University of the Philippines Diliman – College of Arts and Letters

PS202: Theories and Perspectives in Philippine Studies

HANZEL F. GAPAYAO, 2005-45021

Curatorial Practices of Pakil, Pila and Majayjay Churches in Laguna:

A proposal for research
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Brief history of Catholicism in Laguna

Home to roughly 2.7 million Catholics, Laguna is a province rich in history, local customs and

traditions, and natural resources. As a combination of both urban suburbs and rural communities,

the province is a melting pot of natives and domestic migrants coming from the metropolitan

manila or from the far-flung provinces of the country.

Catholicism in the province has a significant bearing in the latter’s cultural and social

history. The Spanish colonial period brought the friar-missionary orders – mostly the Franciscans

and Augustinians - from Manila to help spread the Catholic faith in the Southern Luzon. What

were once parcels of land owned by these Orders, Laguna has grown into separate towns and

cities with their own local customs. During the Spanish period, Laguna was a bosom of

prominent figures of the Philippine Revolution against Spain. It was to the Dominican friars of

Hacienda Calamba where Jose Rizal took his frustrations. It was in St. Polycarp Parish in

Cabuyao where one of the Gomburza priest, Fr. Mariano Gomez, served as its parish priest from

1848 to 1862. It was in Magdalena where Gen. Emilio Jacinto sought refuge during the last few

battles of the revolution against the Spaniards.

During the early years of the Spanish period, the colonizers settled along the riverbanks

of Pasig River and shorelines of Manila. Soon after, the missionaries such as the Augustinians,

Franciscans and Jesuits travelled further to the Laguna de Bae (or Laguna Lake). It was in the

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town of Majayjay where Christianity’s presence was first recorded. According to Lijauco (200),

it was written that the natives living on the foot of Mt. Banahaw (northeastern part) made peace

with the conquistador Salcedo. However, the evangelization of Laguna actually began with the

Augustinian companions of Legazpi, starting at the town of Bay (Ba-e). In 1577, the Franciscans

took the eastern shores and the hill country to the southeast. In 1579, Manila was elevated to a

diocese, separating itself from the local church of Mexico; soon, in 1595, it was erected as an

Archdiocese, putting the whole archipelago under its ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The Province of

Laguna, being an essential parcel of land and people, remained with the Archdiocese of Manila

during the Spanish colonial period. In 1920, Pope Pius X, through Apostolic Letter Novas

Erigere, established the Diocese of Lipa with the provinces of Laguna, Batangas and Quezon

within its jurisdiction. Laguna remained part of the Diocese of Lipa until 1966 when Pope Paul

VI, through Ecclesiarium Perumpla, established the Diocese of San Pablo; thus, the province

was separated from the ecclesiastical territory of Lipa. Its first bishop was Most Rev. Pedro

Bantique.

The year 2016 will mark the 50th Golden Jubilee of the Diocese of San Pablo. The

Diocese of San Pablo, covering the whole province of Laguna, has 85 parishes, which were

distributed, over four Episcopal Districts. District I covers the cities of Binan and San Pedro.

District II covers the cities of Santa Rosa, Cabuyao, Calamba, Los Banos and the municipality of

Bay. District III covers the municipalities of Victoria, Alaminos, Liliw, Magdalena, Majayjay,

Nagcarlan, Pila, Rizal, Santa Cruz and the city of San Pablo. Finally, District IV covers the

municipalities of Cavinti, Famy, Kalayaan, Luisiana, Lumban, Mabitac, Paete, Pagsanjan,

Pangil, Pakil, Santa Maria and Siniloan.

The diocese of San Pablo takes pride in its church cultural heritage, with San Gregorio

Magno Church in Majayjay as a National Cultural Treasure, historical sites, and various cultural

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treasures both tangible and intangible. Spanish colonial churches can be across the province.

There are community art practices unique to the province, such as Paete's woodcarving, Cavinti's

Palm Weaving (Palaspas), Liliw’s wooden slippers, Pakil’s woodshaving, annual religious

festivals (i.e. Feast of Our Lady of Turumba) and many towns’ food heritage (Binan’s puto, Los

Banos’ Buko Pie, Victoria’s Balut). In addition, many churches possess old and valuable Church

cultural objects such as retablos (church altars), santos (sculptures of saints), rosaries, old

vestments, liturgical vessels, church bells, musical pieces, convent furniture, and the local

religious practices and devotions. Further, the Diocese has been a frequent destination for annual

Lenten pilgrimage, otherwise known as the Visita Iglesia. Many of the churches in the province

are sites of pilgrimage or tours. For example, the Diocesan Shrine of Sto. Sepulchre in Brgy.

Landayan, in the City of San Pedro is a known pilgrimage site especially during the Holy Week.

