'Can you pray for my sick dog?'

The Holy Family with a Bird, Murillo, painted 1650.

I was in our parish church in Dublin this afternoon praying when I saw a young man of about 19 come in, kneel in the front pew for a couple of minutess, light a candle in front of the latar of the Blessed Virgin and then leave. I was thinking that it was a hopeful sign to see a young person do this. Indeed, yesterday at Sunday Mass, while the congregation at the Mass at 11am wasn't great, there were some young people present.

A few minutes latr thee young man came, approached me and told me his dog was sick. I wouldn't describe him as distressed but he was upset. I asked hiim how old his dog was and he said 'three'. He also gave me the dog's name, 'Sam'. I asked him if he had taken Sam to the vet. 'He's with him right now', he told me.

I mentioned two saints to the young man, whose name I asked but won't mention here, who had the gift of healing animals, St Francis and St Martin de Porres. (I'm not certain that St Francis actually healed them but many churches bless pets on his feast day). The young man was happy with this and went off. I prayed of him and for little Sam.



St Martin de Porres is sometimes depicted with a broom, a dog, cat, mouse and bird at his feet. He had the gift of healing persons and their animals, as the picture above suggests. (If the picture disappears click on the link. I'm not sure whether or not it's copyright but the link brings you to the source).Probably health authorities today in the West would be horrified to see animals outside a hospital ward!

Nativity with St Francis and St Lawrence, Caravaggio, painted 1609

Jesus, God who created animals, was born among some of them when he became Man. He gave them to us for different purposes, some of which aren't clear to me, eg, what are rats for? The Catechism of the Catholic Church, No 2416, reads: Animals are God's creatures. He surrounds them with his providential care. By their mere existence they bless him and give him glory. Thus men owe them kindness. We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St. Francis of Assisi or St. Philip Neri treated animals.

It also reminds us in No 2418, It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly. It is likewise unworthy to spend money on them that should as a priority go to the relief of human misery. One can love animals; one should not direct to them the affection due only to persons.

I don't think the young man I met this afternoon in our parish church was giving little Sam the affection due only to persons, but was showing proper respect for one of God's creatures for which he had taken responsibility. I hope that Sam recovers and continues for many years to 'bless God and give him glory' and that his young owner will come to know the same God's infinite love for him as one made in God's image and likeness.

 Statue of St Roch (San Roque) in Prague

I forgot to tell the young man about San Roque ['ROkay'], one of the most popular saints in the Philippines, who was nursed back to health by a dog after he had caught the plague. I remember once celebrating Mass during the novena in preparation for the feast of San Roque in the section of Cebu City where I was based at the time. All during the Mass a black cat sat quietly at my feet. At the end I said, 'San Roque has his dog and I have my cat!' Maybe St Martin de Porres was quietly present too



 



The hand - or paw? - of God

Lala and Hachi

I don't know if St Bruno, the founder of the Carthusians and whose feast it is today, had a dog. I know I associate his name with canines and I had an extraordinary experience with a dog named Bruno in the mid-1980s.

Bruno belonged to the retreat house of the University of San Carlos in Talamban, Cebu City. He was, as I recall, part-Labrador, or at least the size of one and liked to be around people. I was giving a directed retreat at the time and sometimes would meet with a retreatant outside, as the weather was quite hot. On occasion Bruno would come and put his front paws on my knees and, after I patted him and spoke a few friendly words, would wander off.

One night I couldn't sleep because of a very strong and unusual feeling of loneliness. Around midnight I went outside and sat on the low wall outside looking down on the lights of Cebu City. The retreat house is built on a hillside. I was telling God how sorry for myself I was feeling and suddenly felt something on my left shoulder. It was Bruno's right front paw, as if to tell me 'Hindi ka mag-iisa', You're not alone'. ('Hinda ka mag-iisa' is a Tagalog slogan that became very popular after the murder of Benigno Aquino Jr on the tarmac of Manila Airport in 1983).

