How will the Church keep the faith alive in the “new normal”? The Coronavirus certainly forced us to change our traditional ways of celebrating our Catholic faith. This year’s Holy Week experience was not only historic but most of all unforgettable since we have celebrated it in different ways. Religious worship looks different now and […]
Wuhan Who or What? My first encounter with coronavirus led to my discovery of Wuhan, a city in the province of Hubei in China. Before the virus struck, I hadn’t heard of Wuhan. But when CNN broke the news about the novel coronavirus, it showed footages of the place where it first broke out. And […]
This issue has been pushed back for a month due to several reasons, some of which are beyond the editorial control. We continue to receive below expectation for articles that might create balance content and widespread coverage, both from the Philippines and North America. We still remain hopeful that many among us who are gifted […]
It has been a tradition in the Philippines, particularly around the vicinity of the Quiapo Basilica in Metro Manila, that Semana Santa (Holy Week) comes a week after the New Year revelry, or so it seems. Thousands of the faithful descend to the venue quite popular as plagued by traffic gridlock, petty crimes, supernatural cures, […]
Saint Patrick’s Day in the United States has been traditionally regarded as “booze day” every particular weekend in March, that the public have been so used to the police and administrators of the metro urging folks to take the trains instead of insisting to drive home; and never to take drinks with them into any […]
Visita Iglesia is a practice steeped in tradition especially in the Philippines. This is usually done during the Holy Thursday Vigil when the Holy Sacrament is transferred to the altar of repose. While not essentially part of the liturgy, this however has been widely accepted as popular piety. The custom of visiting seven churches probably […]
It was my first bout with the infamous traffic deadlock from MOA, Pasay City to Loyola Grand Villas, Quezon City. For the most part during the trip I entertained myself by looking out fleetingly at silhouettes of the colossal infrastructures I have not seen before. I was in awe as we drove by many of […]
It didn’t take Medelianism philosophy for Iloilo Filii to figure out the best venue to hold a mini re-union and a welcome bash for fray Ted Fullona, a fellow Ilonggo who was on vacation and back in Dumalag, Capiz during the week of February 11th. On short notice and under pressure in rounding up would-be […]
The rhythmic sound of drum beats emanating two blocks away from where we stand begins to vibrate. As the sound gets closer and louder, you can sense the excitement on painted faces of spectators and revelers — boys, girls, men, women, seniors — aged from as young as two to as old as one can […]
LUIS ANTONIO CARDINAL TAGLE, Archbishop of Manila, was proclaimed Peace Awardee for 2018 by the Rotary Club of Makati-San Lorenzo, on February 23rd 2018. This was also in celebration of the 113th anniversary of Rotary International. Among its 6 Areas of Focus is Peace and Conflict Resolution. Here are some of my takeaways from his extemporaneous […]
Intramuros at the time of the Spanish Colonial period was synonymous to the City of Manila. Other towns and suburbs beyond the city walls were referred to as “extramuros” or “outside the walls”. It was both the seat of government and center of its social institutions: religion, education and economy. In December 1941, despite the […]
Impregnated by many urging ideas and by a proverb that “pen is mightier than sword”, Epistoliorum was conceived and birthed, placed on a Filii cradle for nurturing where in no time it can grow into another form, assert itself, and assume its purpose in life – communicate. epĭs•to•liórum might strike you as unique, a jawbreaker […]
Filii Sancti Dominici Philippinensis (International) “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” so did the Great Bard opine about this primordial question. Anyone hearing for the first time FSDPI’s formal corporate name would almost instantaneously inquire, “What in heaven’s good name do those words mean?” As with most words, the etymology of […]
O Light of the Church, Doctor of Truth, Rose of Patience, Ivory of Chastity. You freely poured forth the waters of wisdom. Preacher of grace, unite us with the blessed. –“Lumen Ecclesiae” (from the Dominican Book of Prayers) Early Life Domingo de Guzmán was born at Caleruega in Castile of Spain, possibly a year or […]
Poet. Philosopher. Motivational speaker. Isaias “Jigs” Villaflores used to be a Professor of Philosophy and Theology in the University of Santo Tomas. He also taught for ten years in Chicago where he became a Branch Manager in the Financial industry field. He has been a perennial winner in Literary Contests and an Editor of 3 […]
Welcome to the December Edition of Epistoliorum! Learn from the business success of our Fray in Focus, Eugenio Michael Plana who has used as his life guides the charisms of The Dominicans and attained spectacular success in various businesses he embarked on. Outwit hackers by learning from Fray Joel Gabriel how to make and maintain […]
At the intersection of King and Bay Streets, a big yellow school bus full of kids stopped to unload its passengers. Right behind the bus, motorists in private cars and Uber cab passengers grew impatiently weary as kids take their time leisurely from getting off the bus, oblivious to the traffic urgency they created. School […]
This tradition is something unique to “30 Rock”, the moniker that produced a 2006-era sitcom. Where else but at 30 Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The event ushers in the start of the Yuletide season, with a little help from the dazzling sound-and-light display at the adjacent Saks Fifth Avenue department store. […]
Like strangers in the night, the holidays are here creeping at our doorsteps! La Fiesta Dia de Gracia celebration is over now, so what is next? Eat the leftovers? Ouch! How long did you think those leftover dishes had been standing at room temperature, more than 2 hours? From the time it cooled down in […]
At the Roxas City airport, a guy who just arrived from Manila, asks a lady vendor, “Manang, saan po nakatira itong si Mrs Jasmin Fuliga?”, showing her a piece of paper on which the name is written. “Fuliga? Ay ti, taga Dumalag ina siya” (She’s from Dumalag) the lady answers spontaneously in her Capiznon dialect, […]
Coming from a small town of Zarraga, Iloilo in the Philippines, and born from a simple Ilonggo family, I cannot fully appreciate when friends introduce me to others as “Mike, my friend, the businessman.” Nothing in my curriculum vitae, either in academics or in ancestry, suggested I would become a businessman. My wife and I […]
The month of September heralds the advent of autumn in Canada and for Canadians it means anticipating the onset of leaf fall. As temperature begins to drop gradually to a comfortable level and the end of everything estival and serotinal becomes impending, somewhere in Philippines, California, Texas, Florida, New Jersey and even in the most […]
Manila, Philippines, October 11, 2017. FSDPI (Filii Sancti Dominici Philippinensis Inc.) in May 2017, launched its first pilgrimage project to the Basilica of Our Lady of Manaoag where the image of Blessed Virgin Mary as Queen of the Most Holy Rosary is enshrined. The project is managed by the FSDPI committee on Apostolate with the full […]
Preaching the Good news has been and still is the reason for being of the Order of Preachers, also known as the Dominicans. Since its founding by Santo Domingo de Guzman in the early 13th century, it did this mission mainly on the pulpit. That mode of preaching by the Dominicans in the Philippines had […]
