File:Calasiao3jf.JPG

English: Good Friday, April 6, 2012 - The statue of the Señor Divino Tesoro[1] which clearly shows the mysterious, Divine lights caught by the Sony camera: notice the lowest part of the cross showing the lights.

[The Señor Divino Tesoro Story (Señor Divino Tesoro Shrine, Calasiao, Pangasinan) The most divine image of our Lord Jesus Crucified, popularly known by its devotes as “Sr. Divino Tesoro” is venerated not by the towns people of Calasiao alone, but by people of all walks of life- young and old, rich and poor, from far and near. So many are recipients of His Divine help and uncountable blessings; so many have received answers to prayers and supplications. The venerable image, was owned and treasured by a certain Don Francisco Paramio, a resident of Calasiao, Pangasinan. A childless widower, Don Francisco live alone for ten years in is nipa house, with only the venerated image of Sr. Divino Tesoro for companion. Despite a hand –too-mouth existence, Don Francisco devoted precious time and care for the “Image”. Come rain or stormy weather , nothing befell him and. Divino Tesoro. The vey corners of his dwelling where he sheltered the image was never blemished despite all odds. In the year 1837, on the month of April during the administration of Kapitan Domingo Corpuz, a carpenter named Joaquin Fernandez and a neighbor of Don Francisco’s witnessed a very strange incident. One day, on the same month, there was a strong, heavy rain accompanied by gusty winds that almost completely detached the nipa shingle roofing of Don Francisco’s house. Joaquin thought of inspecting the image and to his surprise and complete disbelief , he found the image with no sign or tress of wetness. Considering what happen as almost unbelievable and accepting it to be miracle, he intended to take the image to his house, thinking that it was under his care. Whatever transpired within his inner thought the next few minutes, he altogether changed his intension. He decided not to transfer the Sr. Divino Tesoro after all. There was strange feeling and message, a whisper it seemed, Joaquin later claimed, that the image wanted to stay where He was. The next day. Joaquin related the incident to the Gobernadorcillo (highest town official during the Spanish regime). Without delay, the Gobernadorcillo ordered a certain “aguacil”.(peace officer) named Thomas, with the help of Joaquin, to take the image to the Tribunal (municipal hall). The Tribunal, Gobernadorcillo believed, should be the abode of Sr. Divino Tesoro, to serves as the patron saint of Calasiao. Later on the image was taken from Tribunal to Ibale (old vernacular term for Manila) for much needed reprinting.

After the work on the image was finished, the Sr. Divino Tesoro was returned from Ibale to Dagupan via the railroad company. At that times, the railroad was Dagupan, there was no railroad terminal at Calasiao. From Dagupan, the image was transferred to a careton (cart) drawn by a carabao for eventual return to the Tribunal of Calasio. The careton was then the only feasible means of transportation. About half kilometer away from the town proper of Calasio, so the story goes, without any cause or provocation , the carabao went wild and uncontrollable, so much so that the person steering the carabao was thrown over rendering him unconscious for some time. Regaining his senses later, the “cochero” found to his consternation that the cart was nowhere around only to be informed by bystanders that the rider-less carabao-drawn cart went its way through a very narrow path leading to the school site near Tribunal. The school site referred to is now the block where the present municipal nursery and concrete basketball court are located. The image was finally brought to the Tribunal, to stay there year after year until it was transferred to its present shrine . This span of time is exactly one hundred fifty years. It is a common belief that the Señor Divino Tesoro does not like to be removed from the Municipal building making it at first the patron saint of the Municipal Government of Calasio, thus it feast comes/ and goes unnoticed with only a novena or celebration. Numerous attempts had been made to transfer the image avail. There was a time when a chapel was being constructed near the municipal building- laborer engage in said construction fell from roofing causing his sudden death. Believing that the death of the laborer was a bad omen, the construction was temporary stopped. Again the construction resumes, after a few months when the chapel was almost ready for occupancy, a strong storm totally blew down the galvanized iron roofing sheets to everybody’s surprise and wonder. Sometime during World War II at midday a conflagration was raging violently in the Poblacion. The image at that time was temporarily moved to the Roman Catholic Church for the offering of a thanksgiving mass, a devotee of the image thought of bringing out the image with assistance of other people. The image on its carriage was made to face the western side of the church (New Tesoro Street) direction of the area where fire was fast spreading towards a cluster of residential houses. Suddenly as if an unseen wall had acted as a barrier and had made the wind veered and changed its direction. The fire was placed under control immediately saving plenty of families from being rendered homeless. During the landing of American Liberation Forces in 1945 there was a continuous barrage of artillery shelling and air bombings showered along the coastal areas of Lingayen gulf reaching the municipality of Calasiao. The municipal hall where the Señor Divino Tesoro image was sheltered remained unscratched despite bombs all around except for an artillery missile that tore through the roofing and got embedded in the ground without actually exploding. Bombs that fell and explode in the vicinity of Poblacion killed some people. Again, during the early part of martial law, a concrete cantilever roofing was made in the stage of the plaza in front of the municipal building to temporary house the image of Señor Diviso Tesoro but wonders of wonders, for a day or two before the transfer of the image, the finished concrete structure collapsed in a slow motion manner. After a couple of months with only a handful of financial resources realized from the Town Fiesta that had passed and from the money donations of the faithful devotees of the holy image Mayor Feliciano E. Ugay begun the progressive construction of the new and present grandeur by administrations of Mayor Camelito T. Sison and by the president administration of Mayor Felipe P. De Vera, Jr. the town suffered much from the killer earthquake of July 16,1990, (4:23 p.m. of the daylight savings time of President Corazon C. Aquino). The Roman Catholic Church and its belfry, was destroyed, the Calasiao Public Market and the Gabaldon Building of the Calasiao Central pilot School was totally damaged beyond repair, many buildings and houses were not spared from the havoc brought by the earthquake but the Municipal Building where the Señor Divino Shrine is located and which is within the fault line of the earthquake was spared.

Many devotees can bear witness to many graces and answers to prayers received by them which are considered miraculous in nature through the aid of Señor Divino Tesoro, so numerous and varied and so widespread are the rewards of the devotion to the divine image that many people from far and near including Manila flock to Calasiao to worship Señor Divino Tesoro, our Lord Jesus Crucified. It is on Patron Saint’s Sts. Peter and Paul is celebrated on June 28-29 wherein the Town of Calasiao is almost and always flooded that the feast of Señor Divino Tesoro on May 2-3 was celebrated as the town’s fiesta and as a merry making, to give due respect, honor and thanksgiving to God almighty for the years bountiful blessings and harvest.]