Fr. Bonifacio Garcia Solis, O.P., a long-time professor at UST and former head of the Dominican Province of Our Lady of the Rosary, passed away on Oct. 23 in Spain at age 76.
Solis died due to complications of cancer, a priest from the Santuario del Sto. Cristo Parish in San Juan City told the Varsitarian.
From 1976 to 1993, Solis was assigned to the Priory of St. Thomas Aquinas, and served as professor of moral theology at the UST Faculty of Sacred Theology.
He taught at the UST Ecclesiastical Faculty of Philosophy for 17 years.
Solis also taught at the UST College of Nursing and Graduate School, Aquinas School, and the Seminary of San Fernando in Pampanga.
Solis obtained his master of arts in philosophy from the University in 1977.
He was the vice rector of the UST Central Seminary from 1976 to 1979. He was appointed prior of the Priory of St. Thomas Aquinas in 1981 and served as regional vicar of the Holy Rosary Vicariate from 1987 to 1993.
He was also regent of the UST Junior High School and secretary of the Ecclesiastical Faculties.
UST Secretary General Fr. Louie Coronel, O.P. described Solis as a Dominican with “great capacity for work and creativity.”
“Throughout his apostolic life, he integrated pastoral care with his ministries in teaching, formation and administration, manifesting his skill, dynamism, generosity and commitment,” Coronel wrote in a circular dated Oct. 26.
He urged Thomasians to offer prayers for Solis’ eternal repose.
Solis was born on June 19, 1945 in Oviedo, Spain, and was ordained a priest in 1971.
He completed his philosophical studies and theological studies in Madrid and finished his doctorate degree in moral theology at the Alphonsian Academy and the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.
Solis served as prior provincial of Our Lady of the Rosary in Hong Kong for four terms, from 1997 to 2001, 2001 to 2004, 2004 to 2008, and from 2017 to 2021.
Solis’s remains were buried after the funeral mass at the Convento de Santo Tomás in Spain on Oct. 25.
An online memorial service will be held on Friday, Oct. 29, 11 a.m. at the Santísimo Rosario Parish.
The Mass will be presided by UST Rector Fr. Richard Ang, O.P., with Medicine Regent Fr. Angel Aparicio, O.P. as the homilist.
It will be broadcast live via the Facebook pages of UST and Santísimo Rosario Parish. Allyssa Mae C. Cruz with reports from Jiselle Anne C. Casucian
