People Power on France’s basilica wall

The visit of pilgrim relics of St. Therese to Cebu last week, the week of the 1986 Edsa anniversary, reminds me of how both forces meet in the walls of a basilica in France.

If you’ve travelled to Lisieux, hometown of the French saint, you could see how people power is alive in a delicate mosaic in the Basilica of St. Therese.

The mosaic was created by national artist Manuel Baldemor and hangs in the west side of the basilica.

How did a People Power work of art end up in the Basilica of St. Therese?

The walls of the basilica, built in the 1930s, are adorned and lighted with mosaic art depicting saints and angels, many of them gifts from pilgrims and devotees from different countries.

In 2008, I was in Paris visiting my daughter Anika who works as an attache in the Philippine Embassy.

trip to lisieux

Five months in my stay,  I was invited to join a trip  to Lisieux with  Ambassador to Paris, Jose A. Zaide and embassy officers.   They were to turn over a check for an undisclosed amount donated by Filipinos in France to Monsignor Bernard Lagoutte, rector of the

basilica.

I found out that Ambassador Zaide and his wife, Victoria had gone on a pilgrimage in 2006 to Lisieux where they learned that many of the mosaics in the basilica walls were gifts of pilgrims from different countries.

icon from ph

Zaide thought of donating an icon from the Philippines and asked his friend Baldemor, a  “generous and constant visitor to Paris” to make it.

In 2007, the artist returned incognito to Lisieux and stayed in a small inn near the Basilica of St. Therese.  There he “took in all the inspiration” while silently visiting the basilica for three days, according to Zaide.  He later presented a watercolor painting that depicts the 1986 People Power revolution in bursting colors.   He worked in collaboration with a local mosaic artist, Sandy Suthen. Monsignor Lagoutte said the mosaic would be made of lampworked glass, the same material used in most Murano art glass creations.  The project was estimated to cost 34,000 euros.

Filipinos in France chipped in.   There were proceeds from a Bayanihan Dance Company program held in Paris, including a bazaar sponsored by women workers of the Philippine Embassy.

60,000 pinoys

Ambassador Zaide declared that with 60,000 Pinoys in Paris supporting the mosaic art project, “This will be a good opportunity for the Philippines to raise its profile.”

The donations were turned over on Sept. 4, 2008 by Zaide and embassy staff in the trip to Lisieux.

The 3 by 5 meter mosaic hangs in the west side of the Basilica. It doesn’t show Corazon Aquino or the conjugal dictatorship of  Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. Only military tanks give reminders of the brutal regime.  The main character in Baldemor’s work is the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary garbed in a white robe with her head illumined by giant rays.

Stars and flying doves are bathed in the same light. Below is an illustration of a man and woman holding a young boy in the likeness of the Filipino family. The figure of St. Therese of the Child Jesus occupies a prominent place in the right side, holding a picture and crucifix bedecked with

flowers.

catholic feast

Baldemor’s work makes the 1986 bloodless revolution look a lot like a Catholic feast in the Philippines: people in colorful costumes carrying religious articles like the crucifix and the Child Jesus in the image of the Santo Nino.

The mosaic was unveiled and blessed in Oct. 18, 2009 or one year and one month after I witnessed the endorsement of cash donations to the Basilica rector.

There’s no denying that Filipino faith and piety permeated the political upheaval in Edsa in 1986.

Together with the design, Baldemor wrote a text about the peaceful and moral crusade: “God was present.”