Boise's Basque Museum receives relief of Biscay saint Berrio-Ochoa

Nationally-recognized Basque-American artist Dennis Berriochoa Downes donated a bronze high relief sculpture to the Basque Museum & Cultural Center on Boise's Basque Block on Friday, as part of a ceremony to mark the start of the week's San Inazio celebrations.

Boise residents joined local and state leaders, as well as members of the Basque community, to celebrate the life of Saint Valentin Berrio-Ochoa, patron saint of Biscay.

The Museum received from Berriochoa Downes the gift of a high relief bronze sculpture of the saint's likeness.

Born in 1827 in the town of Elorrio in the Basque Country, Valentin Berrio-Ochoa entered the Dominican order of priests and set out for Asia to fulfill his life work. He was later ordained a bishop in Ninh-Cuong Vietnam.

In 1861, he was beheaded in Vietnam, along with 116 other martyrs, for refusing to renounce Jesus. Pope Jean Paul II canonized him as Saint Valentin Berrio-Ochoa in 1988 in which a select group of Berriochoa descendents from Idaho were in attendance.

Dennis Berriochoa Downes, the artist, is a descendent of the martyred saint. The main body of his work has been inspired by research trips to ancient sites and to natural wonders across the Great Lakes Region and Beyond. He has participated in over 100 solo, juried, public and private shows in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom over the past 25 years.

The Basque Museum & Cultural Center is a non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve, to promote, and to perpetuate Basque history and culture. The bronze sculpture will be incorporated into the exhibit currently on display at the Basque Museum & Cultural Center in Boise, Idaho, "Hidden in Plain Sight: The Basques."