Church officials seek NCCA help for lost icons
DUPAX DEL SUR, Nueva Vizcaya (16 October) -- Church officials of the diocese of Bayombong covering the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino called on the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) to help in its on-going search for a missing religious image dating back to the 18th century.
Fr. Romulo Felix, chancellor of the Bayombong diocese said the image of St. Vincent Ferrer, patron saint of this province’s oldest town has been stolen from this town’s Catholic Church in May.
Local church officials and parishioners said the two-foot tall Saint Vincent Ferrer statue was made only of concrete. The relic was believed to have been made in 1767, simultaneously with the construction of the church, the oldest in Nueva Vizcaya.
But the NCCA earlier declared the Saint Vincent Ferrer Church, also one of the oldest Catholic Churches in Northern Luzon, as one of the country’s cultural treasures.
Police officials expressed suspicion of an inside job but church officials claimed the religious icon could have been taken by anybody using a ladder or just standing on top of a truck. (PIA NVizcaya) [top]
