CV. The Agony in the Garden, Part One: The Survey

Next to The Fall of Christ - Ang Pagkarapâ ng Panginoon (see the four-part series beginning here), my favorite Holy Week processional tableau has got to be that of the First Sorrowful Mystery, The Agony in the Garden, or, as rendered rather less dramatically in Tagalog, Ang Panalangin sa Hálamanán.

This is probably because when I was a schoolboy in short pants in the 1970’s, my grandfather would take me along every year to the Holy Wednesday and Good Friday processions in our home parish in Barasoain, Malolos, Bulacan to walk with candle in hand behind or beside the antique tableau of The Agony in the Garden owned by his friend Mr. Maximo Valenzuela (founder of the then-thriving Café Valenzuela chain of restaurants) and his family.

This featured an appropriately agonized-looking Christ

and a small near-toddler-age Angel perched on a cloud, delivering a chalice to partially relieve the Lord’s thirst, as implied by the Scripture narrative (“An angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him.” – Luke 22:43).

(While the angel in particular had been in need of restoration when I took the above photos some years ago, I am pleased to report that the images had been restored since, as can be seen in the following more recent photograph – even the angel’s boots appear to have been regilded and the previously crooked chalice straightened.)

So after we brought out a new image of Saint Martha in procession in my Aunts'parish in Violeta Village, guiguinto, Bulacan beginning in Holy Week 2004 (see the five-part series beginning here), our thoughts turned to commissioning a processional tableau of The Agony in the Garden for the same parish, especially as we noted that there was no such tableau in the line-up yet.

Therefore shortly after Holy Week 2004, I consulted our by-now regular religious image maker, Mr. Kiko Vecin, about the possibility of commissioning such a processional tableau. He then asked me to give some thought as to what sort of Agony in the Garden we wanted.

Until then, I was not even aware that there could be any variations here – how could there be? So Kiko lent me several photos from his extensive picture collection, and let me have them for a few weeks. These were quite revelatory.

For starters, while most angels of the Agony in the Garden were indeed depicted as children, as in these photos from Kiko’s picture collection of antique tableaux from Baclayon, Bohol

or Daet, Camarines Norte

or Albay province (either Legazpi or Tabaco – the provenance is not certain)

or Saint Andrew’s Cathedral in Paranaque

or Banga, Aklan (courtesy of the Akyat-Bahay correspondent in that town)

or San Pablo, Laguna, formerly in the Vecin Collection

then acquired by the Villa Escudero Collection

and now on display in its Museum (on an incongruous chariot-style silver carroza) when not in procession,

there was always the possibility of using a more grown-up Angel, as tradition even has it that it was none other than the Archangel Gabriel that came to strengthen the Lord in His Agony.

Thus, a fair number of processional tableaux feature an “adult” Angel, as I saw in Kiko Vecin’s picture collection, including the one in Kawit, Cavite

and the old one from Makati Poblacion, with raised heel even, but no longer used in procession today,

and its new, rather more static-looking replacement,

and the old one from San Pablo, Laguna, likewise no longer brought out in procession,

and this graceful composition from San Fernando, Pampanga.

My own photographic expeditions revealed more adult angels for the Agony in the Garden, for instance the antique one in the Malolos Cathedral

and the newish tableau in Bayan, San Rafael, Bulacan

and the beautiful pathos-filled antique set in Angat, Bulacan

and the very classical-looking one made of “pasta madera” (composite wood paste material) imported from Spain, likely in the early 20^th century, for the Lipa Cathedral in Batangas,

and another one from Banga, Aklan,

and a small tabletop version in 19^th-century “Beaux-Arts” style, complete with wildly-flared wings for the Angel,

and finally an intensely devotional tabletop version, this time in ivory and with its metal plate still intact, clearly indicating its origin, the Manila workshop of early 20^th century maker Cayetano Castillo.

Apart from the choice of whether to employ a child or an adult Angel, there was the question of whether to invite Apostles as well, for Scripture says that Peter, James, and John were with him in the Garden of Gethsemane. (“He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with Him, and He began to be sorrowful and troubled.” – Matthew 26:37)

Of course, the narrative later has the Disciples fall asleep, but that is easily used as a point of interest in composing this processional tableau, as a number of examples show. For example, the tableau in the Malolos Cathedral actually has the three sleeping Apostles in the front part of the staging,

although they appear to be newer additions that are not as well-rendered as the Christ and Angel and are even fully-carved rather than separately dressed like most other processional images in the Philippines.