I hadn't heard Bruno running across the grass and I truly believe that he had sensed my feeling of loneliness, which disappeared immediately after he joined me. I gave him a big hug, said 'thank you' to the Lord, went back to bed and slept peacefully.

I'm not sure if the chant in the first part of the video is sung by Carthusian nuns and that in the second part by Carthusian monks. 

You can find the official website of the Carthusian Order here.

St Bruno of Cologne (c.1030-1101) painted by José de Ribera (painted 1643)

A saint who lived in a pigsty

St Elizabeth of Hungary

St Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-1231), the patron saint of Franciscan Tertiaries (Secular Franciscans and members of the many religious congregations of the Franciscan Third Order). She was a princess, married at 14, mother of three, widowed at 20 and forced, with her children, out of their home in winter, finding herself living in a disused pigsty shown ot her by a kind shepherd.


St Elizabeth had an extraordinary love for the sick and the poor and built a hospital in Marburg, Germany, where she daily worked. She died at the age of 24 and was canonized four years later.

This remarkable woman, along with being patron of Third Order Franciscans, is also a patron of many other groups: Bakers; beggars; brides; Catholic charities; charitable societies; charitable workers; charities; countesses; death of children; exiles; falsely accused people; hoboes; homeless people; hospitals; in-law problems; lacemakers; lace workers; nursing homes; nursing services; people in exile; people ridiculed for their piety; Sisters of Mercy; Teutonic Knights; toothache; tramps; widows.

You can read more about her here.

From a letter by Conrad of Marburg, spiritual director of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary (used in the Office of Readings for the saint):

Elizabeth was a lifelong friend of the poor and gave herself entirely to relieving the hungry. She ordered that one of her castles should be converted into a hospital in which she gathered many of the weak and feeble. She generously gave alms to all who were in need, not only in that place but in all the territories of her husband’s empire. She spent all her own revenue from her husband’s four principalities, and finally she sold her luxurious possessions and rich clothes for the sake of the poor.


Twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, Elizabeth went to visit the sick. She personally cared for those who were particularly repulsive; to some she gave goods, to others clothing; some she carried on her own shoulders, and performed many other kindly services. Her husband, of happy memory, gladly approved of these charitable works. Finally, when her husband died, she sought the highest perfection; filled with tears, she implored me to let her beg for alms from door to door.


On Good Friday of that year, when the altars had been stripped, she laid her hands on the altar in a chapel in her own town, where she had established the Franciscan Friars Minor, and before witnesses she voluntarily renounced all worldly display and everything that our Savior in the gospel advises us to abandon. Even then she saw that she could still be distracted by the cares and worldly glory which had surrounded her while her husband was alive. Against my will she followed me to Marburg. Here in the town she built a hospice where she gathered together the weak and the feeble. There she attended the most wretched and contemptible at her own table.


Apart from those active good works, I declare before God that I have seldom seen a more contemplative woman.


Before her death I heard her confession. When I asked what should be done about her goods and possessions, she replied that anything which seemed to be hers belonged to the poor. She asked me to distribute everything except one worn-out dress in which she wished to be buried. When all this had been decided, she received the body of our Lord. Afterward, until vespers, she spoke often of the holiest things she had heard in sermons. Then, she devoutly commended to God all who were sitting near her, and as if falling into a gentle sleep, she died.

Saint Cory Aquino?

Listening to and watching Father Catalino Arevalo SJ giving the homily at the funeral Mass of Cory Aquino yesterday I realized that he was speaking about a person whom he really knew, as he had been her spiritual adviser and that of the Aquino family for many years. It was clear that he saw her as a person who followed Jesus Christ closely and willingly, especially in her suffering.
Yet he never referred to her as a saint. Sometimes homilies at funerals become eulogies that paint individuals as saintly when everyone knows that they weren't. Father Arevalo wasn't 'canonizing' Cory but showing us how she had tried to live the Christian life in her private life and, especially, in her public life, how she saw herself as one called to truly serve the people of the Philippines. If I recall, he spoke of her 'vocation' to be a public servant. He was really reminding all of us what we are called to be.

