SAN PEDRO BAUTISTA HAILED AS DCLM PATRON

by Darryl Reyes

“A saint walked among us” was how Longos (Kalayaan town, Laguna) parish priest Rev. Fr. Christian Edward Abao introduced the Holy Mass over which he presided for the feast of San Pedro Bautista held in the colonial era church of said town, February 5 evening, 2022.

San Pedro Bautista was a Spanish Franciscan sent as a missionary to the Philippines, arriving here in 1584. His superior, Fr. Juan de Plasencia, founder of Majayjay, Liliw, Pila, and Sta. Cruz towns, among others, sent him to teach music and plainchant to Sta. Ana de Sapa (Manila), after finding out his talent for the artform. He is thus credited to be the first to have instructed the Tagalogs in Western music. He continued this when he was assigned to Lumban in 1586. After his prolific work in the Philippines, he was sent to Japan as an ambassador of the King of Spain, and there met his martyrdom on this same date in 1597. San Pedro Bautista is also the founder of the towns Los Baños, Pakil, and Longos where his feast is kept with great solemnity.

Considering San Pedro Bautista’s deep ties with music and with Laguna, the Diocesan Commission on Liturgical Music (DCLM) declared him as the patron of liturgical music in the Diocese of San Pablo. This formal recognition was done in the Holy Mass mentioned earlier. In the homily for the said celebration, DCLM director Rev. Fr. Amadeo Alveyra Jr recognized how San Pedro Bautista used music as a means of evangelization and set him as an example for liturgical musicians. He also emphasized the importance of listening to God that deepened the Saint’s spiritual life, which according to him, should also be imitated by liturgical musicians and all Christians.

The music for the celebration was provided by the Diocese of San Pablo Chorus, including in its repertoire heritage pieces like Laguna-born maestro Marcelo Adonay’s “Kyrie” from “Missa Pequeño,” as well as contemporary compositions from Ferdinand Bautista’s “Mga Awiting Pansamba para sa Kapistahan ng mga Martir,”  and his Tagalog version of the “Te Deum.”

In hailing San Pedro Bautista as the patron of liturgical music in the Diocese, Fr. Alveyra expressed his hope that more people, not only musicians, will be aware of the saint’s life, virtues, and examples in the development of the spiritual life.