Siete Palabras, showcase of Filipino culture and faith, on April 6

A Filipino Dominican leading the faithful in prayer during Siete Palabras

The annual Siete Palabras at the historic Santo Domingo Church in Quezon City, which has become a key Lenten broadcast on Philippine TV, will be on Good Friday, April 6.

2-volume UST history charts evolution of higher education in the Philippines

Published by the UST Publishing House, the two-volume “A History of the University of Santo Tomas: Four Centuries of Higher Education in the Philippines (1611-2011)” by the highly respected Spanish Dominican historian Fr. Fidel Villarroel, OP promise to become the most comprehensive and most definitive yet of UST, Asia’s oldest university.

Because of their scope and exhaustiveness, the history books are also a veritable history of education in the Philippines.

In the book, Father Villarroel, who systematized the UST Archives and is mentor to several historians and researchers, corrects a number of “faulty” items of history.

UST collection of ancient scripts in ‘baybayin’ syllabary shown to public

Photos of some historical treasures of the University of Santo Tomas

“DOCTRINA Christiana,” printed by the Dominicans in 1593, contains the ancient Philippine alphabet. At left, a sample of the baybayin syllabary from an ancient legal document at the UST Archives.

Formal archives education needed for heritage conservation

Prof. Jian Wang of the Renmin University

 Local archivists and other record-keepers have committed to advance records management in the country while stressing the need to professionalize records-keeping by formal archives education upon the conclusion of the 2nd National Archives Congress, Dec. 8-9, at the Colegio de San Agustin (CSA) in Bacolod City.

The meeting of some 165 archivists, librarians, university and college registrars,  and representatives from the business sector from around the country pointed several concerns, such as the lack of qualified professionals who could ably handle valuable documents.

For one, they called for “the inclusion of records and archives management in the general subjects or curriculum for undergraduate courses.”

The congress delegates also urged “collaboration between archival institutions here and abroad” and the “formulation and approval of a curriculum for archival studies.”

Dominican Missal to be launched; school of theology and homiletics established

The Dominican Province of the Philippines (DPP) will launch the Dominican Missal and Lectionary on Dec. 8, 5 p.m., at the Institute of Preaching-Philippine Dominican Center of Institutional Studies (IP-PDCIS) Bldg., Sto. Domingo Church, Quezon City.

The book is being launched in connection with the feast of the Immaculate Conception as well as the 40th anniversary of the DPP.

Shrine for Christ’s Precursor in Lian, Batangas, inaugurated

Facade of the Parish of St. John the Baptist in Lian, Batangas. Photo by Lester Babiera

He may already be tired and bruised from visiting almost every home in Lian, Batangas, and neighboring towns, but his charisma, which endears him to the faithful, is far from fading.

Such is how Archbishop Ramon Arguelles of the Archdiocese of Lipa described Lian’s patron, St. John the Baptist, in his homily last Aug. 29 after the official declaration of the very first shrine of the Precursor of Christ.

La Naval’s 76-year-old pipe organ to be restored

The historic musical instrument at Sto. Domingo.

The Shrine of Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario, La Naval de Manila, at Santo Domingo Church features a musical masterpiece with much historical value—the 76-year-old organ that makes use of over a thousand pipes. The musical instrument, a cultural heritage, is set to undergo restoration.

To raise funds for the expensive restoration, the officials of the shrine, headed by Fr. Giuseppe Pietro V. Arsciwals, OP, launched the adopt-a-pipe project.

The cost to  complete the project amounts to P3.5 million. The Diego Cera Organbuilders, Inc., curator of the world-famous bamboo organ of Las Piñas, has been commissioned to execute the restoration.

Antonio Hila, historian and former choirmaster of the Tiples de Santo Domingo (1987 2000), the Philippines’ oldest boys choir, says the restoration is a must.

“It’s about time [to restore the organ],” he explains. “For a church as big as Santo Domingo Church, we need that organ for the massive sound that would accompany the choirs so that the music would be more appreciated.”