There is so much cynicism about politicians, much of it deserved, and there is a stench of corruption in the Philippines today that is even worse than it was during the Marcos years. Mrs Aquino brought a rare integrity to public life.

Father Arevalo recalled a meeting between Cory and the late Cardinal Stephen Kim of Seoul, Korea, a revered figure who died earlier this year and who is featured in the current Misyon:

Fr. Arevalo recalled the meeting between President Aquino and South Korea’s
Stephen Cardinal Kim and Manila Archbishop Jaime L. Cardinal Sin which lasted for 45 minutes.

“When we on our way back, Cardinal Kim said ‘I know why the Lord trusted her
with power at this most difficult time because she is pure of heart,” Fr.
Arevalo said quoting the Korean prelate.

He said Cardinal Kim said “He has no desire for power even now she
reluctantly took it on.”

“She truly moves me by the purity of her spirit. God has given a great gift
to your people,” Fr. Arevalo quoted Korean Cardinal Kim. (Melo M. Acuna).

In today's Philippine Daily Inquirer Ma. Ceres P. Doyo writes her Human Face column under the title 'Sainthood for Cory'. She put into words some of my own thoughts as I listened to Father Arevalo. She mentions one former president - of Tanzania, not the Philippines - whose cause for canonization is being pushed by the bishops of his country, Julius Nyerere. Like Cory, he left behind a mixed political legacy but his simplicity and integrity were very clear.

There are other 20th century politicians whose cause for beatification has been introduced, Alcide De Gasperi of Italy and Robert Schuman of France who, along with Konrad Adenauer of Germany established the European Economic Community of six nations which has grown into the 25-nation European Union. Schuman had a very personal connection with three of the original six members: he was born a German citizen in Luxwmoburg and alter became prime minister of France. he greatlyadmired St Columban. After World War II they never wanted to see war again in Europe. Each was driven by his Catholic faith, as Cory and Julius Nyerere were. Indeed there were others.

St Thomas More, the English martyr, is the patron saint of politicians, statesmen and lawyers.

This is not really the time to be asking whether or not Cory Aquino should ever be formally recognised as a saint. The Church very wisely asks us to wait at least five years. But there is no doubt whatever that Cory Aquino's illness and death have brought to our attention a true person of faith, a person who lived her faith in Jesus Christ both in her private life and in her public life and who endured great suffering in both.

Every Filipino and everyone living in the Philippines with eyes to see and ears to hear can adapt and make Cardinal Kim's words their own: 'She truly moved me by the purity of her spirit. God has given a great gift to our people'.

Do we take oaths too easily?

I learned just now from Catholic Culture that St Pancras, whom the Church honours today, is the patron saint of fidelity to oaths. he was martryred in Rome in 304 at the age of 14.

Here in the Philippines oaths are taken very lightly. A regular photo in newspapers is that of a politician or group of politicians being sworn in as members of their latest party. At school sports festivals children take an 'oath of amateurism'. Years ago, when I was a chaplain in a Catholic school I was asked to celebrate Mass for the opening of the games. I did so on condition that there would be no oath of amateuris. These were high school kids. The teacher in charge promised me that there wouldn't be an oath. hardly was the Mass finished than this same teacher led the students in their 'oath of amateurism'.

I was also a member of the committee of the diocesan directors of vocations and no less than than the bishop swore us in. I just remained silent as I didn't see it as proper.

I've been at countless graduation ceremonies in both public and Catholic schools here where the graduates, even at elementary level, swear their allegiance to the alumni association.

When my Columban colleagues, Fr Niall O'Brien and Fr Brian Gore, were on trial for trumped-up murder charges along with Fr Vicente Dangan of the Diocese of Bacolod, and six laymen, Church workers, lies were told freely in the court. Perjury meant nothing.

I see an oath or a vow as being made only on such solemn occasions as a wedding, a religious profession or on receiving the sacrament of holy orders, as well as when you give testimony in court or become president of your country. But not when you join an alumni association or your next political party. (Here in the Philippines political parties as understood in the West simply don't exist. They are temporary alliances of convenience).