One of the two tableaux in Banga, Aklan also features a Saint Peter positioned behind the Christ, complete with emblematic rooster, and, rather unusually, facing the rear of the carroza, seated at a lower level than might be expected.

The James and John unaccounted for, and are probably asleep elsewhere.

Another example is this one from Baliwag, Bulacan, with three soundly-sleeping apostles in the foreground,

but with no Angel, neither adult nor child. This being Baliwag, the angel can be seen in other tableaux in the same processional line-up of the same scene (one of which is in the left background in the above photo), together with several other alternative renderings of the Agony in the Garden with only minute variations from each other, in a move to be “all-inclusive” as it were (and result in ever-lengthening line-ups each year).

I even came across a small tabletop version of the three sleeping Apostles, now offered for sale in an antique shop, but with the Christ and Angel no longer around.

Another fundamental choice had to do with the Christ. While the convention is to depict Him on His knees, with hands clasped together in prayer – for that is what Scripture says (“He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed.” – Luke 22:41), the title of the scene in English cues the artist to depict the Christ in greater agony than mere contemplative praying would cause.

In this vein, some tableaux in the Philippines show Him fainting, only held up by the (usually adult) Angel, including this one attributed to the mid-20^th century sculptor M. Pandes of Santa Cruz, Manila that I saw offered for sale in an antique shop.

The Christ is clearly in agony, and the Angel takes pity on Him and supports him from behind.

An even more masterful rendition of the fainting variety is one from the early 20^th century made by Benigno Santos Senior (father of the mid-century master sculptor Santiago “Mantiago” and his brother the master encarnador Benigno “Baning” Santos Junior), showing the Angel supporting the fainting Christ from the front and side.

This tableau is reportedly still owned by the sculptor’s descendants and brought out in procession in its original parish in Quiapo, Manila. Here it is in another photo from the Vecin Picture Collection, taken in the owners’ home and showing it in close-up.

And here it is undressed, to show how the master sculptor executed the angling of the bodies of the Christ and the Angel for appropriate dynamic effect.

With so many choices to make and so much variety to consider, I thought it best to step back and take a break, which is what we will do now.

(Continued here.)

Originally published on 26 September 2010.  All text and photos (except as otherwise attributed) copyright ©2010 by Leo D Cloma. The moral right of Leo D Cloma to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted.

Original comments:

t1goy07 wrote on Sep 27, '10 Christ did not fall but man did (adam) Christ fulfilled the promise of God that He will redeem his own through Christ... Christ was victorious, He died for me to be a ransom(surety) for my sins...

rally65 wrote on Sep 27, '10 What a profound reminder. Thanks very much for the visit.

arcastro57 wrote on Sep 27, '10 San Fernando's Manalangin gets my vote. Followed by the Agony from Daet, with that tiny angel by Christ's side, who seems to be a bit askance.

raflaydo wrote on Sep 27, '10 Thanks for this wonderful post. I distinctly remember the Lipa Cathedral Agony years years back. As a child, looking at it gave me the shivers. All the best!

rally65 wrote on Sep 27, '10 Thanks for the visits and the votes. Let's see which of your candidates wins!

LXXXVIII. Please Help Saint Veronica's Sunday School

An invitation to help the boys and girls of

SAINT VERONICA’S SUNDAY SCHOOL
#110 Barangay Santo Niño, Malolos, Bulacan
A Non-Profit Charitable Foundation (registration in process)

From just thirteen children in July 2008, this pioneering Sunday School in the old cathedral town (now city) of Malolos now numbers well over 50 regular attendees, all public elementary school pupils from very poor families in and around the city.

Each Sunday afternoon, a small team of volunteer adult catechists provides these boys and girls basic Roman Catholic religious instruction not usually available in their public school -- standard daily prayers, prayers before and after meals, the Rosary, regular attendance at Mass (at the scheduled 7 pm Sunday Mass in the Chapel in neighboring Barangay Santo Rosario, near where most of the pupils live), and preparation to receive the sacraments of Confession, Communion, and Confirmation.

There are no fees of any sort, and no formal enrolment process – kids simply show up at the School after hearing about it from their classmates, friends, or playmates. The religious instruction takes place in a small converted “prayer room” (a disused kamalig [rice granary]) in the yard of the School’s founder and main catechist-volunteer.

Organized participation in religious processions at the Cathedral has also been part of this Sunday School’s program for its pupils.  While walking in scheduled church processions over the past year or so, the children get to put into practice their lessons in praying the Rosary, which they are able to do with diligence and discipline that are perhaps uncommon for their age.

