146. Santos Stories: STA. INES OF BRGY. STA. INES, MABALACAT CITY

STA. INES, Patron Saint of Barangay Sta. Ines, Mabalacat, Pampanga. Heirloom image of the Dela Cruz Family,

Sta. Ines is one of the more than 20 barangays of Mabalacat that is perhaps, the most popular among motorists passing the newest chartered city of Pampanga. It is here that one can get out of the North Luzon Expressway—via the Sta. Ines Exit—and into the old McArthur Highway. For many years, the Sta. Ines Exit was considered the end of the NLEX, and another alternative entrance to Clark Field.

Along the narrow exit stands the ancestral house of the Dela Cruz Family, in which an old image of the town patron is kept in an altar by the descendants. The Dela Cruzes figure prominently in the creation of this barrio, which was founded as early as 1842, according to the Historical Data Papers of Mabalacat, although an alternative year—1878—is more realistically ascribed as its foundation year.

 BARANGAY STA. INES, Maytinis 2012 Procession.

The original owner of the future Sta. Ines belonged to one Don Francisco Pamintuan, and the land was inherited by his son, Camilo. Mariano de la Cruz later bought the land and settled it. One of the early settlers of the barrio, Ines Basilio, gave the place its name. She, in turn, asked that the place be held under the titular patronage of the child-martyr, Sta. Ines or St. Agnes.

St. Agnes, from a noble Roman family,  was just 13 years old when she was martyred for her faith. Refusing to marry the son of the prefect Sempronius, she was beheaded and her blood flowed on the stadium floor. Sta. Ines became a patron saint for young girls and has become a symbol of chastity and purity, represented by the lamb that also has come to stand for her name (Agnus).

Mariano de la Cruz married Simeona de la Cruz (no relation) and their union resulted in the following  offsprings: Emiliano, Librada, Sebastian, Antonino, Pilar, Vicente and Rosario. For their young girls, the couple commissioned an unknown santero to make them a small image of their holy patron, carved in the round (talyado). The image of Sta. Ines, almost pumplish,  stands 2 and a half feet tall at most. It originally came with a carved lamb at her feet, but a replacement animal now accompanies her, which suspiciously looks like an old dog of San Roque.

Over time, to protect and preserve the original image, a duplicate statue was made, faithfully replicating the antique Sta. Ines.

 THE REPLICA IMAGE OF STA. INES. (From the Sta. Ines Chapel FB Group.)

On one hand, she used to hold a palm of martyrdom, but a fresh olive palm leaf plucked from some garden has now become her attribute. She is carved from soft wood, and wears her original gold-plated pukpok halo with very intricate relief patterns. The image has been painted many times—the vestments in green and yellow. It has finely carved features, apparent even through its thick layers of encarna.

Meant for the family’s private devotion, Sta. Ines once resided in an urna alongside another small but older heirloom santa—Sta. Maria Magdalena—which was cared for by one of the daughters, Rosario de la Cruz (Angeles), who donated it to the barangay of Sta. Maria Libutad. The Sta. Ines image was bequeathed to Pilar, who, upon her death, passed it on to her daughter Iraida de la Cruz. It was also Pilar’s way of showing her gratitude to a daughter who unselfishly cared for her spinster sister, Librada.

 APUNG INES, being processioned at the annual Maytinis of Mabalacat City.

The two santas go out on procession at different times of the year; Sta. Magdalena joins the Holy Week processions while Sta. Ines is borne on her own carroza during the December Maytinis festivites. She also comes out regularly on her feast day, January 21.

 INTERIOR OF STA. INES CHAPEL, where the image of Sta. Ines used to reside for many years. The chapel was a donation of the Policarpio Family. (Form the Sta. Ines Chapel Facebook Group)

When the Sta. Ines Chapel was constructed in the 70s funded by barrio folks led by the Policaprio Family on land donated by the Dela Cruzes, the precious family image was enshrined there. A new, larger Sta. Ines image was commissioned by the barangay in 2011, and the antique Sta. Ines reverted back to the heirs.

The current owners, siblings Socorro, Alda, Ernesto Jr. and Concesa de la Cruz, have returned the image to their ancestral house, to be used once more for their own personal family devotion. In the prayer room of the Dela Cruz home, now being beautifully restored by Concesa and her family, Apung Ines is permanently housed in her own urna, resting on a cotton-filled floor to simulate her heavenly abode.

