Fr Honti’s tunes to touch one’s soul once more

MANILA, Philippines - Catholic worshippers say that the melodies that drift in the air every time they hear Mass could very well be deemed as equally important as the gospel that priests speak of or the wine and bread that are given during communion. Every typical Filipino-style Sunday Mass in Manila, they say, could never be complete without the local Mass hymns like "Papuri Sa Diyos (Praise Be To God)" and "Pananagutan (Responsibility)." It wouldn't be a surprise to know that the man behind these sanctified tunes is a late Jesuit priest who went by the name Fr Eduardo Hontiveros more popularly known to his parishioners as "Father Honti." As a tribute to Father Honti, the Jesuit Music Ministry of the Jesuit Communications Foundation has organized a free concert that would be staged on March 14 and 15 at the Church of the Gesu, inside the Ateneo de Manila University grounds in Quezon City. A celebration of the life and times of Hontiveros through song and dance, the two-day formal event aptly titled "Dakilang Pag-ibig (Great Love)" will showcase the musical works of the well-loved Church leader and melody-maker as sung by different local choirs in the country. "The concept of this tribute is that it contains many songs from his many concerts and the songs that will be performed are classified according to the loves of his life," Father Jessel Gerard Gonzales of the ADMU told GMANews.TV in a phone interview. Billed for the free concert are musical ensembles that include Pansol Choir, Canto Cinco, Tinig Barangka, Himig Heswita, Barangka Choir, Tañong Choir, Bukas Palad, Hangad, Musica Chiesa, and the University of the Philippines Filipiniana Dance Group. Even the Jesuit priest's very own family would not be left out in the performances as they too would dish out during the concert among others a rendition of the favorite "Maria, Bukang-Liwayway (Mary, Star of the Morning)." The Iloilo-born priest, who entered the seminary in 1939 and studied theology in the United Sates, began penning church hymns in the 1960s, in accordance to a Vatican call for the localization of Mass songs. Eventually, Hontiveros went on to amass hundreds of religious compositions, most of which were later adopted in regular Mass celebrations. Perhaps one of his best-loved and most-recognizable works, the song "Papuri Sa Diyos" has been a staple hymn in every Catholic Mass. The magic of Hontiveros's music has even captured the heart of Manila Archbishop Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, who described the late Jesuit priest during the latter's funeral Mass as a "rare and kind man." "There's something about Fr Honti's music that is so easy to remember. He was able to capture the psyche of the Filipino people," Rosales said of Hontiveros's musical creations. Hontiveros, who passed away last January after suffering from a stroke, was conferred posthumously the Presidential Medal of Merit by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV