The Theology of the History teaches us that each Nation has a special Mission. We give two
high examples. Roma is the head of the government of the Church. France is the heiress of the
Apostle of Charity (cfr. Father Julio Meinvielle, “Hacia la Cristiandad”, Adsum, Buenos Aires
1940).
And what about the Philippines?
His Holiness Ven. Pius XII liked to refer to the Philippines as a “noble Nation”1. Philippines,
as the Pope said, is a Noble Nation and has a Mission, a very important Mission. The same Pope
stated this: the first spiritual value of the Philippine Nation is the conservation and the expansion, the increase, of the Catholic Faith2. Moreover, He said that the Philippine Nation is placed in a providential position3.
As we already quoted, the same Pope had said to this noble Nation that the Philippines has a special Mission, a special vocation. The Pope said that Philippines seems to have the vocation of being the highest flag bearer of the Gospel and the Cross in the vasts ocean shores open, as a
promise, to the immense extensions of the Pacific Ocean4.
Also, Saint John Paul the Second Magnus had encouraged the Philippines to be Apostles, to
be light of the world, to be witness of the Lord, to announce the Faith to the others. In fact, when the Pope was in Manila he called “the Filipino people” to collaborate “in the Church’s mission of proclaiming the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ”5.
Saint John Paul The Second, in the ceremony of canonization of Saint Lorenzo Ruiz -one of
the Philippines Martyrs- said this: “the Philippines (…) from being evangelized is called to become an evangelizer in the great work of bringing the Gospel to the peoples of Asia”6.
Our Seminary of Lipa (Philippines)
Philippines was called by Saint John Paul Magnus, “the light of the faith in Asia” and, also,
the first Missionaries called it “the door of the Faith in Asia”.
If as we have just said, the Mission of the Philippines it to be the first flag bearer of the
Cross in the vasts ocean shores open, as a promise, to the immense extensions of the Pacific Ocean, it is, so, so much important the formation of the future Priests in this noble Nation. And precisely this task -the formation of the future Priests- is one of the Apostolates of our Institute in the Philippines. In fact, some years ago our Congregation founded, in Lipa (Philippines) a Seminary for vocations of different Nations of the Extreme East. The ultimate end is no other than the formation of Missionary Priests that will go to the non-christian populations of Asia to announce them the Catholic Faith in order to help them to achieve one day the eternal Paradise, dedicating themselves to evangelize the cultures, as we swore in our religious profession.
Some days ago we have finished our first Congress for the formation of the Formators of the
Seminary. These days were plenty of happiness. We experimented “the beauty and riches of
fraternal life in common (…) How good it is, how pleasant, where the brothers dwell as one! (Ps
133:1)” (Const., 91).
Missionaries in the Extreme East
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1 VEN. H.H. PÍO XII, Discurso de Su Santidad Pío XII al Señor Manuel V. Morán, Primer Embajador de la República
de Filipinas ante la Santa Sede. AAS 43 (1951) 440-442.
2 The Pope uses these words: “entre los más preciados valores espirituales de su pueblo —por él y por Nos tan amado— ocupa el primer lugar la conservación y el aumento de su fe” (Ibid).
3 Ibid.
4 The translation belongs to us. The Pope talked in spanish these exact words: “un gran pueblo —el vuestro—, cuya especial vocación parece ser la de abanderado mayor del Evangelio y de la Cruz en esas playas extremas del mundo abiertas, como una promesa, a las inconmensurables extensiones del Pacífico” (VEN. H.H. PIUS XII, «Radio Message of His Holiness Pius XII to the Participants in the 2nd National Eucharistic Congress of the Philippine Islands (AAS 48, 1956, 834-838)»).
5 St. H.H. JOHN PAUL II THE GREAT, Holy Mass in the Cathedral of Manila in the Apostolic Journey to Pakistan,
Philippines I, Guam (United States of America), Japan, Anchorage (United States Of America), 2.
6 St. H.H. JOHN PAUL II THE GREAT, Homily of His Holiness John Paul II in The Eucharistic Concelebration For The Canonization Of 16 Martyrs (World Day For Missions), 5.