The St. Alcantara parish, commonly known as the Shrine of Our Lady of Turumba, is visited for

its festive and longest feast celebration. With this cultural heritage at hand, the diocese has strong

potential public for church museums, both from the local Lagueños or from non-local tourists

and pilgrims.

On Cultural Heritage

Legal Framework in the Philippines

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines

cultural heritage as covering tangible (either movable, immovable, underwater or natural

resource) cultural properties and intangible practices such as oral traditions, performance and

rituals.

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In the Philippines, Section 3 of the Republic Act No.4846, Cultural Properties Preservation and

Protection Act of 1966 as amended by the Presidential Decree No.374, clearly defined cultural

properties even further. In addition, to protect and preserve cultural properties, the Republic Act

10066 - the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009 - was passed into law. The Act's description

of cultural heritage covers products of human creativity - moveable, immoveable, and intangible

cultural properties - that have been preserved, developed through time and passed on to posterity,

by which a people and a nation reveal their identity. Under Section 4 of the said Act, cultural

properties are categorized into the following: (1) National Cultural Treasures, (2) Important

Cultural Properties, (3) World Heritage Sites, (4) National Historical Shrine, (5) National

Historical Monument, and (6) National Historical Landmark. Cultural properties, except World

Heritage Sites which were declared by UNESCO, are largely identified and declared by national

cultural agencies, primarily the National Museum, the National Commission on Culture and Arts

(NCCA), the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), the National Archives,

the Cultural Center of the Philippines and other attached agencies. National Cultural Treasures

(NCTs), as declared by the NCCA, National Museum, NHCP, and National Archives, are those

"unique object[s] found locally, possessing outstanding historical, cultural, artistic and/or

scientific value which is significant and important to this country and nation". Important Cultural

Properties (ICPs), on the other hand, are the following works, unless already declared by

mentioned agencies. These are (a) works by a National Artist, (b) works by a Manlilikha ng

Bayan, (c) archaeological and traditional ethnographic materials, (d) works of national heroes,

(e) marked structures, (f) structures dating at least 50 years old, and (g) archival

materials/documents dating at least 50 years old. These agencies seek to preserve, conserve and

protect local cultural properties/treasures. Funding and support from the local and national

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government may be requested and allocated to provide for the protection and preservation of the

national cultural heritage.

Cultural heritage is more than just properties that have historical merit. It has a value-

added attached it which carries an emotional impact (Blake, 2000). It is a vehicle for the

"expression and even construction of a nation's or groups' cultural identity" (84).

The concept of heritage is a new phenomenon (Hoelscher, 2006). A common notion of

heritage is the idea of inheritance, birthright and patrimony. However, today, though heritage

may seem as celebration of the past, it also deals with contemporary issues. Heritage, in itself, is

a cultural production in the present. It cuts across various modalities such as museums,

memorials, monuments, sites, television shows, forest reserves, city streets, festivals and

customs. According to Hoelscher, despite various expressions and representation of heritage,

there must be certain parameters that encapsulates what heritage should have in the

contemporary. These are the following (203-11):

a. Display. What makes heritage different from its academic façade (history or

historiography) is the existence of a visual medium, may it be tangible or intangible. "Since

the original experiences of the past are irretrievable, we can only grasp them through their

remains. Moreover, those displays… are not passive containers, but are active vehicles in

producing, sharing, and giving meaning to popular understandings of the past." (203)

b. Place. Heritage must be situated within a space. Hoelscher cited Pierre Nora for the

concept of lieux de memoire - sites of memory. "Heritage are attached to sites that are

concrete and physical" (204)

c. Time. Two issues are being presented in relation to time. First, heritage might look old

but closer inspection reveal contemporary issues, such as the needs and affairs of the

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 present generation. Second, heritage is social process, continually unfolding, changing and

transforming.

d. Politics. This parameter deals with the power relationship between the elite and poor,

begging the question "whose heritage are being taken cared of?".

e. Authenticity. For some critics, heritage are seen as 'bogus history', since it commodifies

the past, distorts real history and is touristic.

f. Popular Appeal. Heritage sites must be distinct from amusement parks with historical

motifs.

g. Development Strategies. There must be promotion of conservation of the place and

landscape, aside from commercial viability.

Church Objects as Cultural Heritage

What makes church objects cultural heritage?

Regalado Trota Jose (1991) provided a survey of Philippine colonial church art (16 th – 19th

century) with a categorization of church art objects from structures to vessels, highlighted along

the discussion are the colonial context and narratives attached to these heritage. Jose's Simbahan,

the seminal literature on 16th - 19th Century Philippine Church art, provided the appropriate

terminology, description and function of varying church objects.

