Information update, August 23, 2024: Santera Virginia Maria Romero was asked in
2009 by Reverend Richard Catanach, Rector of the Basilica of San Albino, to create a
retablo to commemorate the newly designated Basilica of San Albino by His Holiness
Pope Benedict XVI. Upon completion, this retablo, San Albino Basilica, on loan by the
artist to the Basilica was placed inside a specially built vitrine to protect the Retablo and
displayed in its designated location inside the Basilica on a prominent wall behind the
back pews. Several years later, sometime after 2017, the Basilica’s Reverend
Christopher Williams had this Retablo removed from the protective vitrine and moved
from its original location. The Retablo was then moved inside the Basilica’s crying-room
above a doorway where it remained until sometime after February 21, 2024, when it
mysteriously went missing from the Basilica. No explanation of its whereabouts have
been provided to the artist, Virginia Maria Romero, who created and loaned this Retablo
to the Basilica of San Albino.
