Region 6: Western Visayas ••• Negros Occidental •• Silay City

Chapel of St. Joseph the Worker

Victorias Milling Corporation, Victorias, Negros Occidental

North of Bacolod, and 34 kms. away is Victorias Milling Corporation. An integrated sugar mill and the only sugar refinery in Negros, the Victorias compound is a small town by itself. Outside the factories is the Chapel of St. Joseph the Worker. Standing on a wide open area, it is surrounded by houses for Victorias' personnel. Wanting to provide a chapel for the sugar mill personnel, in 1949 Victorias Milling commissioned the American firm Raymond and Rado to design a chapel of a community of about 3,000. As a precaution against earthquakes, the apse rests on foundations separate from the nave. The structure was completed in 1949 and the Belgian liturgical artist Ade de Bethuene was commissioned to plan the decoration of the baptistery and the exterior.

Heritage Features: Bethuene opted for mosaic using broken glass gathered by the residents of the mill. For the baptistery she depicted Jesus' baptism at the Jordan, and for the facade showed three scenes from the life of St. Joseph, namely, the marriage to Mary, the workshop at Nazareth, and the death of Joseph. For the sides other scenes from the life of Joseph were depicted. Filipino artisans were employed to work on the church: Benjamin Valenciano did the images of Mary and Joseph, the crucifix and the Stations of the Cross. Arcadio Anore executed Bethuene's designs for the brass plates decorating the pulpit, baptistery and other parts of the church. The apse was painted in ethyl silicate 40 by Alfonso Ossorio who depicted the Trinity in its role in saving humanity. The Son with flaming heart sits triumphant over a snake and skull, symbols of sin and death. Angels with multicolored wings blow trumpets as for Judgment Day. The Holy Spirit descends as a dove and faithful witnesses to this scene are John the Evangelist and Moses and Joseph and Mary. Flame-like drops fill the mural investing it with a feeling of frenzy and violent movement. For this reason, the Christ, staring straight at the congregation has been dubbed "The Angry Christ."

When the Victorias chapel was finally finished, it created a stir in religious circles, some calling the decorations inappropriate, because in no church, thus far, had traditional Biblical and religious themes been given consciously and deliberately a modern Filipino face. Fifty years after its completion, the Victorias chapel has become a touchstone in the development of Philippine Christian iconography, its principal artists De Bethune and Ossorio recognized internationally. The chapel was featured in a Life Magazine article. Victorias chapel is a good example that heritage need not be very old.