Visit of the Youth Cross and Blood Relic of St. Pope John Paul II


The Youth Cross and the Blood Relic of St. Pope John Paul II will grace the Thomasian community on May 15 and 16, 2019.

Upon its arrival on May 15, the relic will be paraded from the Arch of the Centuries to the UST Martyr’s Monument starting 2:00 p.m. The liturgy will follow suit.

Moreover, the Solemn Mass in honor of St. Pope John Paul II will start at 5 p.m. at the Santísimo Rosario Parish. The Vice-Rector for Religious Affairs Rev. Fr. Pablo T. Tiong, O.P. will be the main celebrant, while former Rector Rev. Fr. Rolando V. de la Rosa, O.P., PhD, SThD, will deliver the homily.

It was during Fr. Dela Rosa’s rectorship when St. Pope John Paull II visited the University to deliver his World Youth Day message in 1995.

After the Mass, the relic will be paraded to the Main Building canopy for public veneration, while the Youth Vocation Festival will take place at the Plaza Mayor.

The relic will return to the Santisimo Rosario Parish for the 9:15 p.m. Mass, and public veneration will resume at 11 p.m.


Rite of Farewell

On May 16, 2019, the public veneration of the relic will start after the regular morning masses at the Santisimo Rosario Parish and will end at 11 a.m. to give way to the farewell mass.

The relic is a vial that contains the saint’s blood, still in liquid form, which was extracted in 2005 before the saint’s passing.

Only seven vials exist, kept in Churches around the world.

This event was organized by the Center for Campus Ministry.


#PopeJohnPaulII

UST Miguel de Benavides Library to host turnover ceremony of Antonio M. Molina’s collection

The UST Miguel de Benavides Library will host the turnover ceremonies of Antonio M. Molina’s collection on May 2, 2019, at 10 a.m. at the Miguel de Benavides Library Conference Hall. In commemoration of his 100th birth anniversary, Molina’s collection of historical papers and other important works will be turned over by his family to the University, which he served for many years.

Aside from being a historian and educator, Molina served as the Dean of the Faculty of Civil Law from 1960 to 1966. Moreover, he served as the Director of the Institute of History from 1967 to 1970, and Vice-Rector for External Affairs from 1968 to 1970.

Diplomat-lawyer Antonio Molina’s collection donated to UST to commemorate birth centenary

On May 2, 2019, the University of Santo Tomas Miguel de Benavides Library received the personal library collection of noted historian, diplomat, lawyer, polyglot, and educator Antonio Molina, for Civil Law Dean and Secretary-General of the University.

The donation, which was held on the occasion of Molina’s 100th birth anniversary, comprised over 1,000 books that were housed in the family’s homes in Madrid and the Philippines.

The books are “home”
In his remarks, UST Rector Fr. Herminio V. Dagohoy, O.P., PhD represented the Thomasian community in memorializing the legacy of Dean Molina, who was one of the last lay Secretaries-General of the University. “To be the Secretary-General of the University is something remarkable for a lay person, and we thank Dean Molina for his love, loyalty, and service to UST,” Fr. Dagohoy said.

In the same message, the Rector thanked the kin of Dean Molina for choosing the UST Miguel de Benavides Library as the recipient of the personal collection. “With boldness, I can say, the books are ‘home,’” Fr. Dagohoy added.

Someone to look up to
Faculty of Civil Law Dean Atty. Nilo T. Divina, Ll. B. heaped praises on his predecessor, saying that with Dean Molina’s accolades, he is, indeed, someone whom Thomasian lawyers can look up to.

Quoting former Civil Law Dean Augusto K. Aligada, Divina called Molina a “man of this world, for he was a cultured man who loved learning.” Divina pledged that a memorial lecture will be held by the Faculty of Civil Law in Molina’s honor.

Our father’s affection for UST
The Molina family was represented by Ms. Carmen G.A. Molina, who said the event was “steeped in wonderful memories.” Paying tribute to UST, where all the Molina children were born and whose halls the children frequented on days when they waited for Dean Molina to finish work, Molina explained why UST was chosen as the beneficiary for the collection.

“My father’s deep affection for UST as well as his commitment to scholarly work and quality education [are the reason why] my siblings and I donate his personal library to UST,” Molina said. “We hope that his books will be an enduring and tangible expression of our father’s devotion to UST.

“The books in my father’s personal library are reflections of man.” she said.

The life of Dean Molina on exhibit
The Miguel de Benavides Library also mounted an exhibit in Molina’s honor, showcasing the many facets of the well-lived life of the former Dean. The exhibit will be open to Thomasians until May 15. It contains some of the books that have been donated, as well as personal memorabilia like the UST Professorial Medal and the Presidential Medal given to Molina by former President Corazon Aquino. The exhibition showcased Molina’s formative years as a Thomasian historian, writer, educator, administrator, and diplomat.

Molina, born 1918, earned his Law degree from UST in 1940, and returned six years later to begin what will be a twenty-four-year career in UST, where he was also Director of the Institute of History and Vice-Rector for External Affairs from 1968-1970.

Traditional Romanian Music and Dance Ensemble thrills students, faculty of UST

Traditional Romanian Music and Dance Ensemble thrills students, faculty of UST The Embassy of Romania in the Philippines, in close partnership with the University of Santo Tomas through the Office of Public Affairs, held a concert featuring the
“Traditional Romanian Music and Dance Ensemble of the Transilvania University in Brasov (UniTBv)” on April 12, 2019 at the UST Medicine Auditorium.

