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Exhibit on Catholicism in the NMI opens today
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Posted on Jan 12 2005
The CNMI Museum of History and Culture opens an exhibit today that focuses on the dominance of Catholicism in the Northern Marianas, with a special section devoted to the 20th year anniversary of Bishop Tomas A. Camacho’s assumption to the episcopacy.
Entitled “Influence of Catholicism in the Marianas,” the exhibit will open at 10am today.
Catholicism has been the prevailing religion on the island from the Spanish era to the German era through the Japanese era and the present.
Exhibit curator Noel B. Quitugua, together with museum management and staff, put together a collage of old and rare photographs extracted from books, and mounted matte illustrations and informational text to showcase the dominance of Catholicism on Saipan. The museum also gathered antiques such as candleholders, altar lamps, bells, basins, and other items, some of which were provided by the church.
The exhibit also lists down the Jesuits who came to the island from 1668 to 1769, from Padre Diego Luis de Sanvitores, 1668–1672, all the way to Padre Rafael Canica, 1760–1769. This list is based on church documents.
Another highlight of this exhibit would the old and dilapidated baptismal book that contains baptismal records from 1878 to 1905. This handwritten record book had been passed on from one bishop to another and was recently given to the museum for custody. This book was hidden and kept safe during World War II.
The museum would allocate panels that would describe the religion per period. One panel would be for the Spanish era, next would be for the German era, another for the Japanese, followed by the interment camp period during and after the war under the Americans, up to the present year.
“This year is dedicated to Bishop Tomas Camacho,” Quitugua said, as he showed the room where displays related to the bishop’s contribution to Catholicism would be mounted. The bigger area would also contain information related to the bishop.
The public is invited to attend and witness the opening of the exhibit, which will run three months starting today. Admission is free. For inquiry, call NMI Museum of History and Culture office at 664-2160 to 64. (Marconi Calindas)