Sta. Ines images are also venerated in such places as Bulacan, Bulacan; Camarin in Caloocan and in Sta. Ines, Bacolor, Pampanga.

145. Holy Week Santos: STA. MARTA

Sta. Marta, together with siblings Maria and Lazaro, come from the village of Betania (Bethany) near Jerusalem. In the Biblical account of Luke, Jesus and His disciples visited their home three times. In those visits, while Maria her sister listened intently to Jesus, it was Marta who fussed about housework. Jesus reminded her that listening to His word was more important, which her sister has done. The next visit shows how well Marta has learned this lesson. Her brother Lazaro had just died; when Jesus arrived, she left her mourning to welcome Him with her trademark hospitality. She became a witness to Jesus' resurrection of her brother, Lazaro, from death.

Sta. Marta is the patron of cooks and homemakers. Her attributes include house keys, basket (or platter) of bread and fruit, cross. This representation is what is brought out in procession during the Holy Week in the Philippines.

 All photos taken by Dr. Raymund Feliciano, under the care of the writer.

 STA. MARTA of Angono, Rizal

 STA. MARTA of Bocaue, Bulacan

 STA. MARTA of Balayan, Batangas

 STA. MARTA of Daet, Camarines Norte

 STA. MARTA of Molo, Iloilo

 STA. MARTA of Maragondon, Cavite

 STA. MARTA of Pasig City

 STA. MARTA of Noveleta, Cavite

 STA. MARTA of Nagcarlan, Laguna

 STA. MARTA of San Mateo, Rizal

 STA. MARTA of Valenzuela, Bulacan

STA. MARTA of Taytay, Rizal

144. Restoration-Assist: SAN FRANCISCO DE ASIS

Thanks to the wonder of cellphone technology, I was one of the first to lay my sight on this antique ivory head-and-hands San Francisco de Asis (St. Francis of Assisi). An antique dealer sent this to me for my consideration and I immediately expressed interest in this well-made treasure sourced from a family in Las Piñas.

The tell-tale stigmata on the hands clearly identified it as the Franciscan saint prone to ecstasy. His left hand was in a clutching position—which meant that it was holding a crucifix at one time, one of his attributes. The other hand would have held a skull, although the saint’s palm had no hole to anchor the skull.

The ivory santo was not perfect though, as the glass eyes were missing and so were the metalworks. The replacement velvet vestments were trimmed with the original embroidery from the old one, marked with a few holes here and there. The base, was also missing, but the dealer assured me that he just forgot to retrieve it from the owners.

I already am a happy owner of a San Francisco de Asis ivory santo which I purchased at Makati Cinema Square at an unbelievably giveaway price. Found in a box with assorted stuff for sale, it was a perfect piece, complete with a brass halo and a banner. To date, it is one of my most remarkable finds.

This San Francisco, however, was iconically different, and I was determined to have it restored by Dr. Raffy Lopez, even if he had a full schedule. As always, I had my way and he agreed to take on the restoration work, with the condition that I give him no deadline. My only instructions were to keep the base intact, as much of the gilding was intact, minus the sheen. I also asked him to improve the cut of the vestments, as I have seen Franciscan santos wearing short capes and something like a cowl.

I always have a way of losing track of my projects and when he texted me early this week to tell me that my San Francisco was ready for pick-up (complete with my, ehemm, bill, which was as reasonable as it could be, given my ‘demands’). He sent me a cellphone photo to give an idea how it turned out to be.

Well, glory be! The newly restored San Francisco De Asis looked very different and much more expressive with his new set of glass eyes.

 On top of his tonsured head, was an antique brass halo which I got from the Heritage Arts in Cubao; it’s a perfect match (well, okay, it was a bit bigger!).

The old but serviceable embroidery were neatly transferred on a brown, softer fabric, and augmented with new ones. The cowl and the short manto were incorporated in the new habit, trimmed with simple gold embroidery at the hems.

I had been keeping the cross from my late Mother’s silver rosary for years now. It had been a birthday gift by a close relative for my mother, and it was etched with the presentation date—1951, which meant that my mother was just 28 when she received this present. The silver beads have been lost, and all that remained was this silver cross with the tiny corpus. When I slipped it in the closed hands of San Francisco, it fit his clutch perfectly!

 So ends another tale of santo restoration for my San Francisco de Asis. But I would not let it end without telling you of my visit to the saint’s hometown in Assissi, Italy back in 2008. I got to walk the streets of Assisis, enter his revered domed church and pray on the floors where he once knelt.

