163. Retro-Santo: SAN GUILLERMO ERMITAÑO

SAN GUILLERMO, the antique processional santo of Laoag on his decorated carroza, on the occasion of  his feast day in 1932, which coincided with a Marian Congress. Dated 14 February 1932.

San Guillermo Ermitaño ( St. William the Hermit), founded the Williamites (Gulielmites) branch of St. Augustine. He was born in France but led a life of immorality even while he was married. His conversion started when he was said to have an audience with Pope Eugene III who advised him to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem as an act of penance for his sins. After 2 years, he returned to Italy and became a hermit in the woods near Pisa, before moving on to Monte Prumo and in 1155, in the desert of Maleval. He is often confused with San Guillermo de Aquitania (St. William, Duke of Aquitaine).

San Guillermo is often depicted holding a skull to symbolize man's mortality, and a crucifix, upon which he reflected on Christ's passion as a hermit in the desert. Sometimes, he is shown holding a penitent's whip. He died on 10 February 1157 (his feast day) and was beatified in 1202.

He is the patron saint of several Philippine towns including Laoag City (Ilocos Norte), Magsingal (Ilocos Sur), Talisay (Batangas), and Passi City (Iloilo).

162, Find of the Year: SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA from the Taller of Irineo M. Cristobal

In one of my recent antiquing weekends last June, I decided to drive to Apalit and check out the stuff of a dealer there, fairly new in town. I had not realize that it was the town’s fiesta week, and I was caught in a massive traffic jam that resulted in a trip of more than an hour! Of course, upon arriving, I chided the dealer for not warning me of Apu Iro’s (St. Peter, the town patron) fiesta, and she retorted that had she done, I wouldn’t have come. What a clever ruse!

She appeased me with fiesta food, all laid out on her table, while she took out her items for me to see, not much really---ceramics, vintage paintings, kitchen collectibles. I bought a few Chinese achara pots, but there was nothing much of interest for me.

With a sigh, I was all set to depart, but then, the dealer suddenly remembered a santo that she had stashed upstairs, plus a few other religious articles. When her helper brought them down, I became excited by what I saw. It was a 36 in, San Antonio on a 5 inch base, classically carved, complete with a bald Niño, similarly carved in the same refined style.

Saint Anthony of Padua, Italy was a popular saint in the country, introduced early by Franciscan missionaries. It was said that the Child Jesus appeared to him, hence the representation. Only 36 tears old when he died, he was canonized a year just after his death. Today, he is commonly referred as a "finder of lost articles".

San Antonio was in a bad state, with one arm missing and without hands. At one time, the saint must have held a sprig of lilies—symbols of purity--perhaps carved separately to be held by his right hand. The Niño’s condition was much better, its joints intact, with just a few broken fingers. The images had been repainted several times in the past, and when I got them, their bodies were painted pink, their faces, in ashen flesh color.

San Antonio was missing his halo, while the Child Jesus had lost his wig. There were no indications in the head that he wore potencias. Both heads, however, were handsomely carved, and I estimated to be anywhere from 60-70 years old, early post-war pieces, perhaps.

I have missed out on a few large images of San Antonio in the past, so I made sure that this one goes home with me. Because of the flaws of the carvings, I managed to wrangle a big discount from my dealer. Not only did I got to take these santos home, but also an 8 in. antique wooden sleeping Nativity Niño!

 I was so eager to have these images restored that I didn’t even bother checking the schedule of santo restorer, Dr. Raffy Lopez. He was in the midst of moving things into his new house, but I brought the santos to him anyway, barely a week after purchasing them. Knowing I will never take “no”for an answer, he went ahead and accepted this restoration project.

Initially, my project brief included giving San Antonio a swarthy complexion, complete with 5 o’clock shadow, but thank God I changed my mind. Since I was on a shoestring budget, I asked Dr. Lopez to outfit him in an austere dark brown hooded habit, with simple gold trims on the hems and sleeves. I had no idea what the Niño would wear, so I pretty much left this to the good doctor to decide. The restoration process began almost immediately.

Lopez brought the santo to his contracted carver who made new hands and attached new arms for San Antonio. Niño’s fingers were mended in no time at all. The encarna painting itself was done in several stages but I was pretty much kept in the loop with regular phone messaging updates.

 It was during this stage of the restoration that we made a stunning discovery about this santo’s provenance. When the painter finished stripping the old paint done on the base, a small brass plaque appeared on the upper right hand corner. The plaque was just the size of a small postage stamp, but when it was further cleaned, the letters in relief became more apparent, revealing the name and address of the original maker: TALLER DE IRINEO M. CRISTOBAL. Evangelista, Manila, P.I.

 This then is the handiwork of the famed santero from Quiapo who was active in the creation of religious statuaries from the 20s to the 50s. Irineo M. Cristobal, one of the more popular commercial santeros who followed Maximo Vicente, established his own talyer in the santo carving district of Manila—along Evangelista Street in Quiapo.

 A month after, I was ready to bring San Antonio home. He now wears a beautiful habit complete with the trademark Franciscan cord. The Child Jesus, in appropriate ”goldilocks” wig is vested in a plain vintage satin tunic, also corded at the waist.

I was pleased with the way he was restored, but even happier knowing that I have a treasure in my hand—a Cristobal creation, no less—just the second image in my collection with known and proven provenance.

 Dr. Lopez managed to find a vintage 8 inch halo, which fitted him perfectly—this, after my own fruitless search in thrift shops and antique shops. He did better than that by finding a set of potencias of the right size, in the last minute!

 To give a sense of completeness, I let the santo hold a stem of antique flowers made from mother of pearl (lagang), and then made these photographs.

But on the day I was to take the santo home, a friend gifted me with this handcrafted spray of lilies—an attribute of the saint—made also from mother-of-pearl shells!! Will wonders never cease??

 So this then is the finished San Antonio de Padua with Niño Jesus by Irineo M. Cristobal—an affordable find that has become my find of the year! Now this calls for my own fiesta celebration!!

161. The Bangkal Picker: THRIFT SHOP SANTO FINDS

I have previously written about Bangkal in Makati—that little barangay near South Super Highway that has earned the reputation as Manila’s foremost garage sale community. Its main street, Evangelista, is lined with side streets filled with shops—more accurately, converted apartment garages—that offer a wild assortment of used goods, a mix of American and local items from furniture, clothes to house décor, serviceable and damaged, threadbare and slightly used, and if you’re lucky, vintage and antiques!!

 In the last two years, I have scored a couple of santos from Bangkal, which may not be of comparable quality with those real antique shops in Ermita, but which nevertheless, are genuine antiques. Most santos I have found are of the folk variety, and though most have missing parts like most antique santos, they pose a lot of restoration challenges to me. Most important of all is their affordability—I have paid no more than Php 4,000 for these antique pieces, with a typical item averaging about 2K each.

 Last year, in one of the shops, I saw this small bonehead santo representing the Virgin Mary. It is only about 8 inches tall, but is done in the style of Bohol polychromes santas, right down to the peana, which had crescent moon “horns” supported by a 4-sided base. The body has lost its paint and only a layer of dried up, colorless pigments remain.

 The head itself is maybe of a fish bone, just about an inch high, with not much carved features as one can see. Being hollow, it had been stuck on a peg on the neck of the image.

 As recent as a month ago, I chanced upon a small trove of folk santos in a second-hand shop. The proprietor tuned out to be a Kapampangan whose husband was once a dealer in Cebu. What remained of their store stock had now been transported to Bangkal, where I happily saw them first on one rainy afternoon visit there. I just had to get this well-made, and very colourful San Vicente Ferrer which probably date from the 60s or even 70s. Its tin wings and halo are intact, the enamel paint still vivid and bright. 2K is what I paid for it.

 Actually, there were 3 San Vicentes available in the shop, and I chose the best-looking one. But I couldn’t resist the other nose-less image, which appealed to me mainly because of the folksy colors and the fact that it was carved from a solid piece of softwood. I am sure I could outfit this with a pair of tin wings. It was priced as the first one—2K.

 Costing a bit more was this very heavy and complete tableau of a sword-wielding San Miguel fighting with the Devil who is shown caught underfoot. It is a vintage piece, possibly no more than 50 years old, but it is outstanding for its creative representation of the archangel all painted in house paint, and the Devil that had a bent nail for a tail. Set on a stoney mound on a block of wood, I had to handcarry this piece which I got for the princely sum of 4K. A Mabini shop would easily put a price tag of up to 5 figures for this San Miguel.

