Tag: Quadricentennial Supplement

POPE Benedict XVI has declared a Jubilee Year from January 2011 to January 2012 to mark UST’s Quadricentennial, underscoring the spiritual nature of the celebrations at Asia’s only Pontifical University.

Last January 24, Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales formally opened the Quadricentennial festivities with the declaration of the Santisimo Rosario Parish Church or UST Chapel as a Jubilee church, granting pious visitors a plenary indulgence, which remits punishment due to sin under Church teaching.

In a decree last December 21, the Roman Catholic Church’s Apostolic Penitentiary allowed Cardinal Rosales to bestow a Papal Blessing carrying a Plenary Indulgence following the Jubilee Mass of January 24.

ONE YEAR ago, the Philippine government officially declared four landmarks of the University of Santo Tomas as national cultural treasures. This is the first time that an educational institution in this country has received such recognition. But the Dominican fathers and brothers would have been even happier if what the government recognized as a national treasure was the university itself.

The University of Santo Tomas is a national treasure because its history coincides with the history of the Catholic Church in this country. Thousands of alumni from this school have pioneered the different professions, have provided the original inspiration, and have given shape and substance to many movements and organizations.

OFFICIALS of universities named after St. Thomas Aquinas and those adhering to Thomistic ideals met in the University to reaffirm their lifelong commitment to fostering Catholic principles as one interconnected body.

Twenty-five Catholic institutions of higher learning from 18 countries around the globe, represented by 43 local and foreign delegates, converged in the 10th biennial conference of the International Council of the Universities of St. Thomas Aquinas (Icusta) last January 26 at the Santisimo Rosario Parish Church.

The council, headed by Fr. Rolando de la Rosa, O.P., Rector of the University, discussed strategic ways for member-universities to respond to the challenge of keeping a public life with Catholic principles.

President Benigno Aquino III paid tribute to UST for its “noble mission” of instilling Catholic values among its students along with the “high quality of education” it provides. He also congratulated the University for producing alumni “who have learned to balance their intellect on an unshakable foundation of morality.”

Speaking at the 10th Biennial Conference of the International Council of the Universities of St. Thomas Aquinas (Icusta) last January 26 at the Santisimo Rosario Parish Church, Aquino praised the University for 400 years of “quality Christian education.”

JANUARY 26 weather forecast: Luzon would experience cloudy skies accompanied by scattered and isolated light rains.

But the rain clouds gave way to a sunny weather in order to salute the University as it mounted a grand parade around the University Belt as part of its Quadricentennial celebration.

“We just believed that it would not rain. We had no ‘Plan B’ in case of rain because whatever happened, this parade would push through,” said Assistant to the Rector for Student Affairs Evelyn Songco.

Around 7, 200 members of the Thomasian community excitedly lined up for the parade while hoisting their college colors.

THOMASIANS may have been raised in an institution serious about education, but that doesn’t mean they don’t know how to party.

A crowd reminiscent of the one that flocked to last December’s “Paskuhan” went “rocking” with top entertainers during the concert that was also the official countdown to the UST’s 400th founding anniversary.

The Q Grand Program held at the UST Grandstand on the night of January 27 showcased the performances and appearances of the big names in the entertainment industry led by Thomasian talents like pop superstar Sarah Geronimo, “inspirational diva” Jamie Rivera, and comedian John Lapus.

Recalling beginnings

LED BY no less than a Papal envoy and with the local Church hierarchy in full force, the Thomasian community gathered in gratitude to Almighty God for 400 years of unending grace in the Quadricentennial Thanksgiving Mass at the UST Grandstand last January 28.

Zenon Cardinal Grocholewski, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education and the Pope’s “extraordinary envoy” to the University’s week-long celebrations, was the main celebrant, assisted by the Papal Nuncio Edward Joseph Adams, Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

In his homily, Grocholewski delved into the humanistic importance of education in society.

THE EXTRAORDINARY envoy of Pope Benedict the XVI to the Quadricentennial celebrations, Archbishop Zenon Cardinal Grocholewski, was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education in April 2005. His post is responsible for almost 1,000 Catholic universities, 150 theological departments, as well as more than 3,000 seminaries all over the world.

Born in Brodki, Poland on October 11, 1939, Grocholewski was ordained priest for the Archdiocese of Pozna? on May 27, 1963. He worked at Christ the Redeemer Parish in Pozna? for three years before earning a doctorate in canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

RODORA Costales grew up in UST, having studied in the España-based campus from grade school to college. With four other siblings who shared the same rearing and a father who took up his postgraduate studies in this University, she proudly claimed her Thomasian roots and recalled the fond memories of school buses, Little Quiapo, and ever-present floods.

Harold Calderon was also familiar to the murky waters, but not so familiar to avoid a manhole during his second year in the UST High School. Thankfully, his backpack was big, putting a halt to what could have been a deep and dangerous fall.

CONSTRUCTION worker Joey Parayno, 39, was about to go blind—and jobless too.

Cataract had almost claimed his eyesight, making him a liability among fellow workers. But he saved both his job and eyesight, thanks to the free cataract operation organized by the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery in time for UST’s Quadricentennial celebration this year.

Dubbed “Project 400/400”, the initiative is intended to benefit 400 patients. It was launched in collaboration with the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in Taiwan by Dharma Master Cheng Yen, at the latter’s clinic in Sta. Mesa, Manila last January 16.