Why, I even got to see his tomb. Whenever I see this santo likeness of him, I know I will always be reminded of that sanctifying pilgrimage, breathing the same air as that extraordinary man of the cloth known to all as San Francisco de Asis!

143. JOSE DAKOYKOY, THE DEAF SCULPTOR OF CEBU

Philippine Free Press, 12 December 1936 p. 32
 By Sol H. Gwekoh

Hard at Work. Surrounded by saints, he always keeps good company.

Where physical defects have been a handicap in the pursuit of happiness and livelihood to a great many unfortunate individuals, to Jose Dakoykoy of Cebu City, they have been a blessing in disguise and an indispensable factor in the attainment of his chosen work.

The fourth son of a family of seven, he accidentally became deaf at an early age. He comes from a family known for its musical talent and artistic taste. His brothers are all musicians, having inherited the art from their father, Marcelo, who attended to the choir of the Augustinian order in the Santo Niño church in Cebu. They now furnish church music and religious music for the traditional and popular novenas in the southern islands.

 Although Jose is deaf, he has not given up his love for art. He embraced early the painting and sculpturing lines, in which, though no Michaelangelo, he does well. From his eldest brothers, he learned to master the brush and palette as well as the chisel.

As a result, for the last 30 years, he has been furnishing Cebu and the neighboring islands with his pastels or miniature images of the different religious characters connected with the life of Jesus Christ in different stages. The rich and the aristocrats as well as the poor go to him for their Belens, especially shortly before Christmas. 

He also does interior decorating and portrait ainting, and designs decorative fancy objects. He works fast and alone throughout the year in his own home which he constructed out of his earnings as a painter-sculptor. Quiet and reserved, Jose leads a peaceful and simple life. To him, cockfighting and gambling, and drinking are mere frivolities.

He is a determined bachelor. Simple and humble as he is, relatively few know of his real talent. Contented with His Art Unschooled in the art and technique of his profession, he is contented and at ease working with crude instruments, principally with a small, sharp knife for shaping objects, and the chelepads of crabs for carving delicate features of images.

From religious and illustrated calendars, he copies his models. From September to December, he is kept busy until late at night when orders for belens from different provinces have to be delievered before the Yuletide season. An ordinary belen of 30 figures sells at between P40 and P60, while the more elaborate, which have bigger characters, cost as much as P150; part of the amount he receives for his productions is distributed to his relatives on Christmas Day.

 Now 54, he still plays native songs—the popular and melodious balitaws—on the guitar, especially at night to comfort him in his solitary life.

142. IMMACULATE HEART OF JESUS & MARY

I took Friday off last week as I thought I needed a longer weekend to recover from the stress of writing, presenting, pre-producing and shooting a couple of commercials. I had not planned on going out on that day—until my Plaridel dealer texted me about some items in his shop “that may be of some interest to me”. I usually dismiss nebulous messages like this—in the past, a dealer had sounded me off about “great vintage paintings” he had, but when I rushed to check, they were just awful paper prints.

When I got there, the first items I saw and, which I eventually took home, was this unusual set of busts representing the Immaculate Heart of Mary and Jesus, in a classic 1950s urna.

The busts, all of 8 inches high, are made of high quality plaster and they have retained their brilliant colors through the years. They are screwed onto the base of the simple, but well-assembled urna.

There are charming home-made flower decorations inside the urna, fashioned from cloth and plastic flowers, with small bottles and caps servings as vases. The backboard of the urna has been pasted on with various estampitas of Agony in the Garden, Virgin of Lourdes and Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

A souvenir fold-out paper fan commemorating the blessing of the Redemptorist Shrine in Baclaran in 1952 (and where Our Lady of Perpetual Help is the center of devotion) is also attached to the backboard.

The excellent condition of the santos and the urna's contents attest to the care that the previous owners had for this private devotional piece and I am fortunate to have acquired it for such a reasonable price.

141. Retro-Santo: NTRA. SRA. DE LA LECHE Y BUEN PARTO

MILK OF KINDNESS. The carved image of Our Lady of the Milk (Ntra. Sra. De La Leche), as shown on a postcard ca, '20s.

Perhaps, one of the most unusual images depicting Mary is the one that shows her breastfeeding the Child Jesus. This imagery may have begun in a 4th c. grotto in Bethlehem that inspired the Franciscans to put up a Milk Grotto shrine. Taking centerstage was the Blessed Virgin nursing the baby Jesus.