Catholic Culture carries an excerpt from the writings of the late Fr Pius Parsch on St Pancras:

St Pancras or Pancratius was the descendant of a noble Phrygian family. As a youth of fourteen, he came to Rome while Diocletian and Maximian were in power (about 304). He was baptized by the Pope and given instructions in the Christian religion. Arrested for his action, he steadfastly refused to sacrifice to the pagan gods and was condemned to death. With manly courage, he bared his neck for the sword and received the martyr's crown. During the night his body was removed by the pious matron Octavilla, anointed with sweet smelling balsam and interred on the Via Aurelia.

Pancratius is the patron saint of fidelity to oaths. The basilica that Pope Symmachus erected over his remains about the year 500 later became a station church (since 1798 his relics have been lost). On the first Sunday after Easter the saint exhorted the catechumens gathered at his station church to remain loyal to their baptismal vows. The saint warns us to proceed slowly and prudently before taking an oath or vow. But once our word is given we must remain true to our pledge, true unto death itself, whether it concerns baptismal vows, ordination vows, profession vows, or marriage vows.

— Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch.

I had the full set of The Church's Year of Grace in my seminary years and it nourished me liturgically. It followed the calendar that was changed after Vatican II.

Father Damien to be canonised. Too many founder-saints?

Zenit reports that ten ‘blesseds’ will be canonised soon. The best known of the ten is Blessed Damien de Veuster SSCC (1840-1899), ‘Father Damien’, the Belgian priest who ministered to the lepers of Molokai, Hawaii, becoming a leper himself. When I was still in kindergarten in Stanhope Street, Dublin, Sister Margaret Stanislaus of the Irish Sisters of Charity, now known as the Religious Sisters of Charity , often spoke to us about Father Damien.

Seven of the ten founded religious congregations. I don't doubt in any way the Church's decision that these ten people are worthy of being called saints but I wonder if the Church hasn’t been canonising too many such people.

Is founding a religious congregation the predominant model of holiness?

Patron of Journalists and of the Deaf

Today is the feast of St Francis de Sales (1567-1622), Bishop and Doctor of the Church, patron of journalists and of the Deaf. So he is my patron on both counts, since I edit Misyon and have been working with the Deaf on a part-time basis since 1992 and frequently celebrate Mass in Sign Language. Above all, he was a man who lived the fulness of the priesthood as a bishop faithfully. Maybe he would be a blogger if he were around today.

The following information, which I found here , is the National Catholic Office for the Deaf, located in Washington, DC.

St Francis De Sales: Patron of the Deaf and Hearing-impaired

In 1605, an indigent young man named Martin, a deaf-mute from birth, came almost daily to a house in Roche, France, where Bishop de Sales was staying, to ask for alms. He was a strong young man fit for all kinds of work, and the Bishop's housekeeper often allowed him to help her in payment for the Bishop's generosity. One day a servant introduced Martin to the Bishop.

As a result of his handicap, Martin, who was about 25 years old, had never received any kind of education -- or instruction in the Catholic faith. (It was presumed by all of the educated people of that age, the 17th century, that a deaf-mute was a mentally handicapped person and that trying to educate or trying to communicate religios truths to such a person would be a waste of time.)
At the time of their meeting, St Francis de Sales was visibly disturbed and touched with pity for the unfortunate Martin. St Francis realized that the poor man would remain forever ignorant of God and the rich mysteries of the Faith and that his lack of instruction would forever keep him from receiving the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist.

After considering young Martin's deprived condition for a time, St. Francis determined that he would undertake the instruction of the young man.

By using signs that he formed with his hands and fingers, St Francis personally began to teach Martin about the Catholic Faith. Martin, as was soon clear, was highly intelligent and a very good pupil. After a period of time, through his gentle patience and persistence and with the signs and gestures he had invented for the purpose, St Francis succeeded in instructing Martin about God and His love for all men. All went so well that eventually Martin was able to receive the Holy Eucharist for the first time in 1606. Two years later, Martin was confirmed.

