Tuesday, May 13, 2008

The Heart of an Artist

Cecilio Apostol has the heart of an artist. He carves, writes, and sings. Unlike most artist though,, and died in Caloocan in 1938. he does so with a noble purpose. He intended to use his art to obtain reform for his people.

Apostol was born in 1877. He got his formal education at the Ateneo de Manila and at the University of Sto. Tomas. He finally qualified himself as a lawyer but hardly practised his law profession. Instead, he worked for the government. He became a member of the Academia Filipina in 1924,and died in Caloocan in 1938.

Apostol's love for poetry was shown as early as 1895 when ''El Terror de los Mares IOndices'', appeared in El Comercio. Later, wrote for La Independencia, General Antonio Luna's revolutionary newspaper. For about twenty years, he wrote poetry, principally addressed to Filipino heroes and international celebrities, to celebrate important events.In some instances, Apostol would burst into song to celebrate Philippine scenes complied in 1950 contains some thirty-nine nationalistic poems.

Apostol likes to be alone most of the time. In a quite corner, he would carve out statues of heroes and reliefs of historic scenes. As an artist, Apostol favored the classics. In his poem in honor of Rizal, entitle, Al Heroe Nacional,Ap[ostol poured out his heart strongly. This poem is recognized today as the finest ever written in honor of the national hero.

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