I've been blessed to have met and known a number of people who are great, serious collectors. I first came to being in this rather private sanctuary run by my friend Chito Atienza (
Feliciano Jaime Atienza, see New York Times article on him "
2008 ESOL Teacher of the Year Award") during a Christmas Eve dinner (tagged along by another common friend, Greg Ilao) nearly 4 years ago, and came back only a few months ago. I took the liberty, though with expressed permission, to take pictures of Chito's icons, statues, and other religious curiosities that mainly pertain to things Roman Catholic. We happened to go to the same Friday evening prayer meeting group somewhere in Corona, Queens (
The St Paul the Apostle Prayer Community), where attendees gather to pray the Rosary, do worship, sing soulful songs in our challenged abilities, and commune together even in a few furtive hours with everyone willing to join in that part of NYC.
Pls feel free to scroll down. The following are the pics I took, with added notes as I may deem appropriate. Please feel free to give feedback, which will be greatly appreciated, on your thoughts. We all need our own special sanctuary (physical or otherwise) where we can be ourselves without fear of discrimination, being ridiculed, or being looked down by some who we pray would know better.
I believe this is the "
Our Lady of Fatima"
Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary as "
Mother of Perpetual Help" An icon can be found in a basilica in Pasay City, Philippines, where devotees gather most particularly during Wednesdays...
Can you name at least one of these? There's the
Virgin of Antipolo on the far right side, if I'm not mistaken....
He could be
Michael the Archangel....
I forgot her name, but I think she's
St Theresa of Avila, a Spanish mystic & a Doctor of the Roman Catholic Church, too!
I'm sure she's
St Therese of the Child Jesus
"Angel of God
My Guardian Dear
To whom His love commits me here
Ever this day
Be at my side"
.............forgot the rest----kindly fill in the lacking lines....thanks!
Mother Theresa of Calcutta
Sacred Heart of Jesus
Sto Nino
Chito may one day find a hand to replace the missing one in this statue. Chito salvages, repairs, and "rehabilitates" with so much love & care these icons & statues from disrepair, whenever he's got the chance.....
The Sto Nino up close...
San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila, first Filipino saint ever, and he's a family man at that!
Can you name the painter of this picture?
This crucifix touches my heart in a much troubled way than usual---it could be due to the pose.......
St Michael the Archangel....
The much venerated
Virgin of Manaoag in Pangasinan, Philippines....
Another Sto Nino....
Can you name this peasant farmer who's now also a saint? Clue:
the Lady of Guadalupe appeared to him somewhere in Mexico...
I think this is a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary as the "
Virgin of Krakow"
Chito appears below, in a painting rendition, that looks pretty much like him in person [note the statue of "
Our Lady of Lourdes" in front -- you may get the chance to hear from Chito his healing experience when he made a pilgrimage to the site in France, that he almost failed to make when other distracting schedules came into fore during the trip that he made by himself]:
All these are found in Chito's apartment in a multi-family house in Queens, where he has accumulated that many pieces through the years. He readily gave me a small statue of the Sto Nino, which I gratefully accepted. Chito would save, clean, repair icons & religious statues he'd see lying in their unwanted state---some have been saved from the rubbish....it's a separate story by itself, having been provided with so much of Lord's grace to salvage these items in the past many years.
Needless to say, it's grown to become a venerable spiritual sanctuary, that surely emanates from the very vivid images of the mind of the caretaker, Chito. I felt having been rubbed off even by a little bit of that certain quality of holiness that you won't fail to notice when you get a chance to visit this sanctuary. It feels good being there.
Amen.
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