However, is the cultural heritage of the dominant religion the cultural heritage of the

nation? Prof. Angel Bautista (2009) referred Republic Act No. 4846, which includes churches as

well as mosques as examples of national cultural properties. "The church buildings and their

liturgical objects are products of religious beliefs and, therefore, belong to the category of

culture. Hence, like all cultural properties in the country, churches and liturgical objects are
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priceless, irreplaceable assets and should be presented for the present and future generations of

the Filipino" (Bautista 21). Prof. Bautista added that there are 24 churches in the Philippines that

are declared as National Cultural Treasures, such as the San Agustin Church in Intramuros, the

Immaculate Concepcion Church in Balayan, Batangas, San Pedro Apostol in Loboc, Bohol, and

the San Gregorio Magno in Majayjay, Laguna to name some.

In dealing with Church cultural heritage, Rene Javellana, S.J. (2005), in his paper To See

with the Awakened Eye of Faith (Attitudes and Education with Reference to the Cultural

Heritage of the Church, discusses key factors affecting the lay workers attitude towards the

stewardship of the church’s heritage. For Javellana, the Filipinos is in “fetal” stage in cultural

heritage education. Obstacles, such as the lack of adequate formal education, reduction of

cultural heritage’s value to economic objects, and undervaluing of cultural heritage to mere

“visual aids”, affect how we deal with cultural objects of our church.

Ecclesiastical Museums, Museology and Church Cultural Heritage

In his article Museology and Ecclesiastical Museums published in PINTACASI, Isidro Abano,

O.P., (2005) talks of museographical practices in ecclesiastical museums as not something

significantly different from other types of museums. What makes ecclesiastical museums

essentially different is its goal to “attune the collection to the Church’s mission in testifying to

the faith and the pursuit of evangelization” (15) Though ecclesiastical museums are important,

cultural heritage of the Church must be protected in its “original location” (15), otherwise, in the

threat of damage or inability to provide security, the former may be established, with the use of

proper catalogue and instruments to show or provide the information about the object’s cultic

and liturgical context.

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 Abano (18) cited the view of Giancarlo Santi towards ecclesiastical museums as "museal"

institutions pertaining to dioceses, parishes, sanctuaries, religious communities, seminaries, and

other church entities. However, he added Article 123 of Vatican II whereby it states that the

accumulated treasures of the Church throughout the years must be preserved with every care.

Yet, as a general rule, these art objects must remain in liturgical places to which they were

originally rooted. Furthermore, citing the Italian Episcopal Conference, he stated that if the art

object, whether painting or furnishings, no longer hold cultic or liturgical purposes and

conservation to original place is impossible, a diocesan or ecclesiastical museum must be

establish, where these objects can be gathered. Also, because of modernity and need for function

over form, some cultural heritage have been sold or neglected. 

Regardless, an ecclesiastical museum, since by nature a museum of the church, has

varying functions aside from museological. One is Pastoral. Ecclesiastical museums should

stimulate dialogue with the faithful to improve understanding of faith and nourishment of

Christian life and devotion. Another function is to serve as an Intermediary. It is the goal of the

Church that art objects must be preserved adequately in the very location for which they were

used. Otherwise, the objects must be transferred to museums which could guarantee them

security, protection and promotion. And, finally, there is its Cultural Function. Ecclesiastical

museums should present and promote the relationship between evangelization and culture.

Culture and art must be tied up with the audience’s everyday faith (20).

A diocesan museum has their own proper character which is not principally with

reference to a single monument, like a cathedral or a sanctuary, but to an institutional reality of

territorial type under a particular bishop. Furthermore, Abano cited G. Santi again by stating that

the diocesan museum's role is not solely being the central repository of church heritage, but must

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be an active collaborator with the community particularly at the parish level. To note, there must

be an accurate formation among the clergy as regards with their responsibility of guardianship.

In addition, Abano proposes steps to conserve church art objects: 1.) classification of objects to

in-use, partially in-use, or for museum, 2.) documentation and cataloguing, and 3.) Protection

against theft, physical degradation, and abusive transfer (22).

Another leading scholar on Philippine Church Cultural Heritage, Dr. Regalado Trota Jose

(2005) explained the functions of Church museums in the aspect of presentation, in his article

The Presentation of Church Cultural Heritage published in PINTACASI. For Jose, a church

museum acts as a chronicler of the “community’s journey as people of God”, as educators of

various “aspects of the faith”, not just protectors of objects with significant artistic, material and

historic value, where appreciation and understanding must come beyond the ornamentation and

carvings.

Problematizing church museums in Laguna

Upon the establishment of the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church by

the late Pope John Paul II in 1988, the Roman Catholic Church had promulgated guidelines on

the proper handling of cultural heritage - through the creation of church museums, training of the

clergy and the lay, and inclusion of the heritage actions to the pastoral plan. In the Philippines,

the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Permanent Committee on the

Cultural Heritage of the Church (PCCHC) is the main coordinating body in charge of advising

the local dioceses to provide attention to church heritage, deeming it as an important aspect of

the Church's evangelical mission to the community of faithful. Henceforth, it is has been

necessitated that local churches must have cultural institution such as museums to cater to the

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heritage advocacies of the universal church. Yet, in Laguna, most parishes do not have their own

established museums. However, few parishes have cabinet-like display facilities for their cultural

treasures. Such parishes are the St. Gregory the Great Parish and St. Peter of Alcantara in the

towns Majayjay and Pakil respectively. It is intriguing, however, that a province, which is rich in

church cultural heritage, lacks ecclesiastical institutions that should preserve and curate this

heritage.

