Pintakasi

Sto. Niño de Tribunal of Paete, Laguna In the historic town of Paete, Laguna, famous for its carving industry that continues to this day is also known for its rich traditions and devotions, just like its neighboring towns of Pagsanjan, Lumban, Pakil, Pangil and Siniloan. The historic Church of Paete Laguna is a repository of numerous centuries old traditions, miraculous centuries old images from Santiago Matamoros (the Titular patron of the parish), Santo Entierro, Santo Bambino (venerated every Christmas) and notable artworks liek the twin paintings of San Cristobal, the paintings of Jose Dans, the carvings of Mariano Madrinan among others. In this blogpost, we will introduce here one of the most important devotions of the ancient town that almost vanished through time and certain circumstances until recently, efforts of its revival took flight - the devotion to Señor Santo Niño de Tribunal, then one of the most celebrated devotions in Paete, Laguna. The image The venerable ...

St. Lorenzo Ruiz and his companion martyrs in a parish dedicated to the group in Navotas (Photo by Rev. Fr. Lawrence Lew, OP) Majority of Filipino Catholics knew Saint Lorenzo Ruiz, the country's first ever Filipino canonized Saint. The whole nation rejoiced on the announcement, the beatification (held in Manila) and canonization rites in the 1980's. Numerous images, statues, books, novena booklets, prayer cards and other religious paraphernalia are widely circulated up to this day and after the canonization rites, schools, parishes and chapels were immediately erected in his honor. But if we look on the official Church documents, he was not canonized alone for he was canonized together with a group of Spanish and Japanese priests and Japanese lay men and women and he was made the leader of this particular group of martyrs. One common denominator of the group is that all of them died a martyrs death because of their missionary efforts in the then feudal Japanese empire that...

The Twin Crosses "Kambal na Krus" of Tondo, Manila Tondo, Manila, known as one of the most populated yet historically significant district in the Capitol. Tondo is also known as the home of the famed image of Señor Santo Niño de Tondo - the second oldest image of the Child Jesus in the country.  The Crosses The mysterious yet miraculous "Kambal na Krus" was more of log cut into half where the imprints of a Cross can be seen. One piece is a bit larger than the other, but both are adorned with burst of metal rays or rayos, and draped with embroidered cloth serving as capes of sorts.The trunks, which have darkened with age making the crosses less visible, flank a carved figure of crucified Christ.  Crispino Lacandaso with the "Kambal na Krus" The mysterious discovery On March 23, 1922, a young labourer named Crispino Lacandaso was chopping wood from a felled, hundred year-old sampalok (Tamarind) tree on an empty lot at 1885 Juan Luna S...

El Glorioso Patriarca, Señor San Jose de Mandaue In the progressive city of Mandaue, a few kilometers form Cebu City known for its sceneries and its fast economic growth. It can be missed out by many faithful that it was in this city were the center of devotion to St. Joseph in the Philippines is located - the National Shrine of St. Joseph. The image The venerated image of San Jose de Mandaue is an image of St. Joseph standing with the Child Jesus. St. Joseph is holding his staff with a sheaf of lilies on his left hand which is diagnostic to the iconography of St. Joseph where according to tradition when the men from the house of David were summoned to the temple to ask for the hand of the Blessed Virgin Mary for marriage, lilies began to grow on the staff of St. Joseph - a sign that he was chosen by God to be Mary's pure spouse. St. Joseph – Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Foster Father of Jesus Saint Joseph is an important figure in Christianity as the husband o...

The image El Glorioso San Jose of old San Nicolas Church in Intramuros that became a casualty of the Second World War. If  we can recall one of the previous blogposts here in Pintakasi about the venerated images of Intramuros that survived the ravages of the Second World War  either remained or left Intramuros either as venerated images in the relocated churches of the religious orders who brought them to the country or commissioned locally by our artisans or in some cases, museum pieces. As its fitting follow up on this unexpected trilogy on the Catholic Faith in Old Intramuros (Due to the response on the first article regarding the surviving images of Old Intramuros), we now focus on the images that were unfortunately destroyed during the Liberation of Manila. These images enjoyed much cult following during the Spanish regime and the Pre-War period and became part of the lives of every Manileños for centuries until the atrocities of the Second World War. These images ...