Pastor Bonus Seminary

07/10/2026

Two central Philippine bishops have warned Catholics about religious groups they said could cause confusion by using Catholic names, terminology or clerical attire.

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06/10/2026

FROM THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS:
"WE SHOULD MEDITATE ON THE MYSTERIES OF SALVATION"
(SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX ON THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST)

From a sermon by Saint Bernard, abbot
(Sermo de Aquaeductu: Opera Omnia, Edit. Cisterc. 5 [1968], 282-283)

We should meditate on the mysteries of salvation

The child to be born of you will be called holy, the Son of God, the fountain of wisdom, the Word of the Father on high. Through you, blessed Virgin, this Word will become flesh, so that even though, as he says: I am in the Father and the Father is in me, it is still true for him to say: “I came forth from God and am here.”

In the beginning was the Word. The spring was gushing forth, yet still within himself. Indeed, the Word was with God, truly dwelling in inaccessible light. And the Lord said from the beginning: I think thoughts of peace and not of affliction. Yet your thought was locked within you, and whatever you thought, we did not know; for who knew the mind of the Lord, or who was his counselor?

And so the idea of peace came down to do the work of peace: The Word was made flesh and even now dwells among us. It is by faith that he dwells in our hearts, in our memory, our intellect and penetrates even into our imagination. What concept could man have of God if he did not first fashion an image of him in his heart? By nature incomprehensible and inaccessible, he was invisible and unthinkable, but now he wished to be understood, to be seen and thought of.

But how, you ask, was this done? He lay in a manger and rested on a virgin’s breast, preached on a mountain, and spent the night in prayer. He hung on a cross, grew pale in death, and roamed free among the dead and ruled over those in hell. He rose again on the third day, and showed the apostles the wounds of the nails, the signs of victory; and finally in their presence he ascended to the sanctuary of heaven.

How can we not contemplate this story in truth, piety and holiness? Whatever of all this I consider, it is God I am considering; in all this he is my God. I have said it is wise to meditate on these truths, and I have thought it right to recall the abundant sweetness, given by the fruits of this priestly root; and Mary, drawing abundantly from heaven, has caused this sweetness to overflow for us.

(Text from the Second Reading, Office of Readings [Proper], Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary. The Liturgy of the Hours, Volume IV: Ordinary Time – Weeks 18-34. Bangalore: NBCLC, 2005, pp. 1471—1472)

(Image Credits: “The Vision of St. Dominic” [c. 1640-1645], by Bernardo Cavallino [1616–1656], oil on canvas. From the collection of the National Gallery of Canada; Wikimedia Commons.)

06/10/2026

MEMORIAL (OCTOBER 7) – THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, OUR LADY OF THE MOST HOLY ROSARY

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary as related to the prayer of the Rosary, which may have developed from the so-called Marian Psalters and devotional meditations on the life of Christ sometime in the 13th century, and attributed to the apparitions of Our Lady to Saint Dominic de Guzmán somewhere in France. The feast originated likewise from two naval victories of the Christian armies, attributed also to the rosary procession done by the faithful praying for the protection of Western Europe from the threat of Turkish invaders. Pope Clement XII declared the Feast of the Rosary for the whole Church on the 1st of October in 1716; Pope Pius X moved the date to October 7, which is now called the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary since 1969. The present form and structure of the Rosary as a devotional prayer had undergone several historical developments from the time of Dominic of Prussia and Alan dela Roche (15th century), Pope Pius V and Alberto Castellani (16th century), and Pope John Paul II in 2001 who proposed the addition of the luminous mysteries in his Apostolic Letter, "Rosarium Virginis Mariae".

Let us pray.

Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord,
your grace into our hearts,
that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ your Son
was made known by the message of an Angel,
may, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
by his Passion and Cross
be brought to the glory of his Resurrection.
Who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

(Collect from The Roman Missal, Amended Latin Third Typical Edition in English)

(Image Credits: “Madonna of the Rosary” [c. 1640s], by Simone Cantarini [1612–1648]. From the Collection of the Tosio Martinengo Gallery; Wikimedia Commons.)