For the purpose of this study, the term ‘ecclesiastical museums’ is a generic term that will

refer to any museological institutions owned and ran by the Roman Catholic Church or by any

religious institution associated with the latter (convent, schools, etc.). ‘Church museums’ will

used to describe museums owned, ran and attached with a single parish church, e.g. the Bamboo

Organ church museum. A ‘Diocesan museum’ will refer to a museum owned and managed by a

certain diocese/archdiocese, under the overall management of the Bishop.

Ironically, even with the existence of Cultural Heritage Commission in the Vatican and a

Committee in among the Catholic Bishops in the Philippines, ecclesiastical museums, in any

form (i.e. convent museums, central diocesan museum, parish museums, etc.) is virtually non-

existent in the province. Other provinces/ dioceses in the Southern Tagalog region such as the

Province of Rizal, Cavite and Batangas have few ecclesiastical museums on their own. Thus, this

triggers the search for the conditions behind the absence of an ecclesiastical museum in the

province.

In addition, most historic churches in Laguna have long been sites of pilgrimages and

tourism. Though there are only few shrines in the province attracting a number of devotees, some

churches, such as that of Paete, San Pablo and Majayjay, have received pilgrims and tourists

regardless of the liturgical season, whether it is Lent or ordinary time. Somehow, even without

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notable reliquaries, miracle sites and sacred objects, people visit these old churches whether as a

pilgrim or a tourist. Yet, despite the strong potential for public engagement and formation

(evangelization), most heritage churches do not utilize their kept cultural treasures to engage its

public. These cultural treasures, if displayed, serve as mere decorations or trophies, and not as

catalysts for discourse and catechesis.

Thus, for the investigation of the province’s cultural heritage and curatorial practices, the

following will be asked as the primary research problem for this study: How do the churches of

Pakil, Pila and Majayjay perform their curatorial roles towards their cultural heritage, especially

of preservation and presentation, given the current state and condition of art-historical patrimony

in the province? What are the implications of these curatorial practices to the overall church

heritage of the province and to the local church (Diocese of San Pablo)?

This study aims to discover and analyze the curatorial practices of the selected heritage churches

in Laguna. These churches are located in the towns of Pila, Pakil and Majayjay. Specifically, this

study aims to:

o Present, holistically, the condition of cultural heritage and art-historical patrimony of

the local Catholic church in the province of Laguna

o Discover and analyze the current curatorial practices of selected parish churches

highlighting their collections, exhibition techniques and public programming.

o Unravel the issues, contexts and themes arising from these case studies.

o Recommend actions to improve the churches' curatorial practices.

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 As a church cultural heritage worker by profession, the researcher would like to explore

this current situation in his home province of Laguna. Though he spent most of his life in the

urban outskirts, in the City of Santa Rosa, he is fascinated with old historical churches across

Laguna (Santa Rosa itself, a first class city, has an 18th century Church). Therefore, he is

intrigued with the absence of a single ecclesiastical museum in the province despite the fact that

those historic churches must have significant cultural heritage.

This research is primarily a study on museums and curatorial practices/platforms. The

researcher will look at selected historic churches' curatorial practices, manifested in various

routines and techniques, as intended for their local cultural patrimony. This will serve as museum

ethnography, guided by the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church’s

2001 Circular letter on Pastoral Functions of Ecclesiastical Museums, and concepts and

perspective of Material Culture.

If a diocesan museum is non-existent, it will be important to look at how local parishes,

especially those cited as historic and heritage, curate its art-historical patrimony as an aspect of

the Church’s evangelical mission and promotion of aesthetic appreciation. By doing so, this

study will lay the groundwork for further cultural heritage and museum studies in province. The

diocese of San Pablo may also utilize the results and recommendations to formulate and plan for

a diocesan museum, if the idea comes across in the future.

  The researcher will also refer to the study of Material Culture in understanding the role of

the ecclesiastical cultural collections in the church mission to its community as memory-keeper

and witnesses of history. Other disciplines such as Local History, Cultural Studies, Anthropology

and their research methods will be referred to as well.

Scope of the study

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This study will cover the diocese of San Pablo/ province of Laguna alone. As much as the

researcher intends to cover all churches in the diocese to generate a holistic and telling

description, the lack of resources, time constraint and geography limits him from doing this. It

was advised that he zoom in to three heritage churches only.

Although the primary subjects are local Catholic churches and its communities, the study

will focus on the role of these churches as a cultural institution and as the safe-keeper of the local

cultural heritage of the community. Theology and doctrines will be opted out unless the

researcher finds it necessary to be included.

