Hot Spot # 3: Angry Christ Mural

See the “Angry Christ” mural, a world-famed liturgical art masterpiece done by Alfonso Ossorio, artist-son of VMC founder Don Miguel Ossorio. It is located inside the church of St. Joseph the Worker. The “Angry Christ” shows craggy- faced Christ in bold primary colors.What attracted the attention of many was the central painting of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with the full-length image of a seated Christ with laterally-outstretched arms, being received by two giant red-orange hands. Depicted at the lower right side of Christ from the viewers’ perspective is the image of Saint Joseph with the Blessed Virgin Mary, while at the left side is the image of Saint John the Evangelist with Moses. 

The rendition of this mural is nowhere near the traditional, conventional iconography that was, and still is, the norm in the Roman Catholic Church. For generations, religious icons were usually presented with sculptures of Christ, the Holy Family, or patron saints enshrined in a multi-level altar, or simply a presentation in two- or three-dimensional form of a straightforward crucified Christ.