Mission station in Capiz unveils distinctive painted retablo

At a time when gilding has become increasingly popular among priests and liturgical designers, a chapel in Dumarao, Capiz, offers a distinctive approach: A painted retablo mayor that draws on early sacred art and local devotion.

The retablo was recently unveiled at the Saint Joseph, Husband of Mary, Mission Station in Salcedo, in time for the third feast celebration honoring its second patron, Nuestra Señora del Santo Rosario (Our Lady of the Holy Rosary).

Created by visual artist and restorer Guy Custodio, the work was blessed on 7 October by Capiz Archbishop Victor Bendico, together with other priests from the archdiocese. It is said that the retablo is the first of its kind in the Visayas and Mindanao, and first in the country in terms of scale.

Custodio had previously created similar retablos for Sitio Remedios Heritage Village Resort in Currimao, Ilocos Norte, in 2013, dedicated to the Archangel Michael; Antequera, Bohol, in 2019, dedicated to the Santo Niño (Holy Infant Jesus); and the Pinto Art Museum and Arboretum in Antipolo City, Rizal, in 2025, dedicated to Saint Francis.

An indigenized approach

The Dumarao retablo is an ambitious work that recalls the medieval painted panels found in European churches while giving the form a local character.

Custodio created the work in Quezon, Palawan, before shipping it to Capiz in sections for assembly at the chapel.

“This retablo is not baroque grandeur. It is prayer on wood — oil on panels, the town’s patron saints painted as they would have been before gold arrived in volume,” Custodio said.

He explained that the work was conceived specifically for Dumarao: “It reconstructs what a Panay town retablo might have looked like in the late sixteenth century: painted, not carved; local, not imported; prayer on a plank.”

Taking almost two years to complete, the retablo offers an alternative to the heavily gilded designs often favored in new or revived church interiors. Its painted surfaces and locally grounded imagery give the chapel a character of its own.

Custodio describes the work as a “historical reconstruction, not just decoration.” He developed the concept with Father Glemil Albania.

Prayer in painted panels

The three-tiered retablo has a central niche for the chapel’s patron saint.

Its base consists of three panels, with the Lamb of God at the center, flanked by images of altar servers. The lower portion features depictions of Saint Joseph the Good Shepherd, Jesus as Savior of the World and San Isidro Labrador or Saint Isidore the Laborer.

Images of the Santo Niño and Nuestra Señora del Santo Rosario flank the central niche. Above it is the crucified Christ, with a depiction of the Holy Trinity crowning the composition.

Carved alerons, or decorative flanges, frame the ensemble, while finials rise at either end of its uppermost section.

Set against an avocado-green background, the painted retablo stands out in the chapel’s sanctuary, inviting attention to its images and the devotions they represent.