PREMIER ecclesiastical artist Wilfredo Layug has made another first, as his rendition of the image of the Maria Santisima del Sagrario was formally blessed on its canonical seat at the Parish of San Jose Obrero in Malaga, Spain.
Layug's latest artistic work is the first Spanish-commissioned image of the Virgin Mary that is now formally venerated in Spain, the country that brought Catholicism to the Philippines and the long standing tradition of ecclesiastical wood carving.
The image was formally blessed on March 13 by Rev. Fr. Salvador Javier Guerrero Cuevas.
The event was attended by members and officers of the Grupo Proquial de Padre Jesus dela Verdad ande Caifas y Maria del Sagrario and members of the Filipino community in Malaga and the Philippine Consulate in Spain.
The blessing, which was supposed to be held last year, was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. This year's blessing, fortunately, coincides with the 500 year anniversary of Christianity in the Philippines.
The image of Santa Maria del Sagrario (head and hands) made its voyage to Spain just before the nationwide lockdown last year. It was donated by Layug, a Presidential Merit Awardee for Ecclesiastical Art.
The image signals the coming in full circle of the Filipino Catholic faith which received its Catholic heritage from Spain some 500 years ago.
San Fernando Archbishop Florentino Lavarias and San Fernando Archbishop Emeritus Paciano Aniceto had previously placed a woodblock to close the bust. The woodblock was part of a relic that touched the original Santo Niño de Cebu image, said to have been a gift of Portuguese circumnavigator Ferdinand Magellan to Rajah Kulambo after the native chieftain's baptism into Catholicism following the first Mass in the country in 1521.
Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, a native of Betis, helped Layug request Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma to provide the relic.
Grupo de Fieles de Nuestro Padre Jesus de la Verdad and its designer, Alvaro Fernandez, commissioned Layug for the image.
Layug, however, refused payment and decided to gift the image instead to the said parish in gratitude for bringing Christianity into the islands some 500 years ago.
"This image represents 500 years of faith, hope and love," Layug said, stressing that the image will replace an older image of the Sagrario and will be processed in the ancient roads of Malaga for public veneration.
