Photography of Fr. Bernard Darke, SJ

     
GUYANA, 1969, 60 years of scouting in Guyana & the 3rd Caribbean Scout Jamboree, Scott 95-99
The stamps were based on photographs taken by Father Darke who was involved in the youth movement.
17 heavily overprinted stamps were issued in 1981-1988 as in the example.

In 1976 the then Prime Minister of Guyana, Forbes Burnham, confiscated all Church-run schools. Those who resisted his dictatorship suffered persecution. On July 14, 1979 while photographing a protest march for the diocesan newspaper, the Catholic Standard, Fr. Bernard Darke, SJ (1925-1979), was stabbed to death in broad daylight. He and the Working People's Alliance (WPA) party leader Walter Rodney, murdered in June 1980, are considered the two main political assassinations of the Burnham regime. The Standard and its editor, Fr. Andrew Morrison, SJ, played a significant role in the struggle to restore democracy in Guyana until the free elections of 1992.

Jesuit Wood Carvings

The Immaculate Conception, wood carving from the Jesuit Missions
ARGENTINA, 1988, Scott B136b from St. Ignacio Mini souvenir sheet

These polychrome wood carvings, usually are refered to as talla Jesuitica or Jesuit carvings, are not done by Jesuits, but by indigenous artists during the Jesuit period and under their theological influence. The works, of varying though superior quality, have been collected especially in the museums at San Ignacio Guazú and Santa Maria de Fé in Paraguay.

  
PARAGUAY, 2002, the 25th anniversary of the Salazar Cultural Center, Scott 2688-9
18th century talla Jesuitica (Jesuit carvings) of The Pieta and St. Michael the Archangel

PARAGUAY, 2002, Christmas, Scott 2706
a se-tenant strip showing a 17th century Nativity set of talla Jesuitica
from the Museum of Santa Maria de Fé, Paraguay

 
PARAGUAY, 1956, the 4th centenary of his death, Scott 520,
2003, Ignatius and the ruins of the Trinity Mission from a se-tenant strip;
both stamps show the statue, San Ignacio de Loyola, from the Museum of San Ignacio Guazú

 
PARAGUAY, 2003, talla Jesuitica on the labels of a se-tenant strip, Scott 2677
The figure on the left label is the Angel in the Garden of Gethsemane
from the Museum of San Ignacio Guazú

 
PARAGUAY, 2004, 25th anniversary of the Museo del Barro, an 18th century Cristo de la Columna from the Jesuit Missions
2005, the stamp was overprinted to mark the death of Pope John Paul II

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