Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 13:40:11 +0800
From: Office of University Development & Alumni Relations
Subject: Death Notice: Fr. EDUARDO P. HONTIVEROS, S.J. (20 Dec. 1923
- 15 January 2008)
FR. EDUARDO P. HONTIVEROS, SJ
(20 December 1923 – 15 January 2008)
Fr. Eduardo P. Hontiveros, SJ, was born on 20 December 1923 in Molo, Iloilo City. He was one of eight children born to Jose Hontiveros and Vicenta Pardo.
Fr. Honti, as he is fondly known, was educated at the Capiz Elementary School and the pre-war Ateneo de Manila in Padre Faura, graduating from high school in 1939. From 1939 to 1945 he was at San Jose Seminary. He entered the Society of Jesus after the war in 1945, pronouncing first vows at Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches in June 1947. There he finished his studies in philosophy and then proceeded to Ateneo de Zamboanga for his three-year regency, teaching religion, Latin, and English, and moderating the Choir String Band. In 1951, he traveled to the United States to study theology, and was ordained in 1954 by Francis Cardinal Spellman. After earning a doctorate in theology from the Gregorian University in Rome, he returned to teach in the Philippines in 1958.
He pronounced final vows in the Society of Jesus in 1960.
Fr. Honti had a long career as a theology professor and seminary formator for Jesuits and San Jose seminarians. He served in various capacities, including as Rector of San Jose Seminary and Dean of Loyola School of Theology. For more than thirty years until 1991 when a stroke seriously hampered his mobility and capacity to communicate, he was a fatherly figure to generations of Jesuit and Josefino seminarians.
But Fr. Honti is best known for his music. In 1965, as the Second Vatican Council ended and called for inculturation of the liturgy, Fr. Honti, whose family is musically inclined, was already composing Mass hymns in Tagalog. He asked the church choirs in Barangka, Marikina, and Pansol, both communities near the new Ateneo campus in Loyola Heights, to sing his songs, and he readily adjusted the notes if the choir found his compositions too difficult. Before long, he had composed a complete set of hymns for the Mass. Thus began Fr. Honti’s love affair with heartfelt liturgical music. His songs spread to other parishes and by the 1970s, aided by a fresh wave of nationalism, his songs
had become staple fare at Masses.
His name may not be familiar to all, but his music certainly is. He was not the only Filipino who experimented with sacred music in the vernacular starting in the 1960s, but he was certainly the most prolific, and most successful, if success is measured by the popularity of one’s work. Over a period of twenty-five years, Fr. Honti composed hundreds of hymns, many of which with moving stories of ordinary people behind them. He has inspired younger generations of composers like Fr. Nemesio Que, Fr. Fruto Ramirez, Fr. Manoling Francisco, Fr. Arnel Aquino, and Fr. Jboy Gonzales. It is no exaggeration that Fr. Honti has been called the Father of Filipino Liturgical Music.
Today it is a testament to Fr. Honti’s pioneering spirit that so many styles of church music are sung in our Masses and other gatherings. The choices can seem quite daunting, and it is never easy to select songs that various generations of churchgoers can follow, but play the opening notes of Fr. Honti’s Pananagutan, or intone his Luwalhati, Santo, Kordero ng Diyos, or his Magnificat, and everyone can join in. That is the surest way to show that while his name may not ring a bell, his music does.
Fr. Honti’s initiatives have been recognized with the Ateneo de Manila University’s
Tanglaw ng Lahi Award (1976), the Asian Catholic Publishers’ “Outstanding Catholic
Author” (1992), and the Papal award Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice (2000), among many other awards and citations. He suffered another major stroke in early January, and went home to the Lord on 15 January.
His wake is being held at the Oratory of St. Ignatius, Loyola House of Studies, Ateneo de Manila University, where daily masses will be held at 8:00 p.m. The funeral Mass is scheduled for Saturday, 19 January, 8:00 a.m. at the Church of the Gesu in Ateneo Loyola Heights campus. Interment will follow at the Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Loyola School of Theology, for the Eduardo P. Hontiveros, SJ, Professorial Chair.
15 January 2008
Philippine Province of the Society of Jesus
4 comments:
my former classmate who teacher in ateneo wrote:
2008 jan 18
"Dear classmates & friends,
According to Fr Dacanay, Fr Arevalo once said of Fr Honti, "In this man the objective and the subjective are perfectly synchronized- -there is no misalignment. " I can attest to that. 'Di lamang siya mabait na pari, likas na mabait na tao. He could not communicate for 17 yrs since his stroke in 1991, but he never withdrew into depression. He would be the first to sign up for any community activity, celebration, occasion. He remained the animated, inspiring, and fatherly figure that he was to many generations of Jesuits and Ateneo faculty/personnel -- such a gracious, gentle, loving and beloved man.
Be inspired by this great life.
ASIS PA RIN!"
another former fellow SVD seminarian also now working with the ateneo wrote:
2008 jan 19
"As I am writing this e-mail, a requiem mass is being said at the Jesu, two blocks away from here, for the remains of an highly esteemed Jesuit musician and theologian. Church and government dignataries are all over, including the President.
In a mass said the other night for the late Fr. Honti at the Loyola School., his close relative shared to the congregation that Fr. Honti's dad, during the early years of his seminary formation, wanted him to be an SVD priest, not a Jesuit; but of course, the rest is history.
Best regards.
raul"
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