‘Grace’

A powerful, must-see piece of theater from beginning to end based on real-life events. Every move, every line in “Grace” could make you hold tight to whatever is left of your spiritual faith. There is something one cannot totally grasp but believes with absolute certainty to be true no matter what, who, and how. In the end, only faith remains.

For why should rose petals, some with the image of the Virgin Mary, fall from nowhere in a newly built monastery of contemplative Discalced Carmelite nuns where there are no machines, electricity, or personnel to stage a miracle? But that is getting ahead of the story.

One need not be an expert in supernatural and strange occurrences to be moved by “Grace,” a stage version (Encore Theater’s) of happenings in the Carmelite monastery in Lipa City circa 1948 and after. (Lipa Carmel is only one of more than 20 Carmels in the Philippines.) It is a story with similarities to apparition stories in other parts of the world but this one, as adapted for stage (at Ateneo’s Areté for its second run), has a distinct Filipino flavor thanks to the characters and the ingenious way it was written and directed.

“Grace” was written by noted veteran playwright Floy Quintos who passed away last April before “his last masterpiece” could be staged. Minimalist, it was deftly directed by Dexter Santos. Sans props, just one chair as needed, and white curtains as projection screen for images, newspaper reports, and photos of the true-to-life events and characters of that era. The rest is left to one’s imagination.

“Grace” is more than rose petals and the Virgin Mary appearing and giving messages to a young Carmelite postulant named Teresita Lat Castillo (Stella Cañete-Mendoza) and the feisty Mother Prioress Cecilia of Jesus (Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino) who stood by her sisters. Brace yourself. It is also about overbearing Roman Catholic Church authorities breathing down on “the little nuns” (as they are called with condescension), who stand their ground except one. Will they yield to coercion and belie what they have experienced?

Teresita speaks about the Marian revelations including China’s covetous glance on the Philippines. “Pray hard for China’s dream to invade the whole world. The Philippines is one of its favorites.” (This is in the records.)

I am very familiar with the Lipa story, have read the two books on it, and written about the issues a number of times over the years, visited the apparition site many times, spoken to nuns there. But watching it unfold on stage is altogether a different experience, thanks to the actors who breathe life into the characters. There is artistic license but only to enhance the story.

Is postulant Teresita hallucinating or not? Is the devil at work as her inquisitors would like to believe? Here is power play at work. Papal delegate Egidio Vagnozzi (the consummate thespian Leo Rialp)—overbearing, misogynist, racist—and future first Filipino cardinal Bishop Rufino Santos (Dennis Marasigan) are Teresita’s tormentors, protectors of the institutional church. Dominican Fr. Angel de Blas (Nelsito Gomez), assigned to evaluate Teresita’s sanity at the University of Santo Tomas hospital, and Bishop Alfredo, a composite of Bishops Alfredo Obviar and Alfredo Verzosa (Jojo Cayabyab) present their own findings and take a different position.

The play comes alive in the crisp dialogues, mostly in English and Filipino (with a Batangas accent, ala e) with interjections in Spanish and Latin.

Unseen are the devotees, growing in number and fervent in their faith in Mary Mediatrix of All Grace which is how she identified herself to Teresita. Soon a Marian image as Teresita had described Mary in the apparition is displayed to the chagrin of, who else?

A most trying time is still to come—for Teresita and Prioress Cecilia to sign and recant what they believe in, or else. A highly explosive moment there—power versus truth, holy obedience and humility in the face of authority. Where lies faith?

Then comes a series of cuts in the lives of the nuns who bravely take it all. Heartbreaking is an understatement. The play ends with Teresita, shorn of her religious habit, arms raised to heaven in prayer amid a torrent of real rose petals falling from above. Then a Marian procession.

Before the play, disclaimers were being announced repeatedly that the Lat-Castillo families and Lipa Carmel are not in any way involved in “Grace” or profiting from it. Good move because the Lipa Marian apparitions are again coming to the fore and as in the past, church biggies are declaring it “not supernatural in origin” even while devotion to Mary Mediatrix of All Grace continues to grow.

I was in Lipa Carmel some months ago where I chanced upon retired Lipa archbishop Ramon Arguelles at the monastery shop. It was he who bravely declared Mary Mediatrix of All Grace as “worthy of belief.” I asked about the church’s rigid stance. Said he in so many words: “Oh, it’s the people and their devotion to Mary that really matter.”

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