St Francis eventually hired Martin as his gardener and brought him along with him when he returned to his episcopal household in Annecy, France.

Martin's devotion to the Bishop of Geneva was second only to his devotion to God. Martin prayed fervently, examining his conscience every evening before retiring, regularly confessed his sins to the Bishop, and assisted devoutly at the Bishop's Mass whenever he could.

Sixteen years later, no one would be more affected by the death of St Francis de Sales than his faithful servant Martin, who would visit his master's last resting place almost every day until the day he himself died.

The above account uses a term that is not used anymore: 'deaf-mute'. As a literal matter of fact, people who are deaf aren't mute, since they have voices and many can learn to speak.

The word 'handicap' too isn't used much now but rather 'disability'. I don't like the term 'differently-abled'. It cannot hide the reality that a person who is deaf or blind, for example, does have a disability. Deaf people prefer the word 'Deaf', with a capital 'D' to describe themselves as a group. Being profoundly deaf from birth is different from becoming hearing-impaired from old age, for example.

Those of us who can see and hear tend to think that blindness is a greater disability than deafness. But deafness, whether from birth or coming with old age, is a disability that isolates in a way that blindness doesn't. Most deaf people here in the Philippines don't share a language even with their own family. And the only 'native signers' I know here are the hearing children of deaf parents.

St Francis saw how isolated Martin was and broke through that isolation.

A Poem of Purity: Blessed Laura Vicuña

Today is the feast of Blessed Laura Vicuña, a 12-year-old girl born in Chile on 5 April 1891 who died on this day in Argentina in 1904. I came across this article, by Fr John Murray, a parish priest in Belfast, in the Irish Messenger of the Sacred Heart and got permission to use it in Misyon. We printed it in January-February last year, our second-last printed issue.

Blessed Laura’s feast isn’t on the universal calendar of the Church but she is especially venerated by Salesians. The day before, 21 January, is the feast of another girl around the same age, St Agnes. I regularly celebrate Mass in Holy Family Home here in Bacolod, featured in the current issue of Misyon as A Safe Haven and last July-August as ‘A Child Redeemed is a Generation Saved’ . Some of the girls there can relate to the experience of Blessed Laura and so last year we had a combined celebration of both of these saintly young girls. We celebrated Mass in their honour again last evening.

The reality of two young women offering their lives for others out of their faith in Jesus, St Agnes as a martyr and Blessed Laura offering her life for the conversion of her mother, can speak to the heart of anyone open to the Gospel and is Good News for young persons who have suffered deeply. Our suffering doesn’t have to be useless or meaningless. The words of St Paul in Col 1:24 once hit my heart like an arrow straight from Jesus himself: Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. The lives and deaths of Agnes and Laura show the truth of this.

http://www.lauravicuna.com/ is the website of the Laura Vicuna Foundation, Inc, Manila.

'Above all things . . . preserve the Catholic, apostolic faith . . .'

St Stephen of Hungary, c.969 - 15 August 1038.

Today the Church honours St Stephen of Hungary, Szent István in Hungarian, though in the Philippines we celebrate San Roque ( previous post). Read about him here and here.

The Second Reading from the Office of Readings is an extract from a letter of the saint to his son Imre. Here are some quotes.

My dear son, if you would grace the kingly crown, I advise and counsel you above all things to preserve the Catholic, apostolic faith with such care that you may be an example to all the subjects given you by God, and all the clergy can say that you are truly a Christian. But if you fail to do this you may be certain that you cannot be called either a Christina or a son of the Church.

I wonder what he would think of 'Catholic' politicians who cling on to power at all costs, 'Catholic' politicians who promote abortion, with or without the fig leaf of 'I'm personally opposed . . .' I'm sure too that he would add 'or a daughter' to 'or a son' for those who profess not to know the difference between the inclusive and exclusive senses of certain words.

