Bigger museum for Camomot

CEBU, Philippines - A new and bigger devotional museum reliving the life and virtues of  Monsignor Teofilo Camomot will open this Friday, the 103rd birthday of the late Cebuano prelate.

The museum is located beside the convent of the Daughters of Mother Teresa, a congregation he founded, in Valladolid, Carcar City, Cebu.

Father Brian Brigoli, museum director, said the ongoing project was a “response” to the growing devotion of the Catholic faithful, especially after many has affirmed that their prayers were answered after they prayed to him.

Brigoli said that the growing devotion to Camomot gave birth to the idea of building a bigger museum, which would house his personal effects and collections so people would know more about his life and his wondrous deeds, drawing them closer to religiousness.

He said the museum, named Domus Teofilo, is unique as it would have a few valuable items related to the simple life and pastoral ministry of Archbishop Camomot. He explained that Domus is Latin for house.

The museum, though, is not just a house as a dwelling place but a structure that allows people to enter the life of Archbishop Camomot for them to more about his persona or his “inner dwelling.”

This, Brigoli said, is what guided them in establishing the museum for Camomot, who fondly called “Nyor Lolong.”

“Eventually his life, and the values that he lived in his life, would lead us to Jesus, the One who is inside his heart, the One who dwells in the person of Nyor Lolong. He introduces us to the one that resides in him,” he said.

He said that the museum is expected to touch on the people’s devotion and faith so they would eventually become closer to God as they know more about Camomot’s life story and his apostolic works.

“After the viewers would visit the museum, there would be a sense of closeness to the life of Msgr. Camomot and most especially to the One he intercedes for us,” Brigoli said.

He said that whether they are searching for God or seeking for a deeper intimacy with the Lord, the people would find the museum an intercessory place where they may take refuge at.

“Through the intercession of Nyor Lolong, they will be guided to what they are truly looking for, the meaning in life, answers to their prayers and even, to be particular, the gift of healing to their illnesses,” Brigoli said.

He said that the growing number of visitors paying homage to Camomot made them realize that the small existing gallery would not be enough to accommodate them.

He said construction began five months ago; the groundbreaking ceremony being held during Camomot’s death anniversary on November 2016.

The soft opening of the museum is scheduled this Friday, Camomot’s 103rd birthday.

Brigoli, though, said not all of the seven galleries, including a chapel inside the museum, would be ready this Friday, as only the first gallery, which would show the recreated room of the prelate, is expected to be ready for the soft opening.

He said the second gallery would show life accounts of Camomot and the many wonders that the Lord had done to him; the third would show many symbols of his “self-offering,” including his liturgical vestments and the sacred vessels he used during his priesthood; the fourth would display things associated with his healing, as testified by many individuals both here and abroad; the fifth gallery would allow visitors “to come into the inner person of Archbishop Camomot looking into his thoughts, his heart, his reflections and the beauty of his closeness to God” through his writings, reflections, homilies, among other works; the sixth gallery would exhibit testimonies on healing and favor granted through Camomot’s intercession. The seventh gallery would show a statue of Camomot that depicts his “self-giving” virtue.

“The need for the time is to have a bigger area for that collection… that is why this project was born of bringing the items, bringing the collections of the life and ministry of Nyor Lolong into this present project,” Brigoli said.

He considered the museum as crucial in propagating the devotion to Camomot to aid efforts to have him declared the third Filipino and second Visayan saint.

“The more people will know him, the better chance he would be declared a saint,” said Brigoli, , who created the museum’s curatorial design. (FREEMAN)