motifs in their traditional weaves.

‘The Art of the Cross’ is focused on the corss as a motif in Philippine Christian art particularly as a result of the Spanish presence for more than 300 years in the country.


Sourced from private collections, as well as from the museum’s own, the examples in the show range from small types, like pieces worn bodily as jewelry accessories to life-size or relatively big ones used as focal images in both church and home altars.

The small ones were mostly worn hanging from the neck or pinned to the shirt or blouse to function as amulets or protection against evil and misfortune.

Objects using the cross design or motif, of course, evolved into precious pieces of jewelry, as they became fashioned out of gold or silver and encrusted with expensive stones like diamonds, rubies and pearls.

Many places in the Philippines became the hub of jewelry-making during the colonial days as the demand grew for for elegant bodily adornments specially crosses.

Among these places are: Laoag, Ilocos Norte; Vigan, Ilocos Sur; Meycauayan, Bulacan; and the districts of Santa Cruz and Quiapo in Manila. These centers even developed processes and techniques as well as styles and designs uniquely their own.


An example of an indigenous ornamental design is the sinan-siit exclusive to Ilocos and Cagayan smiths. As the Ilocano term implies, the motif resembles tinythorns (tinik in tagalong) soldered to jut out from the body of the cross usually of chiselled openwork.

It may have been inspired by the crown of thorns worn by Christ during his Passion, an object which artists and artisans have depicted as something fashioned from a variety of prickly cacti like those growing in the arid Ilocos terrain.


 The cross as a common shape is a simple intersection of two lines. In Christian art and religion, however, it is an artistic rendering of an upright post with a traverse beam, the contraption to which condemned persons in ancient times were transfixed (tied with ropes or nailed) as a form of capital punishment.

It is the central symbol of the Christian faith, crucifixion being Christ’s humiliating manner of death through which he redeemed the world from eternal damnation. Crucifix is the word we use for the object that includes the corpus or body of Christ hanging on the cross. Crucifixion refers to the punishment and a Crucifixion scene of Christ iften does not depict him alone but the entire Mt. Calvary scene.

 The Ayala Museum exhibit affords us with a rich experience of the Philippine Christian or more specifically. Local Roman Catholic interpretation of the crucifixion of Christ.

Like any of the subjects of Christian image-making before realistic portraiture and photography were developed, all these representations were just products of the artistic imagination.

No object from the time of Christ is still in existence to tell us how he or his mother and his disciples looked like. As a reflection of the human imagination, the Philippine interpretations of these Christian themes, illustrate how we have accepted and imagined the Christian experience.

Across Philippine art history, these images vary depending on the mental and/ or spiritual intelligence of their makers, their skills as artists and the materials they used to express this. As products of a continuum, these objects requires an understanding of the same factors in order for us to fully appreciate their artistry or their relevance to that particular point in time (what century? what region? who was the specific artist?) in which they were made.

 The show features about 30 objects inviting us to ask questions ranging from the practical to those specifically dealing with art historical issues and interests. How were these made?

And indeed, we marvel at the complexity and intricacy of workmanship of some, like the metal and ivory pieces. Who made them? Why didn’t the carvers and smiths who made them sign them just like the one-of-a-kind religious sculptures we see nowadays. What are the sources and influences of their styles? My favorites in the exhibits belong to two types.

One is the crucifixion scene in slim liquor bottles. For one, the bottles themselves are antiquities since this is a genre that flourished in the early part of the 20th century. The greenish bottles are particularly pleasant to the eyes

This genre traces its beginnings to Victorian glass globe table pieces containing flowers and elaborate multi-figure scenes. The bottled crucifixion scene is a form of prison art. (Today, prisoners still make bottled art but their subjects are mainly galleons and rural scenes).

 I used to be puzzled about how the entire crucifixion tableau could be inserted inside a bottle with a mouth so small until someone pointed out to me that all the materials were placed inside via an opening at the bottom of the bottle which was later on soldered again.

This tableau often consists of a Christ on the cross, Mary and Magdalen or John (and sometimes there are the three crosses of Mt. Calvary) plus an appropriate setting of mountains and trees. For realism, the face and limbs of the figures may be made of polychromed wood, while other parts make use of materials that imitate the textures and colors needed.

The second type that I like is the classical crucifixions, whether carved of ivory or wood. This is a form of urban art giving us an idea of how master carvers in Manila, Paete, Laguna and Vigan or San Vicente, Ilocos Sur, interpreted Christ on the cross as inspired by Renaissance and Baroque prototypes.

Many examples from the 16th to the early 20th centuries, have been preserved. We know that the Chinese-looking Christs date to the earliest period of the colonization. By Chinese-looking, we mean slit eyes, small nose, small thin lips and lanky limbs. The more sinitic, the earlier.