Local Histories of the Churches under study

St. Gregory the Great Parish in Majayjay

According to the Historical Conservation Society (1964 10), Majayjay was discovered by the

Spaniards as they went on expeditions towards the Southern Luzon, under the command of Don

Miguel Lopez de Legazpi. The colonizers discovered a progressive confederation of Malay

barangays, estimated to have at least 1600 people with thirty to three hundred families each

baranggay. This settlement opposed the conquistadors, but was defeated eventually.

Originally, the town of Majayjay was granted as an encomendia to a soldier named

Gaspar Osorio de Moya, who was once a mayor in Manila. In 1591, through the efforts of Fr.

Juan de Placencia, Majayjay was organized into an official town. In 1599, it was ordered by the

central government to have a stone church in this town be built, however, the community cannot

carry out as plan since the church, initially made out of nipa and bamboo, was burned and rebuilt

three times1. In 1619, a stone façade was built out of a request made by Don Ventura de

Mendoza. The government granted the request to build the stone church, however, was only
1
Lijauco, Chit (ed.) The Diocese of San Pablo and its Churches. Diocese of San Pablo: 2000.

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completed by 1649 (many townspeople left their homes to avoid the church construction),

dedicating it to its patron, St. Gregory the Great. Years later, the church of Majayjay was again

burned. The government exempted the town from paying their taxes, so that the people can work

in the rehabilitation of the church. Fr. Jose de Puertollano, then current priest, did not built a new

church, but sandwiched crumbling walls with new walls instead. The town church was finished

in 1730 despite protests of forced labor. The church suffered numerous typhoons, in 1842 and

1848, but was repaired by incumbent priests.

The town of Majayjay have been involved with social unrest and revolution throughout

the 17th and 18th Century. It was a common practice for the locals to leave their residences to

avoid their (forced) duties, compelling the provincial government to take measures such as

destroying the townspeople’s houses in towns outside of Majayjay. Also, since the town’s

location was in along the mountains, it was spared from attacks from the Moros. However, the

Chinese revolt in 1603, 1639and the British invasion of 1762 did not exclude the town. In 1900s,

the church served as barracks for the American troops, leaving it almost in ruins. The town of

Majayjay was heavily affected by the Revolution, that it became impoverished. It cannot support

the repairs to the church.

Diocesan Shrine of San Antonio de Padua and the Town of Pila

The town of Pila is a unique place. According to Dr. Luciano Santiago (2000), the town is

recognized as a historical site both the by the church and the state. The National Historical

Institute declared the town center as a historical landmark in May 2000, while the Diocese of San

Pablo proclaimed the parish, being the first Antonine church in the country as a diocesan shrine.

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 According to Diocese of San Pablo and its Churches (82), the town of Pila embraces an

aura of spirituality even before the coming of the Spaniards. The center of the town was called

“Pagalangan” (Place of Reverence). It is said that the original site of the town has “venerable

tombs of the dead laid out with exquisite Chinese porcelain and local jars of handsome design”

(82). Upon the arrival of the Spaniards, the conquistadors were impressed with the spirituality

and nobility of the community, thus entitling it with La Noble Villa de Pila. The first

missionaries were the Augustinians; the Franciscans took over in 1578. On June 13 1581, the

parish was inaugurated in the feast of St. Anthony de Padua - making him the town’s patron saint

- the first church in the Philippines to be dedicated to the latter. In 1611, the Franciscans

established the second printing press in the Philippines in Pila. Tomas Pimpin and Domingo

Laoag printed in Pila the first Tagalog dictionary, compiled by Fray Pedro de San Buenaventura.

During the British Invasion in 1762-64, the British took the first dictionary and the first church

bell from Pila. The townspeople hid away the second bell, which is now one of the oldest church

bells in the country. At the turn of the 18 th century, the town center at Pagalangan has to be

moved due to constant flooding from Laguna de Bay. People were divided between those who

for the relocation and against it. Eventually, the pros succeeded. The town was relocated to a

higher site, in Hacienda de Sta. Clara owned by the Rivera brothers, under the leadership of Don

Felizardo Rivera, who drew up plans for a new town plaza. He was now considered as the

founder of Nueva Pila.

The religious festival of Flores de Mayo, which Pila is known for, was introduced in

1888, bringing deep Marian devotion to the community. This was the community’s response to

bountiful harvests in the town. During the American occupation, Thomasites came to the town

and introduced a new education system. This has produced a new set of professionals. One of

which is Mercedes Rivera, who co-founded the Philippine Women’s University.

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 During the World War II period, the town of Pila became the center of guerilla activity

and, because of the bountiful rice harvest, became the “rice granary” of the province of Laguna.

Pila was the first town in the province to be liberated by guerillas in January 1945.

