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Tuesday, November 22, 2005
House of St. Jude
By Ritchie Landis Doner Quijano
The feast of St. Jude Thaddeus, the Apostle, was celebrated last October 28.
In Cebu, the biggest celebration honoring the saint was centered around the activities held in Samboan. Aside from the usual procession and week-long novena, its observance was marked with the inaugural and formal blessing of the House of St. Jude which will be, in the days to come, the operations center for the planned shrine of the saint.
St. Jude is known to millions of devotees as the saint of last resort because the patron embraces the hopeless to his sanctuary and protection. According to testimonies, he helps impossible cases.
Heading the observance is former Congressman Emerito “Tito” Calderon, whose devotion to his patron has spanned more than five decades since 1947. In 1968, Calderon made a donation of a life-size wooden statue of St. Jude to the Samboan parish church. The piece of ecclesiastical art was commissioned to the renowned sculptor Fidel Araneta who used to have a studio-workshop in Tabo-an.
The gifted carver’s reputation spread far and wide when, during the 1965 commemoration of the quadri-centennial of Christianity, Araneta designed the original “Sleeping Sto. Nino”. Calderon, who owns the property where the House of St. Jude stands, has many things in his mind, including a pilgrim center and library. He wants the House to be the gathering place for pilgrims traveling to the south.
The House of St. Jude and what may will be the site of the future shrine was formally blessed by Rev. Fr. Paul Eric Pedrosa, parish priest of Samboan. Inside the House is a wealth of Judean references and an exhibition of 85 paintings of the saint done by Cebuano artists.
Highlights of the exhibit are the winning works of students who joined the recently-concluded St. Jude painting competition.
They are Brendon Cabarrubias who won first prize, George Krympson Fisalbon grabbing second place, and third placer Rajiv Gegrozaga all coming from schools around Samboan. Aside from the exhibits, there are meeting rooms fully-equipped with sound and video systems.
(November 22, 2005 issue)
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