Christ’s features become more and more Caucasian and also more and more formal in approach as the carvers also change in their training, that is, from apprenticing in the talleres or workshops to professional tutorship under the Academia de Bellas Artes.

 Pre-20th century cult or devotional objects in the Philippines were seldom signed. These pieces were generally not regarded as art despite their evidently high artistic quality. The awareness of human participation in the creation of a saintly image would certainly distract devotees in the performance of their devotional activities.


Towards the later part of the 19th century as the Philippines awoke to the formidable ingenuity of its artists, we witnessed a changing situation. In the show, look for the three examples of classical crucifixions I am describing here and which illustrate this change.

The first of these and the earliest is a highly realistic representation of Christ done around 1850. It is illustrated in this article. Christ’s depiction corresponds to the miniaturistic sensibility in painting in which all aspects of the subject are realistically depicted to the minutest detail.

 In this crucifix, Christs’s body is made of tinted wood and his features are painted with realistic reasons. He is equipped with hair made of curled fiber, a crown of thorns of beaten metal and an elaborately tooled loin cloth.The author is unknown.

I have encountered several examples of this style, apparently done by one person, but unfortunately, the pieces could never be traced to their maker or his descendants who could inform us who he was. I am inclined to believe that his environment dictated this situation of anonymity. The artist belonged to that period in which his work was not considered as a work of art but simply an object of devotion.

 The second example is a classical ivory piece identified as by Leoncio Asuncion (1813-1888). Leoncio belongs to the famed artistic Asuncion clan that produced the exquisite portraitist Justiniano and the religious painter mariano. The attribution to Leoncio is correct because the piece came from the artist’s descendants who donated it to the Ayala Museum. In this case, we witness a situation of vigorous artistic awareness.

Asuncion’s Christ is very Caucasian in features and when placed beside the anonymous piece mentioned above, its realism appears to lack force and dramatic intensity.

 The third example was done in 1890. Its merits lie specially in the fact that it is so far the only known surviving work of the acclaimed sculptor, Marcelo Nepomuceno (1871-1922).

Marcelo’s work definitely lacks the realism of the anonymous as well as the Leoncio Asuncion piece. The piece also takes on a more secular tone and shifts to Magdalen’s lament.

The artist’s focusing on the repentant Magdalen and not on the mystery and drama of the redemption presages the wordliness and materialism of our times.

All photos from "Art of the Cross: A Philippine Tradition", by Sandra B. Castro. Catalog Exhibit, Ayala Museum. 2001.

Monday, June 16, 2014

198.The Ones That Got Away: SAN ANTONIO, STO. NINO & A CRUCIFIJO

GONE TOO SOON. A trio of very fine quality antique ivories, a Crucifix, a San Antonio de Padua and a Sto. Nino de la Pasion were snapped up immediately after failing to sell as a lot. 

In my long collecting years, I  have seen many antiquities that have been my objects of desire, but alas, the price tags have always been the biggest obstacle towards acquiring them. Hen I see that an antique is beyond my reach, I just quietly turn away, filing the beautiful, but lost objects in my mind under the category of “the ones that got away’’. But a trio of old ivories shown to me by a dealer caused me to rethink this position, for I have never seen so many pieces of exquisite quality, all offered in one swoop.


 They must all have come from one talyer, as they seemed to have been crafted from the same ivory, with vestments cut from the same fabric, sporting same styles of embroidery. This was further bolstered by the dealer who informed me that the items all came from one house.


 There was a magnificent crucifix, which, despite some missing brass rays, held much promise with its classically carved crucified Christ figure in flawless ivory.


 Another piece was a tabletop San Antonio, with ivory head and hands and clothed in its brown habit, profusely decorated with thick gold embroidery, miraculously intact after so many years.


Though missing the Child Jesus, it was still a spectacular piece.


 But the third ivory left me breathless—it was a large, standing ivory Child Jesus—Sto. Nino de La Pasion—with ivory head, hands and feet,vested in a robe sumptuously embroidered with gold thread.


It was clutching three pieces of nails—symbols of his Passion; one hand may have held a crown of thorns, now missing. The face was child-like and expressive, with a hint sorrow in His eyes.

 Originally, the 3 pieces were being sold as a lot, but weeks had passed without any buyer. Now, they were being sold individually. I made a feeble attempt to throw in my offer on the Sto. Niño, which I judged to be the best piece, only to be rebuffed. I made a second offer, which the dealer considered, but when I made a follow-up, the dealer told me the Sto. Niño has been sold.

 The object of my desire, gone forever. I spent some time thinking of what could have been. What if I had not dilly-dallied? Or what if I had made a firmer offer? Or had followed up earlier? I wallowed in my sad thought for days until, from out of the blue, a long-forgotten dealer from Pampanga called. Would I be interested in an antique 10 inch standing Sto. Niño with a solid ivory head?

 Would I? Me? Interested? Of course!! See how easy it is for me to move on?