St. Peter of Alcantara Parish (Diocesan Shrine of Nuestra Seniora delos Dolores de Turumba)

and the town of Pakil

According to Jerry Respeto (2007), the first inhabitants of the town of Pakil were a combination

of Negritos and Malays. It got its name from Gat Pakil, one of the early leaders of the settlement.

At the onset of the Spanish colonial period, the town of Pakil started out as a visita or a small

community established by Fray Pedro Bautista (now St. Pedro Bautista). The community, then,

belongs to the jurisdiction of the church of Paete. Paete, in turn, was an encomendia of Lumban

(Mirano 2009). In 1572, the Augustinians arrived in Laguna. They established a mission station

in Bay. Few years later, the Franciscans came to Pakil, as part of their mission to spread

Christianity towards south of Luzon.

In May 1676, through Fray Francisco de Barajas and Captain Diego Jorge, the town and

parish of Pakil were separated from Paete. Though later on, during the American regime, the

town was fused with the town of Pangil, and was later became independent once Again. The

stone church were completed in 1767. In 1851, a massive fire consumed the church’s convent

and half of the church. The Pakil church is home to the image of the Nuestra Senora de los

Dolores de Turumba, whose devotion is unique to the community of Pakil.

Throughout its history, the town of Pakil faced several challenges, in the form of natural

and man-made disasters. It has experienced drought in 1718 and 1771; massive fire in 1739 and

1755; spread of cholera in 1883; earthquake in 1823, 1832, 1881; flood and pestilence in 1903
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and 1916; and typhoon in 1972. Also, the town is actively involved in the war and revolution. In

1896, under the leadership of Nicolas Regalado, the Pakileños fought the Spaniards, and in 1900

the Americans. Under the Japanese invasion, Pakil was made a guerilla community by its Mayor,

Ciriaco Gonzales.

How will the study take place?

This study is ethnographic in nature and investigative in approach. To draw a holistic picture of

the condition of church cultural heritage in Laguna, the researcher will review available literature

(books, published local historical accounts, audio-visual materials, unpublished researches,

archival documents, and records) pertaining to the province and its history, cultural heritage,

socio-cultural context, art market, and ecclesiastical art-historical patrimony. This literature

review will be supplemented by key informant interviews (KII) with scholars in the field of local

history, heritage studies, and church cultural heritage. The output of this initial task is an

overview of the field of (church) cultural production, distribution and preservation in the

province. The researcher wishes to understand the following:

a.) Socio-cultural history/context of Laguna Province

b.) Local history of the Catholic Church in Laguna

c.) Conditions of the church cultural heritage in Laguna

Next, the researcher will conduct ethnographic case studies to selected pilgrim churches.

The souvenir program published by the diocese in 2000, The Diocese of San Pablo and Its

Churches, cited 12 pilgrim churches, which gave the researcher assistance in selecting the

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churches for the study. From there, the researcher selected three churches, which are at least 50

years old and have significant collection of cultural objects with adequate display facilities

(semblance of a museum display). The proposed pilgrim churches are the St. Gregory the Great

Parish in Majayjay, Diocesan Shrine of San Antonio de Padua in Pila, and St. Peter of Alcantara

Parish (Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Turumba) in Pakil.

1. Next, through the ethnographic methods of observation, key informant interviews

(with the parish priest, community leaders, parishioners, local cultural officers from

the LGU, etc.), collections inventory analysis, and document analysis of programs

conducted related to the collection, the researcher aims to collect the following

information from the parishes:

a.) Summary/ inventory of cultural objects in possession (tangible) or

documented intangible practices (i.e. unique method of devotion),

1.) History of the collection

2.) Social history of the prominent objects (if possible)

3.) Role of the objects in personal and communal devotion

4.) Provenance and ownership prior to the being a church

collection

b.) Conservation

1.) Storage facilities

2.) Conservation policies and procedures

c.) Presentation

1.) Exhibitions conducted

2.) Display facilities

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 d.) Public program (Pastoral work) and engagement

e.) Context

1.) Socio-political milieu

2.) Ecclesial

f.) Community-support,

g.) Management and Personnel

Next, the researcher will flesh out and analyze the issues, context and themes coming

from the churches’ curatorial practice. Furthermore, the researcher will be guided by Francesco

Marchisano's 2001 Circular which states the function, nature, and organization of ecclesiastical

museums as an analytical tool in conducting this semi-museum audit, focusing on the primary

functions of an ecclesiastical museum: Conservation and Presentation. The following questions

will serve as guidelines for this part:

a.) Among the case studies, which has the best practice in terms of

Conservation?

b.) Among them, which has the best practice in terms of Presentation?

c.) Among them, which has the best practice for both areas?

d.) What are the common strong points from among the case subjects?

e.) What are the common weak areas from among the case subjects?

f.) Can the best practices be replicated to other parishes?

g.) Are there any external conditions affecting the current curatorial

practice?

h.) Are there any internal conditions affecting the current curatorial

practice?

