CXXXVI: Santo Addicts I Have Visited II: Louie Nacorda in Cebu

After a lengthy and inexcusable hiatus, and in reparation for that sin, we continue our Cebu series (see CXXVIII – The 1730 Casa Jesuita and CXXIX – The Yap-Sandiego House) with a simultaneous continuation of our Santo Addicts series (see CXV – Alex Castro).

I had known Mr. Louie Nacorda for some years, first online via the Flickr photo sharing site, which then led to his graciously helping me to arrange my visits to the Casa Jesuita and Yap Sandiego houses when I visited Cebu on a business trip in January 2010.  More than finally meeting Louie in person at that time, what was even more significant for me was that, like the previous subject in this series Mr. Alex Castro, Louie was a certified santo addict.

After he had accompanied me to those two aforementioned heritage houses, our next stop was the Pacific Online (a systems service provider) office in the city, which Louie was heading up at that time.  Most santo addicts would like to bring over their addiction to their workplaces, although for the vast majority of them that would be impractical or even downright violative of office rules.  Louie being the big boss here meant that he could get away with this, therefore upon entering their offices I was greeted by a not-small image of Saint Anthony of Padua.

Elsewhere in the office was a smaller Saint Vincent Ferrer with a nicely-embroidered Dominican habit.

Beside it was an Our Lady of (perhaps) the Most Holy Rosary, surrounded by numerous reliquaries.

This being Cebu, which began the original devotion to the Santo Niño in the Philippines, I was not surprised to see many representations of the Holy Child in the office, including folk sculpture,

paintings

and classical sculpture,

this last one nicely complemented by a backdrop depicting God the Father.

If some of those paintings appeared to be vaguely in the so-called “Cuzco style” of the 16^th to 18^th centuries (which expanded beyond Cuzco and Peru to what is now Bolivia and Ecuador), you would be warm, as elsewhere in Louie’s office were more religious artworks in this style, including several triumphant

and musical angels

and even a couple of combative ones.

Other paintings in this style were hung from other walls in the office

including the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus,

the Annunciation,

and the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth, with adoring saints.

The Christmas season having just ended when I visited, I should have expected (but did not) to still see a tabletop Nativity tableau, which Louie will probably keep fully-decked-out all the way till Lent. 

As the tableau included the full retinue of characters, e.g. wise men,

and shepherds

and animals,

Louie’s solution to finding space for everyone involved setting it up lengthwise above and across several filing cabinets that bisected the office’s open area.

Not only did this set-up manage to accommodate everyone, but it also allowed Louie to employ a monstrance-like object to represent the Star of Bethlehem

which totally overwhelmed the Child in the manger.

Office hours being over, we next headed off to Louie’s residential apartment elsewhere in the city. 

Unsurprisingly, the entrance was guarded by a santo.

He did clarify that while the apartment was indeed residential, he did not actually live there.  Remembering that he was a santo addict, I just about figured out what was really going on.  And when I saw this cabinet packed with disembodied heads

I realized that the residents were not living humans but yet more santos.  Therefore human-welcoming and tasteful seating arrangements like these

should not fool the visitor, as just out of view is

a life-sized Santo Entierro reclined on a daybed.  So much for the nap that I wanted to take on it.

Elsewhere in this apartment was all manner and size of santo art and sculpture, including a small Saint Michael the Archangel in an old urna,

a tabletop ensemble of Saint Isidore the Farmer

a preacher-saint holding an outsize crucifix

a Gothic-style Virgin and Child (in the manner of, e.g., Our Lady of Montserrat)

an angel posted on the apartment’s street-facing balcony (no doubt to keep cat-burglars out)

and another Saint Michael the Archangel with a frightful-looking devil underfoot.

The well-laid-out space in this Cebu apartment allowed for multiple renditions of the Holy Child, including one with supporting angels

a similar one without but crowned

a more traditional Cebu-Flemish version

one that was part of folk retablo ensemble

one that held a spade

and two more that I had just run out of adjectives for.

There were practically as many renditions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in addition to the Gothic-style Mother and Child that we had seen, including a young-looking Immaculate Conception

a small image in a wooden urna

two tabletop-sized versions that might be Our Lady of Remedies and another Immaculate Conception

and a no-nonsense life-sized processional Dolorosa decked out in the Spanish style.

If Louie’s office featured Cuzco-style artwork on its walls, it would be ridiculous if his apartment had hardly any.  Therefore there is even more to be seen here, with three triumphant and joyous angels in various guises

and a fourth one beside a Mother and Child in a not-really-Cuzco style.

There was also a classical-style Immaculate Conception

and an Our Lady of Antipolo

The wooden relief art form was represented by this combative horseman – was it Saint James? –

and a folk rendition of the Holy Trinity.

Apart from the seating that we saw at the start of this visit, Louie’s apartment also had other pieces of furniture in the same antique Filipino style, including barrister-style 1930’s bookcases filled with books

and non-books

and a sideboard of the same period.

There was also a large chest used as an occasional table to display more artifacts

and on a far wall were Art Nouveau-style wooden frames holding images of the only non- (but perhaps future) santo in the apartment, the santo addict himself

to whom we are extremely grateful for the rare opportunity to visit.

Originally published on 7 February 2018. All text and photos (except where attributed otherwise) copyright ©2018 Leo D Cloma. The moral right of Leo D Cloma to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted.