The Sempio House, like many of the other big beautiful old houses in San Miguel, is on Rizal Street, in what is Barangay San Vicente, part of the town’s poblacion. It’s not particularly grand – at least not anymore. In fact it needs some repairs, and definitely a fresh coat of paint. But it stands out for at least two reasons.
The first reason, and for me, the less important one, is that the original owner was a cousin of General Gregorio del Pilar of Bulacan, Bulacan. He supposedly slept here before going off to his ill-fated Battle of Tirad Pass. There’s your historical connection.
The second reason is that this house has two dining rooms. The “real” dining room no longer has its original dining table and chairs – in fact the whole house looks rather stripped of its proper turn-of-the-20th-century furniture. In the living room, there are what appear to be recent mass-produced reproduction Filipino furniture, as well as steel furniture that would look more appropriate in the front yard.
The “other” dining room is for Christ and His Twelve Apostles. The Sempio House owns the famous Holy Week processional tableau of the Last Supper, and the tableau is permanently set-up in its own dining room.
Their dining table, presumably of one single slab of narra, is apparently too heavy to move around, so it’s permanently affixed to the carroza, which is itself stored in its own garage, which looks more like a small chapel. The carroza looks to be of solid narra as well, with silver-plated brass designs depicting symbols of the Passion. Like the house, this carroza and its garage could stand some refurbishing.
The images of Christ and the Apostles are beautifully carved. The caretakers, who were very nice and let me in without any prior arrangements, say that they are well over a hundred years old. My guess is that they’re from early in the 20th century. That still makes them antique, and in any case, very rare, since you don’t see many processional Last Supper tableaux in the Philippines in five-foot scale or larger. In my view, however, it has a few shortcomings:
1. The apostles, except for Saint John the Evangelist and Saint Peter, all look exactly the same, like they were identical twins, except that there are ten of them. (What do you call ten identical siblings?) Even Judas looks just like everyone else, except that he is turned slightly away from everyone else. Although his bag of thirty pieces of silver is missing from this photo, you can tell that it's him because of how his right hand is positioned.
It doesn’t help that their garments are all cut exactly the same, with at most different cape and tunic colors (in the most colorful shades of satin available in Divisoria) to very slightly distinguish one apostle from the other. And, thankfully, their Art Nouveau-styled chairs are “labelled.”
But both chairs and garments are still all interchangeable, I guess. (It’s like, I wouldn’t be able to tell which apostle I was speaking to unless he was seated on his assigned seat. A bit awkward to have to keep looking behind his seat to know his name. We probably should have name tags instead. Or, more appropriately, place cards?)
2. Partly because of the above point, the whole ensemble is very stiff-looking. All the apostles are posed in exactly the same way. They’re not discussing or discoursing or even eating. They’re just there, sitting silently, for eternity. I do prefer processional images to look somewhat more dynamic than this. Compare this to the grand-daddy of all Last Suppers, the mid-18th century Last Supper processional tableau by Francisco Salzillo in Murcia, Spain:
3. The images are in bad need of a makeover. The "encarna" (paint and gesso finish on sculpted wood) needs to be redone. I hate to think that these images had not been refinished since they were first made nearly a century ago, but that’s what it seems today. It looks like a bad case of vitiligo (a la Michael Jackson) or, worse, leprosy, has broken out within this group. Saint John, traditionally depicted as young and good-looking, looks like he got into some sort of a brawl right before Supper:
And Saint Peter not only has to deal with balding (his traditional iconography), but with his Gorbachev-like pockmarked scalp as well.
However, I’m sympathetic to the problems of owning such a large processional tableau as this. To have one image refurbished won’t require just loose change; to have twelve apostles plus Christ (and a few others, see below) refinished and reconditioned will require some serious saving or disinvesting.
To preserve the images as long as possible without having to send them off for a complete refurbishing, the image of Christ is kept in its own glass-fronted wooden box. It does look like He is seated in a confessional, ready to hear our confessions.
And the Apostles are all hooded when they're not "receiving visitors" like me. Unfortunately this photo looks the scariest of all, like they're all lined up for the garrote or something equally macabre. Fortunately, the caretaker quickly took off the hoods before I could take any more photos like this one:
The caretakers pointed out one other “issue” in caring for this tableau. Apparently the “apostles” can get a little “restless” and supposedly make a lot of noise (“like they were bowling,” said one caretaker) whenever the vigil light in their special dining room would burn out. (To which I might suggest, invest in some eternal-flame-like emergency lighting.) Just one of the many strange things with old houses and their “residents,” human or otherwise.
