Saturday, November 7, 2009

Majestic Portrait

An Amazing Profile of the La Naval

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Photo Credit
: Roger Salva. All Rights Reserved. Published with permission. Please ask the permission of the original owner if you intend to publish this photo in print or visual media. Please respect intellectual property rights.

| R.Salva's Flickr Photostream |

Back in Her Altar

The Image of the Santo Rosario
back in Her Altar-Vault wearing Her day-dress


The Baldachin being disassembled
This year's La Naval Fiesta is now officially over.

Photos were taken 07 November 2009 after Saturday anticipated mass.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

The Centennial Vestment

Wearing Her Centennial Vestment

The Queen’s coronation gown

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By Gino U. Marasigan
Inquirer
Last updated 11:35pm (Mla time) 09/09/2007


MANILA, Philippines – On Oct. 4, the Philippine Church and the entire Dominican family will celebrate the centennial of the canonical coronation of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, La Naval de Manila.

For this once-in-a-lifetime occasion, a very special dress is being made since February and is now on its final stages of embroidery. It will be ready for the commemoration of 100 years of the Filipinos’ love and devotion for the Queen of the Holy Rosary.

On Oct. 5, 1907, His Holiness Pope Pius X declared the venerated image was a beacon of faith and hope for the Filipino people, and recognized the miraculous cures and favors granted to her devotees.

On that day, a huge crowd gathered in various places at Plaza de Isabel II, Paseo de Magallanes, Plaza de Santo Tomas, Plaza de Santo Domingo, and Intendencia in Intramuros—to witness the canonical coronation. It was the first papally approved coronation of a Marian icon in the history of the Philippine Church.

For that occasion, the image wore a magnificent gold-embroidered cape with the signature papaya-leaf design and a gilt-silver plancha (frontal) which is still in use today.

The robes, offerings from el pueblo filipino, were locally crafted using flat metallic and bullion threads from Europe.

In an atelier in the metropolis is an elaborately designed and resplendently crafted dress being given the final touches by a team of 10 sewers and needlepoint workers.

After almost seven months of intense and intricate needlework under the supervision of the bordadera, Nena Bernales, interweaving vines, palm fronds, and garlands of roses have come to life.

The original design by Arthur Munar left virtually no empty space on the basic lamé. To distinguish one floral figure from the other elements of the design, Bernales used a mix of metallic and genuine Indian gold inuod threads (because of its worm-like appearance).

Millimeter by millimeter, thread by thread, the dress is being fashioned to perfection.

The exquisite apparel is a gift to Our Lady of La Naval by the family of Eddie Chua. Through the years, many benefactors and Marian devotees have offered gifts to Our Lady in the form of heirloom jewelry or gala dresses, as tokens of gratitude.

Some gifts easily come to mind, such as the Carrascoso dress, also known as the numero dos, which was worn in the 1950s and fabricated in Spain using gold threads.

In the 1960s, a quite unique dress was made in Vietnam, using an Oriental motif, and was worn by the image as a pambahay after the October festivities.

A pink-and-blue dress, given by the family of Dr. Rolando and Nancy Mendoza, is usually worn by the Virgin in May.

A complete ensemble using gold thread for the blouse and skirt was given by Dr. Joey and Chary Sollano in 1993.

For Bernales and her family, the opportunity to sew the Virgin’s dress for such an important occasion as the centennial of the canonical coronation is not just an honor and a privilege, but truly the fulfillment of a lifetime dream. As a teenage girl, she chose to stay indoors doing her delicate gantsilyo edgings for her mother’s pillowcases, half-hoping that one day she, too, would have the chance to offer something beautiful to the Virgen de La Naval.

Numero I - Woman Clothed with The Sun

2006 Official Portrait of the Santo Rosario
wearing Her signature Numero Uno


NB : Article from conversations of La Naval traditions experts Flickr members.

The Nuestra Señora del Santísimo Rosario is the finest example of a traditional Filipino Marian iconography. The celebrated Virgen is famous not only for her jewels but for her vestments as well.

La Gran Señora's sayas and mantos may not be able to compete in terms of quantity, as can be seen in the collection of quite a few famous Vírgenes in the Philippines, nonetheless, her few gala ensembles are the best example of religious embroidery at its finest in their respective eras.

The Santo Rosario's gold-studded Manto de la Coronación is perhaps the most precious of its kind in existence of Philippine religious embroidery. It sheer size and the amount of gold that went into the making of this priceless treasure remains unmatched from the time it was made to our present day.

Indeed the Santo Rosario must have been utterly breathtaking to behold in her intricate gold and silver plancha with her gold-studded manto otherwise known as Numero Uno (I).

The last time the Santo Rosario wore here signature manto was in 2006 for Her official photographs for the Centennial of her Canonical Coronation.

According to those who have examined the Numero I, the base cloth used for this precious masterpiece, was tisú de oro, this was later on covered with entirely with laidwork or "binanig" [in local parlance] in expensive gold thread is a time-consuming process.

It was only after this, was the actual embroidery laid out, with the flowers and leaves raised so high that they no longer look like just embroidery but almost like they were sculpted.

The rose and the leaves look so real even after the passing of the centuries and the antique patina it now shows..

Detail from the Manto de La Coronacion - Santo Rosario's Numero I

According to the practitioners of this type of embroidery, the flat thread is the most expensive of all the hilos de oro and is said to be the most difficult to work on..

Embroidery detail from the Santo Rosario's Numero I

Some even speculate that certain tools or contraptions were used to be able to achieve the high relief and tight embroidery that was employed in the Santo Rosario's Numero I.

The Numero I was made to match the metal plancha de oro y plata and at its original state shimmered like the sun making the Santo Rosario an exact vision of Mary clothed with sun...

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Credits : Article from conversations of La Naval traditions experts Flickr members. Photos from Mr. Aldwin Ong, MD. Please ask permission of original owner if you wish to publish in print or visual media. Please Respect Intellectual Property Rights.