Gracing the event was the Head of Mission of the Embassy of Romania in the Philippines Mr. Mihael Sion. The Ensemble includes students and faculty members of mixed disciplines, with performers not only from the UniTBv Faculty of Music, but its Departments of
Engineering and the Humanities. Part of their repertoire is the sorrow chanting called doina, traditional Christmas carols, and Romanian dances and suites from the various regions of Romania, such as Jocul fecioresc (The Lads’ Dance), a festive jig done on weddings and special holidays, and Călușul, a fast folk dance which was included on the list of UNESCO Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritages of Humanity in 2005. The Ensemble has performed not only in Romania and the nearby European countries, but also in China, Sri Lanka, Israel, Cuba, Mexico, and now the Philippines.

In turn, the University presented Philippine folk dances performed by the Sayaw Sining (Art of Dance) of the UST Senior High School. Following the concert, an interaction was held between the Transilvania University in Brasov delegation, composed of 12 administrative and academic officials, including its Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Liliana Marcela Rogozea, and President of Senate Prof. Dr. Mircea-Horia Tierean, and corresponding administrative and academic officials from the University of Santo Tomas.

After 20 years: inggô 1587 performs again at UST Museum

When people started arriving at the UST Museum some 30 minutes before the concert of inggô 1587, on March 15, 2019, people who came seemed to know each other that even before they would find their seats, they would first look around as if scouring for a familiar face, and when they do, their faces lighten up and they exchange ‘Hi’s’ and ‘Hello’s.’

In an audience of mixed age groups, the excitement to hear the music of these seven Dominican friars was palpable inside the Gallery of the UST Museum. When the lights went off, the three TV monitors took on the job: they showed videos of the advocacies of the singing
Dominicans, including the happy faces of the young beneficiaries of the Camiguin de Babuyanes in the far north of the Philippines. There were video clips that show other projects that the Dominican Fathers are engaged in. Nostalgia filled the air when video snippets showed them in their previous concerts which were mostly fund-raising gigs together with their audience or ‘fans’ and everybody was just having a good time… just having a good time… and so were these men in white who were evangelizing through their music.

Then the concert began.

Garbed in their white Dominican habits the seven singing priests claimed center stage: Fr. Isidro (Fr. Didoy) Abaño, O.P., flutist, Fr. Giuseppe (Fr. Jepoy) Arsciwals, O.P., keyboardist, Fr. Filemon (Fr. Deng) dela Cruz, Jr., O.P., drummer, Fr. Napoleon (Fr. Nap) Encarnacion, O.P., vocalist and percussionist, Fr. Oscar Novem (Fr. Auckhs) Enjaynes, O.P., lead guitarist, Fr. Jose Martin (Fr. Joemar) Sibug, O.P., rhythm guitarist, Fr. Dennis (Fr. Dennis) Maquiraya, O.P., bass guitarist.

In between performances were spiels. And the banter among the performers was casual, humorous and natural, after all, they are brothers. This connected them more to their audience. They joked about their looks 20 years after they first performed in the same venue,
the UST Museum.

In 1998, a group of seven young priests who loved music formed a band in the hope that through their songs, they would be able to “communicate God’s healing Word to a world wounded by division, and that they (listeners to their music) would also be touched the way that they (inggô members) were touched. They called themselves “inggô 1587” a Filipino nickname for one named Domingo, which is the name of the founder of the Dominican Order, Santo Domingo de Guzman. The “1587”in the band’s name is the year that the Dominicans set foot on Philippine soil. Serious as they were in the craft and mission of being a ‘preaching band,’ they would meet once a week to rehearse despite the fact that they would come from different places such as Laguna, where Fr. Dennis was director of aspirants.
And theirs is a story of mission and persuasion.

Their love for playing music as a band and writing their songs inspired by the gospel have resulted in fund-raising concerts, particularly to build churches, and from their album sales, to help support the education of seminarians.
The band has produced two albums, the first was a self-titled album in 2002 and the second was Lead Me On, produced in 2017. The latter won the Best Inspirational Album award in the 2018 Catholic Mass Media Awards.

Although most of the songs in the band’s repertoire are gospel music, they also sing pop, R&B, OPM, the one that means ‘Original Pilipino Music’ (because in the inggô 1587 parlance, OPM stands for OPMusik, their music label) and their original compositions. The
secular songs that they perform are those that inspire and convey a positive message.

For almost two hours, on that Friday evening at the UST Museum, friends and followers of inggô 1587 listened to them and sang with them, too, particularly when Fr. Jepoy and Fr. Nap prodded them. The audience was just as thrilled to oblige. Arms were swaying, hands were clapping and audience’s voices were reverberating with gusto. The audience knew inggô songs by heart.

Some of the evening’s songs included ‘This is the Day,’ ‘Kailan Lamang,’’ Nothing Can Separate Us,’ ‘Sing Hallelujah,’ ‘Lead Me On,’ ‘I’ll Always Be There,’ ‘Hanggang sa Dulo,’ and the finale, rather the encore song, ‘Friend of God.’ But Fr. Nap’s rendition of the 1967 Bee Gees hit song ‘To Love Somebody’ brought the house down, especially when he went to the audience making them sing the part ‘…to love somebody…to love somebody… the way I love you.’

The concert, according to the invitation, was a ‘Thanksgiving Concert.’ The singing men in cloth decided to hold this concert 20 years later in the same venue to thank their followers. Maybe, their solid followers, particularly those from UST, were just as thankful. It has been a while since they performed to their Thomasian fans. That evening was not only a musical experience, it was also a realization that evangelization through music is possible. And that is what inggô 1587 concerts are all about.