On the plus side, I like the fact that the tableau includes two waiters. In this dining room, they are huddled together in one corner, not really doing any serving; I haven’t seen it but I hope that when properly positioned on the carroza, they at least add some dynamism to offset the stiffness of everyone else.
And, the Sempio house also owns a beautiful Holy Week processional image of Saint Veronica, most probably contemporary with the Last Supper. At first I didn’t notice her, standing and sobbing quietly in her own wooden box just behind the right-hand-side row of apostles. But she’s there.
The best characteristic of all is that since the two dining rooms adjoin each other, if the doors to the “Last Supper” dining room are left open during a meal, it will appear that the human residents are breaking bread with the “Holy Ones.” I know that this sounds strange and scary to many, but I think it’s really cool.
And then again, I like visiting strange old houses, like the Sempio House.
Originally published on 7 August 2006. All text and photos copyright ©2006 by Leo D. Cloma, unless stated otherwise. The moral right of Leo D. Cloma to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted.
Original comments:
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arcastro57 wrote on Aug 9, '06
Love the shot of the disipulos, seated primly, all in a row. I am reminded of customers in a salon waiting for their shampoo and blow dry.
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rally65 wrote on Aug 9, '06
Ha ha! Yes, I have to say that this was one of my more "surreal" akyat (lumang)-bahay experiences ever. I'll be posting some more stories in the next several days.
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rally65 wrote on Aug 30, '06
A (presumably) reliable source has indicated that the image of the Holy Woman in the Sempio House is actually that of Santa Veronica, and not Saint Mary Magdalene, as I had originally written. I have therefore corrected the article to reflect this new piece of information. Thanks to my "informant."
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s4o4c4 wrote on Nov 15, '06
Im just wondering w/c of the two last supper tableau is grandier this one or the one in San Pablo Laguna owned by the Potencianos?
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rally65 wrote on Nov 15, '06, edited on Nov 15, '06
I've seen the one of the Potencianos in San Pablo, Laguna -- it is now on year-round display inside the Villa Escudero Museum. I wasn't as impressed by that one -- while the disciples were more variedly posed, the images weren't as realistically and classically carved and painted, plus they looked slightly smaller-than-life.
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mvnabong wrote on Jan 15, '07
I was really laughing hard at your vivid descriptions of the disciples-hood and all.
Strangely, I went to St. Paul College San Miguel in highschool and do remember going around town to attend the so many processions all year round. Sadly, I never had the chance to enter not even 1 ancestral house.
Now, I am very much into antiques and old homes and I share your same dream of possible owning one that would be relocated somewhelse.
It would grand to go back one day and visit these old houses which I only admired from a distance.
Thanks a lot.
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rally65 wrote on Jan 15, '07
This Sempio House itself is not all that impressive -- it's their Last Supper in residence that makes it a must-visit in San Miguel. The Tecson and Sevilla Houses are the really outstanding ones.
Which one is your ancestral house in San Miguel? May it be visited? Perhaps you can be our akyat-bahay guide for those that we haven't yet entered?
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vinsnyc wrote on Dec 26, '08
Rally65, this is vinsnyc again. Do you have information on the Sempio family? Any contact information. My great great great grand was a Sempio, aunt to Gregorio H Del Pilar. We are creating our family tree but have no information on current day Sempios. Thanks
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rally65 wrote on Jan 8, '09
I've just sent you a PM in response -- please check it when you can.
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lv1214 wrote on Jan 8, '09
Hi. Please re-send. I could not find the message. Thank You!
vins_nyc@yahoo.com
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jcb78 wrote on Jun 15, '09
Hello,, rather late to respond to this thread,,,, I was at San Miguel last Saturday and was looking around town,,,, though the town does look like it's fallen into hard times,, there's a certain quaintness to it,,,esp the street where all these antique houses are located.....
I was wondering if the town had a Desmayado in its Good Friday procession,, if God permits, I will be transferring to the farm in San Miguel within the year,.... if so, I intend to join the Good Friday procession by bringing out my Desmayado.
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rally65 wrote on Jun 15, '09
Joey, no response is too late here. Richard Diño (Flickr's "asky") just started bringing out a Desmayado in the Poblacion procession this past Holy Week 2009 (though like you he isn't a San Miguel native).
But I believe that there are other parishes in San Miguel town that probably don't yet have a Desmayado -- and one of them might just be closer to where your future estate is located.
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jcb78 wrote on Jun 15, '09
Oh ok... that's all right.... if ever, maybe I'll bring home the Desmayado to Paranaque every Good Friday =)
thanks and regards.
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