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 Finally, the literature review, the case studies, and the issues and themes will serve as

parameter sin which a set of recommendations will be made by the researcher. He will seek

advice from practitioners in the field of church cultural heritage and museum studies concerning

these recommendations. This part of the study will serve to enhance the current curatorial

practice in local churches, and hopefully, as a basis for the development of a local diocesan

museum.

Theoretical Framework

In this study, the researcher would employ different concepts from museum studies, art history

and material culture to construct this study’s backbone.

The first component of the study discusses the conditions of church cultural in the context

of heritage and museology. Firstly, the study will use James Clifford’s map classifying objects

and their value (Figure 1), from his essay On Collecting, to provide the framework on how do

cultural objects as collections change their values, depending on these are currently situated.

James Clifford describes change in inherent and perceived value of an object as it move from one

section of the diagram to another. A positive movement in this diagram is from bottom

(inauthentic) to top (authentic), right (artefact) to left (masterpiece). An object’s value has

connoisseurly increased when cultural value as artefacts decreased. However, James Clifford

stated that this diagram is “secular” and may not be applicable to “religious” objects for the latter

may not possess individual “mystery” or “power”. Thus, initially, this diagram cannot be used to

plot the value and movement of religious objects from being an artefact to a masterpiece, or vice

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versa, since the former does not have a section for sacredness or liturgical-ity, a completely

different section where religious objects move to or from.

Figure 1. James Clifford’s map classifying the (art) objects and their relative value

Hence, this study will modify Clifford’s diagram in rediscovering the movement of

church cultural objects with the contexts of the sacred and the secular. This will also discover

how market and economic forces affect the supposed value of church objects as collector’s item

and/or as ecclesiastical property.

Furthermore, the study on the cultural objects of churches warrants the need to use

methods and concepts of Material Culture. According to Maureen Miller (2015 14) in the

introductory paper, entitled Material Culture and Catholic History, she wrote for the The

Catholic Historical Review, one can analyze the content of a diocesan museum collection.

Questions such as “what kind of artefacts were in the collection,” “whose objects were they,”

“what beliefs and practices do they attest,” “what objects are not represented,” and “how did they

find themselves in the museum.”

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 The concept of Lieux de Memoire or Cultural Memory, taken from the discipline of

Material Culture, will be used in this study to as an anthropological lens. Cultural memory

(Connerton 315), as a discourse, pertains to the community’s conscious political act towards its

own history through representation, suppression, or forgetfulness. As the value attached to

cultural goods diminishes, the latter becomes obsolete, and soon forgotten. An obsolete good can

be salvaged by increasing its cultural importance, most of the time, through museums and

heritage institutions. Jan Assmann (2013) in a talk in the University of Sao Paolo, Brazil,

explained the concept of cultural memory as a ‘symbolic heritage’ embodied in objects and

practices that serve as ‘mnemonic triggers’ where meanings associated with the past are brought

forth. Assmann also described cultural memory as a faculty that allows people to construct their

narrative of the past and develop a collective identity for themselves. In this study, cultural

memory can be seen as the driving force behind the safekeeping of church cultural objects

despite its liturgical or functional obsolescence.

Furthermore, in this study, church cultural objects will occupy another sphere of values

aside from the liturgical and sacred. Church cultural objects, enhanced by cultural memory, will

be taken in to the field called heritage. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Grimlet (2012) theorizes heritage as

“mode of cultural production in the present that has a recourse in the past”. Heritage is not only

about finding the lost, recovering the stolen and preserving the obsolete; it concerns an industry

that adds more value to the past, by means of exhibition or curation. In this study, the notion of

“heritage” will be crucial in adding new life to art objects that are used primarily for church’s

religious purpose. By including them in the heritage fold such as displaying them in museums,

these religious/liturgical objects will also become art artifacts, acquiring new meaning and

purpose – as objects of the past that catechizes that Christian community.

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 In analyzing the curatorial practices, the researcher would use the concepts of the late

Cardinal Francesco Marchisano, former President of the Pontifical Commission on the Cultural

Heritage of the Church, in his Cyclical Letter dated 15 August 2001 entitled The Pastoral

Functions of Ecclesiastical Museums, outlined key roles of diocesan museums and the

importance of building them. According to Marchisano, the purpose of having a church museum

is the following: preservation of memory, and pastoral action through memory. An ecclesiastical

museum takes a specific role not only in preserving the church’s cultural treasures, but also in

actively becoming a centre for cultural and evangelical dialogue. Since parishes ultimately

adhere to the standards promulgated by the Vatican, whether theological, liturgical or

museological, it might as well be necessary to employ Marchisano's guidelines.

Another framework that will be used is taken from Susan Vogel’s (1991) essay, Always

True to the Object, in Our Fashion. Vogel stresses how museums influence the audience’

perceptions of art and artifacts as these are displayed in museums, in various exhibition styles.

