I noticed a small wooden sculpture of the Holy Family that was gathering dust at my mother's altar in her old room. I took it out, cleaned it, and put it on another altar outside.
As I was cleaning it, I found the Caucasian features of the figures were really prominent, and their garments were very European. Mary had a cape, Joseph had a cloak and staff, while the young Jesus wore a skirt and boots. From the back, the hair of Mary and Joseph glowed in pale yellow hue when lighted on at night.
There was something missing from Mary's right hand. It could not have been a staff like Joseph's because his staff, a long stick, was clasped by his left hand and its length appropriately touched the ground. Whatever Mary was holding could have fitted in her right hand as well. Was it a goblet? A flower? A crucifix? I can only guess.
The statue looked like it was carved out from a single chunk of wood because the base and the feet of the figures were connected; there was no sign of separation nor was there any mark that the base and the figures were plastered or glued together.
But even with its seemingly ordinary appearance compared to my mother's other statues, this one draws one's attention once it stands alone and not beside any other statue.
Now, this was where it got interesting.
I asked my mom how she came to own this La Familia Sagrada statue. She said she bought it from a lady in the 1970s, about 50 years ago. That lady, my mom added, also sold wooden statues that were taller, but this one, the Holy Family statue that stands at seven inches measured to the tip of the head of Saint Joseph (slightly taller than the Virgin Mary), was the only one she could afford -- at 50 pesos!
The lady told her that a horde of icons and other religious items were found in a cave in a mountain that was part of the territory of the municipality of Talisay (which became a city in 1998) in Negros Occidental.
This information kept me thinking and asking: why would these statues be kept at a cave in a mountain? Of course, I knew that this wasn't like the story of the Our Lady of Monserrat that was found in a cave in the serrated mountains of Spain (read blog here).
The only reason why people would hide religious icons and other possessions in a cave was during their evacuation in the early months of World War II. The Japanese Imperial Army arrived in Negros Occidental in May 1942 (read blog here), but families in Negros island, knowing of the impending arrival of the Japanese, had planned, prepared and left their homes in the towns and villages in the lowlands and fled to the mountains bringing with them their prized possessions before the arrival of the invaders.
If my mother's statue was part of a Negrense family's packed possessions, it must have been brought either to the highlands using carriages dragged by carabaos or horses and was kept inside the cave in a wooden chest or ba-ul for protection and preservation from the elements. Other families who had no carriage or vehicles had to walk for days just to find a shelter outside the town or city just to avoid the cruelty and oppression of the Japanese invaders (read blog here of such tragedy).
Just like family heirlooms, religious icons and statues are always venerated and taken care of because religious Filipinos, especially during difficult times like a war, seek protection from the Almighty, the Virgin, and the saints. (Read the World War II story of the Gaston Mansion in Manapla here).
We will never know the reason why the family abandoned the statues in the cave if the story was true.
Because if it was, I can think of many reasons: the family decided to leave their possessions behind after the war, or they decided to give it away because there was a lot to carry back down to the town, or worse, the owners did not make it through the war and the possessions hidden in the caves were forgotten.
Going back to the statue.
As the features of the figures are definitely european including their garments, was the statue made in Europe, or was it just a copy that was made in Mexico but was brought to the Philippines via the galleon trade?
The galleon trade between Acapulco (in Mexico) and Manila happened from 1565 to 1815. If this was brought to Las Filipinas via the galleon trade, the statue is at least 210 years old. I got 210 years by deducting 1815 from 2025 if the statue was made in 1815, at the latest. Considering the strong Catholic heritage and history of the Filipinos, keeping statues and santos at home has been a tradition for centuries. And some very precious statues are even made from ivory!
All my thoughts about the statue's origins are just conjectures: a statue of La Familia Sagrada that was discovered in a cave, was hidden in the mountains during the evacuation in 1942 when the Japanese Imperial Army arrived in Negros island during World War II, and was found by treasure hunters or scavengers in the later part of the 20th century, and sold to my mother in the 1970s.
How I wish I had access to a carbon-dating machine or to an antique expert to shed light on the mystery of my mother's La Familia Sagrada statue.
I supposed there are stories that do not want to be retold.
Almost ten years ago, I sat inside the Basilica de Familia Sagrada in the Eixample district of Barcelona in Spain, after having walked for more than a kilometer finding it (read blog here). Though the Basilica was full of hundreds of tourists, I sat on a pew at the nave and became a pilgrim. I took out my holy rosary and prayed five mysteries.
I believe we do not need a basilica or a structure as grandiose as Antoni Gaudi's masterpiece in Barcelona to express our devotion the Holy Family, nor do we need to build a glittering altar dedicated to La Familia Sagrada.
Here, on my mother's altar, sat a statue of the Holy Family, simply carved out of wood with some of its old brown paint chipped away by time but with their features clearly intact and firm, and all warmly clothed as if they were in Nazareth during the Roman times when Jesus was a boy.
Seemingly ordinary, the statue, chiseled and shaped by an artisan's hands whose name I will never know in an epoch I can only imagine, stares back at you with their eyes still expressing the solemnity of the symbolism what they represent to the Catholics, and to us as a family.
I will never know how many homes had welcomed this La Familia Sagrada statue over the years (or centuries perhaps!) nor will I know how many altars have received it to be venerated.
But it doesn't matter.
All we need to know is, as Catholics, we can always have our own family consecrated to the Holy Family for guidance, protection and intercession in our times of need. 🙏
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