It isn’t a huge collection, but visitors were gifted with works of some famous painters such as Raphael, Veronese and Guido Reni. One would get to see the lavishness of the Papal garbs and articles.The exhibit followed the journey of Christianism: from the travels of Peter and Paul until it reaches the shores of Singapore. There were artifacts from the early Christian catacombs; the role of Constantine the Great and his mother, Helena, in the building of the Church was highlighted; and the series of architectural plans for construction of St. Peter’s Basilica was displayed.
I saw a few relics from the Philippines (highlighted as the only country in Southeast Asia with the high percentage of Christian population) – santo or puon in our dialect. One thing I’ve noticed in a couple of those statues was their noses, and that gave me an idea that they were indeed at least a century old. It was mentioned in one of my Theology classes that one would notice a butchered or smashed up nose of old religious statues in our country. How is that so? It was part of the Philippine revolution.
We all know that Christianity was brought in our shores by the westerners – Spaniards, to be precise. In our indoctrination, we were introduced to images of saints with thin noses – far from the flat nose of an indio. After three hundred years of colonization and being under the clutches of oppressive padres, the revolutionary people fought for their freedom, and smashed the high noses of the symbols inside their church and houses for they so much remind the people of the colonizers.
My grandmother had a statue of the Virgin Mary in her own room. It was quite old, as she said that she was still a young girl when it was given to her; though, she’s not sure how old. Its nose was chipped, but I’m not sure if it was as old as Bonifacio; for all we know, it could have been knocked off by a strong gust of wind and fell flat on its nose.
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