Prayers for a Priest

I am requesting everyone to please pray for the eternal repose of Fr. Eduardo Hontiveros, SJ, who passed away on Tuesday, 15 January 2008. The Father was considered the Father of Philippine Liturgical Music, composing the majority of hymns we sing in our churches today. I know many have some reservations, even hostilities, against this kind of inculturation, but he was still a priest, and in need of our prayers. In 1991, Fr. Hontiveros suffered a stroke, paralyzing him, and rendering him almost unable to speak for the rest of his life. Today, a fellow priest and great former student of Fr. Hontiveros related how, almost a month ago, the Jesuits celebrated his 84th birthday; it was then that he expressed one of the most beautiful 'Thank You' ever heard by all.

The internment is scheduled for tomorrow, 19 January, at the Sacred Heart novitiate in Novaliches. Before suffering from that fateful stroke, Fr. Hontiveros served as rector of the Jesuit seminary here in Manila, and also served under the same position in the diocesan seminary.

In paradisum deducant te Angeli; in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Ierusalem. Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere æternam habeas requiem.