Fatima exhibit in UST Museum
In celebration of the centenary of Our Lady of Fatima’s last apparition and the nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Marian exhibit titled ‘Gratia Plena’ was launched by the UST Museum and the UST Marian Evangelization Community (MEC) last September 8.
The exhibit features images of Our Lady of Fatima courtesy of diocesan Fatima devotee Fr. James Anthony Del Rosario and a reliquary containing three wood fragments: one from the tree of Apparition and one each from the coffins of two of the three Fatima visionaries, Jacinta and Francisco Marto.
“We learn a deeper understanding of our relationship with God to the Blessed Mother and also our devotion to the Rosary,” UST Museum Director Fr. Isidro Abaño said in an interview.
UST MEC Secretary Jigs Enriquez also mentioned how the youth rarely pray the rosary nowadays and noted how the exhibit can encourage Marian devotion.
“Nowadays, have things really changed? We claimed to have advanced in technology but we still have many conflicts. Our world is far from peaceful,” UST MEC President Raphael Joseph Ledesma said in an online interview.
The apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima began in 1917 during the first World War. In the latter part of the exhibit, the UST MEC constructed posters for viewers to have a fuller grasp of Our Lady’s history.
Mixed media art pieces of the Blessed Mother by College of Fine Arts and Design alumnus Owen Los Baños are also noteworthy for the museum director, who had mentored Los Baños back when he was still a student.
“You can see the images [were] very tiny, miniature, very difficult to make. The skill was there,” Fr. Abaño said. “I have not yet found anyone who can make the same.”
The exhibit will be displayed in the Main Gallery of the UST Museum until October 14, a day after the anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima.####
