UST, for the past years have been holding August 8 a holiday to commemorate the feast day of St. Dominic De Guzman, the founder of the Order of the Preachers and the First Minister of Education in the World.
“Preachers cannot give what they do not have.” This is one of St. Dominic’s principle which the UST Rector, Rev. Fr. Rolando V. Dela Rosa, O.P., said in his homily during the concelebrated Mass in honor of St. Dominic De Guzman last August 7 in the UST Santisimo Rosario Parish.
Before the mass started, there was a blessing of the new image of St. Dominic De Guzman. The Rector’s homily was an elaboration of St. Dominic’s principles and beliefs that led him into becoming the “Father of the Order of Preachers”.
Aside from a concelebrated Mass for St. Dominic De Guzman reverence, an exhibition of prints and images was put up beside the Santisimo Rosario Parish which will be exhibited until August 17. The exhibit displays different figures of St. Dominic De Guzman which are owned by different devotees of the Saint. Rev. Fr. Rolando V. Dela Rosa, O.P. himself is one of the proud owners of one of those figures displayed. The exhibit also housed, for the celebration, the relic of the saint.
St. Dominic De Guzman was born in 1170 in Caleguera, Spain and died in Bologna, Italy. He is devoted into preaching which eventually led him into the foundation of the Order of Preachers. His Order was approved in the year 1216 by Pope Honorius III. Before he died in Bologna, Italy, he spent his remaining bits of strength into preaching the Gospel and encouraging the youth to join his Order and evangelize the world. He is noted as a “Humble Preacher” whose goal is to spread the Truth and Salvation who is Jesus Christ Himself.
During a short interview with Rev. Fr. Rolando V. Dela Rosa, O.P. at the end of the mass, he quoted St. Tomas Aquinas, a Dominican Preacher himself, by saying, “We cannot love God if we could not love learning”. Our Rector also believed that St. Dominic De Guzman will encourage the youth today to study much eagerly so as to avoid making wrong decisions that they will regret later on.