According to her, museums, whether intentional or unintentional, direct or subtle, has the

capability to re-contextualize cultural objects or artifacts, adding or omitting layers of meaning

through carefully designed semblance of contexts. In addition, museum teaching goes beyond the

public program and display labels. The facilities, presentation styles, acquisition policies,

collection, and staff members, somehow, influence how visitors should think. She stressed out,

towards the end of her essay, that museums should state to its audience the fact that objects being

displayed do not ‘speak for itself,’ but a product of layers of meanings, filtered “through tastes,

interests, politics , and state of knowledge of particular presenters at a particular moment in

time” (201). This study would Vogel’s notion of exhibition as a tool in analyzing how churches

currently display their cultural objects. This study will explore whose voices influence the

exhibitions and who filters or manages the exhibition process. This framework or lens will be

23
helpful in understanding how displayed church cultural treasures are perceived by the visitors

and are presented by the ‘curators’.

Below is the timeline of all the exhibitions shown under Rev. Fr. Albert Flores as the Director of the

Museum:

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Case Studies

BAUTISTA, ARCHT. FR. ALEX O. “The Making of the Ecclesiastical Museum of the Archdiocese of Manila” in

Pintacasi Journal on the Cultural Heritage of the Church. Manila: UST-CCCPET, 2009. Volume V. pg74.

SARDILLO, MARCO POLO. Incumbent Administrator. Intramuros Administration. Personal Communication.

August 2014.

Church Art

CASAL, OSB. GABRIEL. "Synthesis and Sacrament: The Social Impact of Art in the Liturgy". PINTACASI: A

Journal of the Cultural Heritage of the Church in the Philippines. Vol III, 2007. pp 72-124.

JOSE, REGALADO TROTA. Simbahan: Church Art in Colonial Philippines 1565-1898. Makati, Metro Manila:

Ayala Foundation, Inc., 1992.

Church Cultural Heritage

JOSE, REGALADO TROTA. "The Presentation of Church Cultural Heritage". PINTACASI: A Journal of the

Cultural Heritage of the Church in the Philippines. Vol I, 2005. pps 36-42.

JAVELLANA, S.J, RENE B. "To See with the Awakened Eye of Faith: Attitudes & Education with reference to the

cultural heritage of the Church". PINTACASI: A Journal of the Cultural Heritage of the Church in the

Philippines. Vol I, 2005. pages 47-49.

DAVID, D.D., PABLO S. "The State of Cultural Heritage in the Archdiocese of San Fernando, Pampangga"

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BAUTISTA, ANGEL. “Ecclesiastical Cultural Properties as National Cultural Treasures and Important Cultural

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Church in the Philippines. Vol V, 2009. pp 20-30.

POPE JOHN PAUL II. Apostolic Constitution: Pastor Bonus http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-

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Cultural Heritage

BLAKE, JANET. "On defining Cultural Heritage". The International and Comparative Law Quarterly. Vol. 49, No.

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Diocese of San Pablo

LIJAUCO, CHIT. (Ed.) THE DIOCESE OF SAN PABLO AND ITS CHURCHES. The Diocese of San Pablo,

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Museology and Ecclesiastical Museums

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A Journal of the Cultural Heritage of the Church in the Philippines. Vol V, 2009. pp67-86.

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Museum Studies

MACDONALD, Sharon (ed.) A Companion to Museum Studies. Victoria, Australia: Blackwell Publishing, Inc.

2006

CARBONELL, BETTINA MESSIAS (ed.) Museum Studies: Anthology of Contexts (2nd ed.) West Sussex, U.K.:

Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.

KARP, IVAN ET.AL. (e.d) Museum and Communities: the Politics of Public Culture. USA: Smithsonian Museum,

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KARP, IVAN AND STEVEN D. LAVINE (ed.) Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display.

USA: Smithsonian Museum, 1991.

DE LA PAZ, CECILIA. “The Appropriation of Local Culture in Museum Practices: Problems and Possibilities for

Philippine Communities”. (undated) pp152-168.

VOGELS, SUSAN. “Always true to the Object, in Our Fashion.” Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of

Museum Display. USA: Smithsonian Museum, 1991. Pp191-204.

Theories and Concepts

KIRSHENBLATT-GIMBLETT, BARBARA. “From Ethnology to Heritage: The Role of Museums”. Museum

Studies: Anthology of Contexts (2nd ed.) West Sussex, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.

CLIFFORD, JAMES. “On Collecting Art and Culture”. The Cultural Studies Reader (2nd Ed.). London: Routledge,

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CONNERTON, PAUL. “Cultural Memory”. Handbook of Material Culture. London: Sage, 2006. Pp315-324.

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MILLER, MAUREEN C. “Introduction: Material Culture and Catholic History”. The Catholic Historical Review.

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