Crusaders brought the devotion to Mary as a nursing mother to Spain in the Middle Ages. The original 16 c. image found in Madrid  is credited for saving the life of an expectant mother and her unborn child, which led the couple to keep the image in their home.

Word of the miraculous image under the title Ntra. Sra. De la Leche y Buen Parto (Our Lady of the Milk and Good Delivery) soon spread all over Spain and a shrine was soon built, with King Philip II leading its construction. A replica of the image was brought by Spanish conquistadores to America in Florida in the early 1600s and placed in the very first shrine in the U.S. dedicated to the Virgin Mother.

Statues of Our Lady of the Milk in the Philippines are few and far between, but an early statue rendered of this representation is now the center of national devotion. It originally belonged to Ramon R. Ticzon, who, upon his death in 1999, was bequeathed to Remedios Gonzales, a niece.She successfully was granted permission by Jaime Cardinal Sin to propagate the devotion of Our Lady of the Milk in May 2000, through the organization of Our Lady of the Milk Movement.  The church of Our Lady of Fatima in Mandaluyong houses a replica of this heirloom image.

Prayer for Motherhood:

Lovely Lady of La Leche, most loving mother of the Child Jesus, and my mother, listen to my humble prayer. Your motherly heart knows my every wish, my every need. 

To you only, His spotless Virgin Mother, has your Divine Son given to understand the sentiments which fill my soul. Yours was the sacred privilege of being the Mother of the Savior. 

Intercede with him now, my loving Mother, that, in accordance with His will, I may become the mother of other children of our heavenly Father. 

This I ask, O Lady of La Leche, in the Name of your Divine Son, My Lord and Redeemer. Amen.

140. A Miraculous Makeover: VIRGEN DE LA MEDALLA MILAGROSA

THE RESTORED IMAGE OF OUR LADY OF GRACE. Found in a Bulacan antique shop in a sorry state, this rare 24 in. wooden image was restored and redressed by Dr. Raffy Lopez. Perosnal Collection.

When my favourite antique dealer sent me a photo by phone of a newly-arrived 2-foot santa for my consideration, I really got excited. For here is a very rare image of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, or known by its other title--Our Lady of Grace, the titular patron of our town, Mabalacat. 

Though I already have a 16 in. image, it is a reconstruction, fashioned from an Immaculate Conception santa. But clearly, this larger image is an original Milagrosa, with metal parts unbelievably complete—from the brass rays that emanate from her hands, to her crown and 12-star halo. She still had her sky blue cape in velvet, plus her sparsely embroidered tunic in shabby but stable condition.

Though her encarna had started to flake, one could discern her fine facial details, that can only be described as serenely beautiful.

The santo stood on a base of wood, but the clouds were made from composition or paper mache, reinforced with gauze, which have started to show. A snake lay coiled underfoot, which fortunately was undamaged, right down to the apple in its jaws.

 This was the way that St. Catherine Laboure saw Our Lady in a vision at Rue-de-Bac, France in 1830. She stood with a downcast glance, and was dressed in a blue cape, white mantle and tunic. Rays emanated from her hands, both outstretched at her side. Beneath her feet, a serpent lay crushed and around her were the words ”O, Mary conceived without sin, pray fpr us who have recourse to thee”.

A medal was struck based on this vision, and miracles were soon being wrought. The devotion to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal was introduced by the Vincentian fathers with their arrival in the Philippines in 1860, catching on in popularity in no time at all. Recollects propagated the devotion in our town as early as the 1860s under the title, Ntra. Sra. De la Gracia.

As late as the 1930s, an image of La Virgen Milagrosa had stood on the main altar with her signature rays radiating from her hands, to be replaced in the 1950s with a seated image of a Madonna and Child.

Of course, the restoration of this santo became a top priority project; I immediately brought it to Dr. Raffy Lopez, who lost no time in fixing the image, starting with the base, the body and the repainting of the image.

Dr. Lopez copied the pattern of the existing vestments but did away with the use of heavy velvet; instead, blue and white satin fabrics were used.

 He employed simple but elegant embroidery on Our Lady’s tunic, of mostly floral patterns.

 Outfitted with a new wig and with metal parts polished, La Virgen Milagrosa emerged miraculously beautiful after more than 2 months of restoration, radiant than ever, ready to work her wonders to those who believe, just as she promised St. Catherine Laboure over a hundred years ago.