For this reason there is all the greater need for more prudent and evident watchfulness so that the great gift bestowed by the divine mercy on us, unworthy as we are, may not be destroyed and brought to nothing through your apathy, indolence and neglect.

Dear son, the joy of my heart,hope of generations yet to come, I pray you, nay, I command you, at all times, in all things, strengthened by your sense of duty, to be gracious, not only to your fmaily and kinsmen, to princes, noblemen, the rich, your neighbours, your countrymen, but also to strangers and to everyone who approaches you.

St Stephen clearly had a strong sense of everything being gift from God, something I'm becoming more and more conscious of, not only for the individual but for the community and for future generations. Pope Benedict asked the young people at WYD in Sydney what they'd pass on to the next generation. He has also spoken frequently about our need to respect creation itself as a gift from God, to be cared for so that we can hand on life to future generations.

Be patient with everyone, not only with the powerful, but also with the weak and feeble.

He would be very counter-cultural, as we say these days, by his final admonition to Prince Imre: Fly from all temptation to lust as you would from the stench of death.

The reading concludes: These are the virtues which crown a king. Unless he has them, no man is fit to rule here on earth or attain to the kingdom of heaven.

At present we have one 'Catholic' Robert Mugabe, who has brought his country, Zimbabwe, to its knees in an effort to cling on to power when he should be preparing to meet his Maker. Here in the Philippines President Gloria M. Arroyo parades her Catholic piety but under her corruption has become worse than even under the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, with no sense of shame whatever. There are signs, say many responsible commentators, that she is trying to cling on to power beyond 2010 when her term ends. We'll see.

St Stephen, King of Hungary and now its patron saint, lived 1000 years ago but we can learn from him - and pray to him for our rulers.

'San Roque has his dog but I have my cat'.

Today, 16 August, is a busy day for many priests in the Philippines, as it is the feast of San Roque or St Roch (Latin: Rochus; Catalan: Roc; Italian: Rocco; French: Roch; Spanish and Portuguese: Roque; German: Rochus). He was reputedly born around 1295 in Montpellier, France and died there, according to tradition, on 16 August 1327. Here in the Philippines he’s usually known by his Spanish name, San Roque, though liturgical books in English here call him ‘St Rock’. But nobody actually calls him that. He's also described in the Missal here as 'Healer'. Many parishes and communities have him as their patron.

You can read more about him here and here .

San Roque is kept quite busy in heaven as he’s the patron saint of dogs and those who love them and also of bachelors, surgeons, tile makers, falsely accused people, invalids and diseased cattle. He’s also invoked against epidemics, knee and skin problems, the plague and pestilence.

Images of San Roque usually show him with a wound above his knee, from the plague, and a dog carrying bread in its mouth. The legend is that when the saint was very ill from the plague in a cave or in a forest, the dog used to bring him bread every day. The owner happened to live in a nearby castle and followed the dog one day. When he found Roque he brought him home and nursed him back to health.

In the Philippines there is always a novena before the feast of the parish or community patron. Sometimes there’s a novena of Masses. On one occasion when I celebrated one of these Masses during the novena for today's saint I was quietly amused by the fact that a black and white cat sat quietly at the altar all through the liturgy. Before giving the final blessing I couldn’t resist saying ‘San Roque has his dog but I have my cat!’

It’s not at all uncommon to see dogs or cats in church here and they rarely cause any disturbance. In one parish where I worked a family dog attended Mass quietly every day with the couple who owned it.

San Roque is unknown in Ireland. If my late Dad had known about him I'm sure he would have had a special devotion to him as he loved animals and was known to his workmates on building/construction sites as 'St Francis', as he fed stray dogs and cats and even robins.

New Bishop Inspired by Columbans

NEW BISHOP INSPIRED BY COLUMBANS

Yesterday Fr Gerardo A. Alminaza of the Diocese of Bacolod, Philippines, was ordained bishop in San Sebastian Cathedral there. Today he will be installed as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Jaro in St Elizabeth Metropolitan Cathedral there. Bacolod is a suffragan diocese of Jaro, which is located in Iloilo City, an hour to the west by fast sea-craft. The main consecrating bishop was Papal Nuncio Edward Joseph Adams, with Archbishop Angel N. Lagdameo of Jaro, current president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), and Bishop Vicente M. Navarra of Bacolod as principal co-consecrators.