 Less than a week after my visit to Bangkal, the same shop owner was calling to inform me that a few more santos have arrived from Cebu. I forced the shop owner to open her store on a Sunday and these are what I saw:

 A primitive, paint-less Virgin of heavy molave wood was standing on the entrance. I looked at it and it appeared to be carved from old wood, and I sensed that it was just vintage, and not an antique as it was touted to be. Remnants of white escayola remain, but I could not find any faint trace of colored paint. Suspicious also was the way the head was carved from a separate piece of wood, then plugged and nailed onto the top of the body. The hands were all accounted for, which furthered bolstered my feeling that this could be a ‘new antique’. As my collecting mantra goes, “when in doubt, don’t”, so I passed up this image.

 Certainly, the next tabletop image shown me was a genuine antique. It is a representation of the Immaculate Concepcion carved in the naïve style. That was where its charm lay—from its almost comical facial features to its seemingly paralyzed hands, stretched out straight from the flat body. 

Its coloration was fabulous, reminding me of old, brilliantly painted folk santos from Mexico, right down to the floral motifs painted on the cape of the Virgin. This is an old, primitive piece, carved by an untrained artisan.

 A less impressive piece was this smaller, shallow-carved santo that seemed to be like San Pablo, which I also had to leave there. There were also crucifixes of varying stages of completeness; one with a corpus, one without, and still another without a crossbar. They’ll be good for future restoration prjects, but for now, I am satisfied with my found pieces.

 I have heard that a few antique dealers have started to descend upon Bangkal looking for santos and other antiques. You can beat them at their picking game—just come for regular visits and don’t be afraid to scrounge. You will never know what you will find, so expect the unexpected—all for the right budget!

160. My Favorite Folk Santo: SAN ROQUE

Three years into my work as an adman, I was hooked into antique collecting by my very own boss, who introduced me to the world of wooden folk santos. The first santos I could afford were of the primitive styles, often armless, with broken bases, fingers and other parts missing. In the early 80s, you could pick these up from the “buraot section” of any Mabini shop, a separate place where santos of lesser quality—often tableau fragments, flatbacks, santo heads, termite-infested images—could be had for Php 50.

Even when I could afford better quality santos, I still stuck to folk santos as my area of interest. I guess I was drawn to the folksy charm, the vibrant but haphazard colors and the raw craftsmanship, product of anonymous, unschooled native artisans. One of my early finds came as a result of an immersion project I was involved in, down South.

In 1984, my Client sent me to Iloilo and Bacolod to interview women about their laundry habits. Whenever there was a lull in my field work, I would make it a point to explore the place, and ask people around for any points of interest—restaurants, old churches, and yes—antique shops. It was in Molo that a kind local led me to the house of Iloilo’s foremost antique dealer and collector—Mrs. Lourdes Dellota. I have seen her formidable collection in a book about colonial santos, and I was determined to meet her and visit her shop, which was actually the first floor of her house.

 Mrs. Dellota turned out to be a sweet, chatty lady, and she, at once, guided me to her shelves of santos for sale. I was immediately attracted to a small folk tableau of San Roque, no more than 14 inches tall, inclusive of the high, boxy base, and possibly made in the first decade of the 20th c.

 I have seen similar San Roques carved and styled in the same manner, assembled in the same way—which led me to think that these, perhaps, were one of the earliest santos to be made in commercial quantities. But this example I singled out for its completeness (save for a missing hand and a staff) , bold, vivid color and excellent condition.

 The principal figure itself of San Roque itself is notable for its coloration—the cape is painted a deep yellow, with floral trims, and the tunic is rendered in deep red. He lifts his tunic to reveal a wound on his knee—but somehow, the knee and the wound have been relocated on the side of the saint’s upper thigh!

 The flat-topped angel with painted Oriental features is equipped with wooden wings. He holds a scroll with handwritten notations in Ilonggo, which couldn’t fully decipher. I could, however, clearly make out the word “peste”, referring to saint’s invocation against pestilence. The misshapen legs of the angel make it almost look like a midget!