In their most recent processional participation this past Sunday, September 6^th (to commemorate the Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 8^th), the Sunday School’s pupils even brought out shoulder-borne processional floats with small Marian images mounted on them.

Having accomplished their devotional responsibilities for the evening, the children partake of a simple meal in the yard in front of their “prayer room.”

Because these children are so poor, it is obviously insufficient for the School to address only their spiritual needs without attending to their more pressing temporal ones.  To help address incipient malnutrition (or simply to partly fill the empty stomachs of poor young children), a hot meal or snack (usually a thick soup or noodles) is shared with them right after the regular Sunday afternoon catechism and before they proceed to evening Sunday Mass.

This past June, the School received a donation of basic school supplies that it was able to give to its pupils in time for the opening of the new school year.  From time to time, it also receives small cash donations from friends and neighbors that it is able to distribute to the children to augment their meager Monday to Friday school allowance.

Because of its increasing “enrolment,” the School is in need of additional support to continue to provide for its pupils’ material needs.  Would you care to help these children?

To arrange to make an appropriate donation to the children of the School, of any amount, in cash or in kind, please contact Mrs. Gloria Regala at #110, Barangay Santo Niño, Malolos, Bulacan, or via voice or SMS to (within the Philippines) 0926 709 3879 or (from outside the Philippines) +63 926 709 3879.

Thank you very much in advance.

Originally published on 8 September 2009.  All text and photos copyright ©2009 by Leo D Cloma. The moral right of Leo D Cloma to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted.

Original comments:

adlailara wrote on Sep 9, '09 I will help, Kuya Leo.

rally65 wrote on Sep 9, '09 adlailara said I will help, Kuya Leo. Thank you very much, Kuya Adlai!

arcastro57 wrote on Sep 9, '09 Consider it done...

adlailara wrote on Sep 9, '09, edited on Sep 9, '09 You're welcome. I would like to invite you to the Marian Exhibit to be held at SM Sucat. Take care and God bless....

rally65 wrote on Sep 9, '09 arcastro57 said Consider it done... Thanks very much, (Kuya also) Alex.

LXXI. How Saint Martha Became Part of the Family, Part Five: Lodged In Our House, Welcomed Into Our Home.

(Read Parts One, Two, Three, and Four first.)

After her inaugural 2004 processions, we moved Saint Martha to pride of place, and stood her on a low table adjacent to the dining area inside my aunts’ house, illuminated by a specially-installed ceiling-mounted spotlight.

And in the months and years following these first processions, this family-owned image of Saint Martha went through a series of upgrades, beginning with a set of real antique metal keys, suspended from a key fob made by the Vecin Workshop and fastened to her belt, replacing her original single silver-painted wooden key.

We also ordered a modest banner, which could be carried in procession a few meters in front of the carroza, to indicate to the clueless devotee that indeed, the lady with the halo around her head, keys hanging from her waist, and holding a tray of bread was Saint Martha.

In truth, there was not really a pressing need for this, but it at least enabled us to eschew the crude-looking computer-printed, or worse, pentel-pen-on-cardboard, signs usually foisted on helpless processional santos by well-meaning procession organizers.

We next invested in a proper urna (case for santo images), which we commissioned from the Bloomquist Workshop of Lipa, Batangas.  Greg and Marilou Bloomquist decided to echo the arched design of a rare Art Deco platera (plate cabinet) standing nearby, that my aunts also acquired from them.

After raising the base of the image slightly, Saint Martha then stood more confidently inside her new narra-and-glass urna.

Like the Barasoain Santa Marta, our Saint Martha held a palm branch (made of plastic in the case of Barasoain, painted wood for ours).  This was an iconographic element long associated with her, from the tradition that after settling with her siblings Mary and Lazarus in southern France after the Crucifixion, she overpowered a ferocious dragon that was terrorizing the local populace by dousing it with holy water sprinkled with a palm branch, as is still sometimes done in Roman Catholic services today.  In fact, several devotional images of Saint Martha even depict her trampling upon the aforesaid dragon, sometimes morphed into a crocodile for added cuteness.

However, a palm leaf is also well-established in Christian tradition as a symbol of martyrdom – witness numerous saints’ images holding them.  To avoid confusion and since Saint Martha is not known to have been martyred, we decided to prematurely retire her palm leaf, and replace it with an "Easter" lily of purity, another of the symbols associated with her, Saint Martha having been long-venerated as a Holy Virgin even in the early Christian church.

We could have gone for a jug of wine in her right hand – in fact even at the outset Mr. Vecin had made a silver-painted wooden jug, with a matching grasping hand even, in case we get tired of any of her other symbols.

But this would involve fastening the jug to her chest with screws, and therefore cutting holes through her beautiful garments – not exactly a savory undertaking.

Therefore, for Holy Week 2007, we took the opportunity to replace Saint Martha’s wooden palm with an Easter Lily branch nicely-scuplted from wood and quite realistically painted.  While we were at it, we decided to retire her three-year-old garments, and commission a new set in a different style, still from the Vecin Workshop’s in-house garment maker, Ramon Gutierrez.  The result of these two changes was most pleasing.

And this group (my aunt in the foreground beside Saint Martha, with Mr. Buboy Rivera, another regular Vecin client; Dardo the Vecin Workshop’s in-house dresser; and Mr. Vecin himself) was most pleased to pose for this photo.

For Holy Week 2007, then, Saint Martha joined the procession in her new threads.

And for Holy Week 2008, the silk flowers were updated to more closely match her new garments’ colors.

This change in decorations, however, met with somewhat mixed (or even polarizing) reviews.

At a certain point, one wonders if perhaps overinvestment in certain areas has started to take place, leading to diminishing returns.  Our Saint Martha-loving family, however, is undeterred in our devotion.  We commissioned a small, 18-inch scale Saint Martha for home devotion, also from the Vecin Workshop.

And we also asked the Bloomquist Workshop to build an antique-style kamagong (ebony)-and-glass urna for it.

And as our family gears up to bring Saint Martha out in processions for her sixth-ever Holy Week in early April 2009, we all say

Saint Martha, pray for us and bless us!

Originally published on 13 February 2009.  All text and photos copyright ©2009 by Leo D Cloma. The moral right of Leo D Cloma to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted.

Original comments:

arcastro57 wrote on Feb 25, '09, edited on Feb 25, '09 I like the idea of a duplicate Sta. Marta mini-santo for home devotion. I bet you're gathering materials for your next Desmayado article!

rally65 wrote on Feb 25, '09 arcastro57 said I like the idea of a duplicate Sta. Marta mini-santo for home devotion. Which is why we ought to commission a Mini-Pagkarapâ as well!

gregandmarilou wrote on Feb 25, '09 This entire series has been terrific, Leo, beautifully written and photographed. Sooo ... when's that book coming out?

antigualla wrote on Feb 25, '09 Leo, I agree with gregandmarilou. Your quest and realization of a family devotional icon is awe-inspiring. Thanks for sharing. By the way, are you and your family not considering feting Santa Marta on her feastday on July 27? The Lenten Season is not exactly conducive to a more festive celebration and July would be in Ordinary Time so the saints can rock as much as their devotees would like to. Just a thought. Regards.

annriv wrote on Mar 24, '09 hi!! Saint Martha is also the saint assigned to our family for the Holy Week procession for 2 years na. This 2009 is our third year. We would like to ask how we can order from you the St. Martha mini-santo duplicate for our home devotion. Please email me at mrsoliven@hotmail.com. Our family's family name is also Rivera from Cebu. Thank you so much.

rally65 wrote on Mar 24, '09 annriv said We would like to ask how we can order from you the St. Martha mini-santo duplicate for our home devotion. I will just send you a PM with the contact detail of the Vecin Workshop. They also made the small Saint Martha for us.

jopas1 wrote on Sep 27, '09 I really enjoyed reading your article about how St. Martha became your family saint.I was almost tempted to do justice to our St. Martha by composing a write up as well.Many thanks.

rally65 wrote on Sep 27, '09 jopas1 said I really enjoyed reading your article about how St. Martha became your family saint.I was almost tempted to do justice to our St. Martha by composing a write up as well.Many thanks. You should go ahead and write your story up as well, for all of us to read.

iloveme97 wrote on Apr 18, '11 Hi! I would like to ask an approximate amount of how much did the life sized St. Martha cost? (if it is all right w/ you) I inquired because my family is planning to sponsor a 3 foot statue of the virgin mary and we haven't been able to inquire much yet. thank you

rally65 wrote on Apr 18, '11 iloveme97 said Hi! I would like to ask an approximate amount of how much did the life sized St. Martha cost? (if it is all right w/ you) I inquired because my family is planning to sponsor a 3 foot statue of the virgin mary and we haven't been able to inquire much yet. thank you I've sent you a PM.