The evening before the episcopal ordination the nuncio blessed Bacolod City’s new Government Center before a dinner for bishops, priests and others hosted by Mayor Evelio R. Leonardia and the city government, a typically Filipino touch in a country where officially there is separation between Church and State.

The new bishop is a ‘product’ of the Columbans, having grown up in San Jose, Sipalay City, which is now part of the Diocese of Kabankalan, separated from Bacolod in 1987, and consisting of what was the main territory in the southern part of the province of Negros Occidental entrusted to the Columbans in 1950. Bishop Alminaza’s parish priest during his high school years in Cabarrus Catholic College, San Jose, was Fr Patrick Hurley, one of the Columban pioneers in Negros and still, at the age of 84, serving in the Chaplaincy of Our Lady of Peace, Biscom Sugar Central, Binalbagan. The late Fr Augustine Rowe was the priest in San Jose when Bishop Gerry was ordained in 1986. The new priest’s only parish assignment was in Kabankalan for a year or so after his ordination working there with Columbans. He has spent the rest of his priesthood in formation work and studying. He was on the staff of the major seminary in Jaro for some years and so is no stranger to his new diocese, where he will be based at the cathedral.

In his thanksgiving remarks in San Sebastian Cathedral before giving his first blessing as bishop to the people, Monsignor Alminaza singled out the Columbans because of the enormous influence they have had on his life. He also acknowledged the presence of the Columbans at the ceremony: Pat O’Donoghue, Regional Director, Terence Bennett, Brian Gore and myself.

Gerardo Alminaza was born on 4 August 1959, the centennial of the death of St John Vianney and was ordained priest on 29 April 1986, nine days before the bicentennial of the birth of the saint who is patron of diocesan clergy, and ordained bishop on his own 49th birthday. It used to be very common for parents in the Philippines to name a child after the saint celebrated on the birthday. However, Felix and Antonia Alimane chose ‘Gerard’, after St Gerard Majella CSsR, the patron of expectant mothers to whom they had prayed that God would give them a child. The future bishop, born after eight years of marriage, was their only child.

Antonia died about five years ago but Felix, now 79, was present in his wheelchair and it was very touching how his son spoke so lovingly of his ‘Tatay’ who has been staying at Sacred Heart Seminary, Bacolod, where Bishop Gerry has been rector for the last three years. Felix will now live in Iloilo, near his son.

Bishop Alminaza also spoke of his involvement with Focolare. Indeed, his episcopal motto, Sicut Christus Vivit, inspired by 1 John 2:6, was given him some years ago as a personal motto by Chiara Lubich, who founded the Focolare movement and who died earlier this year.

In his last year as rector of Sacred Heart Seminary Monsignor Alminaza was one of the driving forces behind the production of Ribok Gikan sa Tagipusoon, based on parts of the late Fr Niall O’Brien’s Revolution From the Heart. Most of the actors in the play, written in Hiligaynon (Ilonggo) by Jovy Miroy, were students at the seminary. The play was shown in a number of places, including the Diocese of Kabankalan. The ‘Negros Nine’ had been falsely accused of the murder of Mayor Pablo Sola of Kabankalan, a friend of Father Niall, on 10 March 1982.

In the early years of his priesthood, Bishop Alminaza was inspired by the involvement with the Deaf of Columban Father Joe Coyle who died in 1991. He learned Sign Language and frequently celebrated Mass in Sign Language both in Bacolod and in Iloilo. He invited interpreters to his ordination Mass so that the Deaf present could fully participate. One of his first Masses in Jaro will be with the Deaf community.

Another typically Filipino touch, at the end of the ordination Mass, was the singing of ‘Happy Birthday’ for the new bishop.


San Sebastian Cathedral, Bacolod City