06/10/2026

06/10/2026

FIFTH DAY NOVENA TO OUR LADY OF THE PILLAR
Patroness of Zamboanga

PREPARATORY PRAYER
We turn to you, O Holy Mother, Virgin of the Pillar, so that, through your maternal intercession, you may obtain for us from the Eternal Father the favors we seek in this Novena, through the merits of Christ, our Lord.

PRAYER FOR THE FIFTH DAY
Just as your Immaculate foot crushed the serpent, deign, Oh Mother of the Pillar, to tear from the hearts of the impious all ugly, sinful feelings and enlighten their intelligence with the light of true faith so that they may be delivered from the claws of satan, who instils the evil doctrines that dissuade souls from the righteous path.

Recite three Hail Mary's...

CONCLUDING PRAYER
Trusting in the limitless bounty treasured in your heart, Oh Virgin of the Pillar, we hope you shall listen to the prayers which we offer you for your honor and the greater glory of God, and for the temporal and spiritual good of us your children.

NIHIL OBSTAT:
Msgr. David Alonzo
Fr. Amado Jose P. Vaño

IMPRIMATUR:
+Most Rev. Francisco R. Cruces, D.D.
Archbishop of Zamboanga

06/10/2026

ON THIS DAY [2019]: SEMINARY COMMUNITIES OF ZAMBOANGA AND IPIL CELEBRATE NOVENA MASS AT THE SHRINE WITH INVESTITURE RITES

For the fourth day novena in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Pillar, the communities of the Pastor Bonus Seminary [Archdiocese of Zamboanga] and Saint Joseph Seminary [Diocese of Ipil] were present for the Holy Mass at the Shrine of La Virgen del Pilar on 6 October 2019. The Holy Mass was presided by Fr. Obaldo Pagulon, Jr., Rector of the Saint Joseph Seminary, with the seminary formators of PBS and SJSI. The Solemn Investiture of three seminarians from the Pastor Bonus Seminary was also held during the liturgy, presided by the Spiritual Director, Fr. Louino Alejandro.

Sem. Arriel T. Nallonar, one of the candidates for Investiture in 2019, was recently ordained to the Priesthood by Archbishop Julius Tonel on 4 August 2026.

06/10/2026

Archbishop Alberto Uy of Cebu said Catholic media workers must serve people on the margins through truthful, compassionate communication that brings them closer to Christ.

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06/10/2026

A senior Catholic archbishop urged seminarians to embrace the priesthood as a call to spiritual fatherhood, saying they must learn to care for God’s people before seeking ordination.

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05/10/2026

On November 24, 2026, "The Private Diary of Pope Francis," a book by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, will hit bookshelves.

The book presents and comments on notes Jorge Mario Bergoglio kept between 1992 and 2024, offering a deeper understanding of the personality and inner life of the Jesuit Pope, who led the Catholic Church from March 13, 2013 until his death on April 21, 2025.

The Private Diary of Pope Francis will be released simultaneously worldwide in five languages and distributed in 94 countries on 24 November.

The English edition will be published by Penguin Random House and the Italian edition by the Vatican Publishing House (LEV).

PRH Christian Penguin Random House

05/10/2026

FOURTH DAY NOVENA TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY,
OUR LADY OF THE PILLAR
Patroness of Zamboanga

PREPARATORY PRAYER

We turn to you, O Holy Mother, Virgin of the Pillar, so that, through your maternal intercession, you may obtain for us from the Eternal Father the favors we seek in this Novena, through the merits of Christ , our Lord.

PRAYER FOR THE FOURTH DAY

Since from thy hands countless graces are given to us, pour forth such graces upon us, O most Holy Virgin of the Pillar, offering them to our Lord, that, through them, we may obtain merits, here and hereafter.

Recite three Hail Mary's...

CONCLUDING PRAYER

Trusting in the limitless bounty treasured in your heart, Oh Virgin of the Pillar, we hope you shall listen to the prayers which we offer you for your honor and the greater glory of God, and for the temporal and spiritual good of us your children.

NIHIL OBSTAT:

Msgr. David Alonzo
Fr. Amado Jose P. Vaño

IMPRIMATUR:

+Most Rev. Francisco R. Cruces, D.D.