 The crudely carved black dog looks almost comical as it sits with its floppy ears and seated posture. He holds a semblance of a piece of bread in its mouth, also painted black.

 The whole ensemble has been arranged on a ridged, hollow, rectangular base of thin wood. The red-painted top has been accented with dabs of yellow paint. A stylized red flower has been painted on the center of the base, from which 4 leaf designs radiate. The bottom of the base is painted in yellow, lined with red scallop patterns.

 It is indeed amazing that inspite of the santo’s crudeness, the representation adhered strictly to the prescribed iconography of the pilgrim saint. I paid Php 650.00 for the tableau, which was a hundred bucks less than what one would pay for in Manila. To this day, thirty years after, San Roque and his companions remain to be a favorite in my collection, a fine example of the art of the Pinoy santero at its most exuberant.

159. TREASURES FROM SAN AGUSTIN MUSEUM

The San Agustin Museum was put up right next to the Church of San Agustin, in Intramuros, Manila--the only church that survived World War II. It houses some of the most exquisite examples of sacred art in ivory, and these are just some of them:

 SANTO NINO DE CEBU

A replica of the original statue venerated in Cebu (Ivory, 18th century)

SAN MIGUEL ARCANGEL

Ivory, 19th century.A gift from nuns to the museum.

IVORY CRUCIFIX

Ivory 19th century, attributed to Juan delos Santos

158. Santo Stories: LA MUERTE DE SAN JOSE of Paete and Pampanga

The dramatic tableau of La Muerte de San Jose (Death of San Jose) belongs to the famed woodcarving Cagandahan Family of Paete, the country's carving capital. Master carvers from this family include the 1952 Art Association of the Philippines awardee, Isaac V. Cagandahan, who created the "Orasyon", and Paete Arts Guild member, Glenn Cagandahan. 

This processional tableau shows the dying San Jose, comforted by Mary and Jesus and attended by a bevy of angels. It dates from the late 19th century.

In the 1900s, a member of the Cagandahan family, Basilisa Cagandahan, became the second wife of a Kapampangan man, Irineo Jose. As a gift to her husband, she had this smaller replica of their Paete's La Muerte de San Jose made. They are exact copies, only done in smaller scale.

This version now is in the care of the Tantingco Family, relatives of the Cagandahan-Jose Family. It is kept in its own storehouse in Mabalacat, Pampanga,  and is still regularly used for procession, especially on his feast days, March 19 and May1.

The twin images now serve as a link to two families, united in marriage, but divided by geographic locations--one in Pampanga, and the other in Paete, which incidentally, are two major carving centers of the Philippines.

(Pictures and info courtesy of Arwin Paul Lingat, Robby Tantingco, Rhea Jose Mateo)

157. Retro-Santo: SAN PASCUAL BAYLON of Obando

The town of Obando in Bulacan is famed for its trio of fertility saints: Our Lady of Salambao, Sta. Clara, and San Pascual Baylon. For centuries, childless couples from all over made pilgrimages to this town to ask for intercession from these saints, so that they may be blesses with children. This they do, in the form of dancing—taken from San Pascual’s last name “Bailon”, purportedly derived from the Spanish verb, “bailar”, meaning “to dance”.

 The devotion to San Pascual, like Sta. Clara, was introduced by Franciscans when they arrived in the country in the 18th century. Born in Aragon in 1540, this pious Spaniard was a shepherd before he became a Franciscan lay brother and mystic known for his devotion to the Eucharist.

Serving his fellow Franciscans with all humility, San Pascual was assigned kitchen duties, hence, he became a popular patron of the kitchen. In religious art he is shown dressed in the brown robes of a Franciscan, kneeling in a kitchen while in rapt contemplation of the Eucharistic host suspended mid-air in a monstrance.

The story of how he came to be invoked against infertility began when a barren couple from Hagonoy met a crab vendor who advised them to go to the church of Obando and participate in the parish’s Maytime dance ritual. Coming face to face with the image of San Pascual enshrined in the church, they quickly realized that the crab vendor shared the same visage, leading them to conclude that they had met a saint. The wife soon conceived and bore a male baby. The cult spread as San Pascual was recognized as the patron saint of childless couples.

 San Pascual Baylon Parish (Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Salambao) is under the administration of the Catholic Diocese of Malolos.