"Dominus Est": Motto of Bishop Chito G. Tagle, DD, STD

NOTE:  On October 13, 2011--the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima-- the Vatican announced the appointment of Bishop Chito G. Tagle, DD, STD as the new Archbishop of Manila.  

Below is my blog post on May 1, 2011-- the Feast Day of St. Joseph the Worker, in whose honor San Jose Seminary, the alma mater of now Archbishop Tagle,  was named after. 

Source

The  gospel last Friday  was   from  John 21: 1-14,  about Jesus appearing after His resurrection to the seven disciples.

One line that struck me was  So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.”

“It is the Lord”  is “Dominus est” in Latin.   This is the motto of Bishop Chito Tagle, DD, STD  (Doctor of Divinity,   Doctor of Sacred Theology)  -- which  I learned  from a  talk he  himself gave recently.

Last Holy Saturday, I had the privilege to listen to Bishop Tagle at St. John Bosco Parish in Makati City. Bishop Tagle  was invited to share his thoughts on Pope Benedict XVI's  book   "Jesus of Nazareth:  Holy Week.” 

That was the first time in years  that I saw Bishop Tagle in person again—though I would occasionally catch him on TV.  He has his  own program, “The Word Exposed” on  Studio 23, ANC and NBN 4.

I first met Bishop Tagle in 1980 when he was about to be ordained priest.  I was then a  first year AB- Pre-Divinity student at San Jose Seminary, which is  situated inside the campus of Ateneo de Manila.

Bishop Tagle was-- and still is-- an icon of an ideal seminarian  He was engaging,  down-to-earth, popular  and  amazingly intelligent.    He is also a greatly talented  musician—he was the choirmaster at San Jose during my time.

One can not describe Bishop Tagle as a  seminarian without mentioning his academic achievements.  At Ateneo de Manila, Pre-Divinity students  benefited from the halo effect of Bishop Tagle’s posting  a Quality Point Index (equivalent to GPA or  Grade Point Average) of 3.99.  That means that Bishop Tagle  got an  A  or 4.00 in all his college subjects except in one. The word in our seminary  community that time  was  that he got a B+  in Pilipino because the professor  believed that no one in the class should get an A—and to think that Bishop Tagle was  a native of Cavite, a province  deeply rooted in that language.

With a near perfect and record-setting  QPI—said to be higher than  Jose Rizal’s—Bishop Chito Tagle graduated summa cum laude. 

It is not surprising  to know  that Bishop Tagle eventually  "was appointed one of the two representatives of the Churches in Asia to the 30-theologian member Holy See’s International Theological Commission in 1997. He also served as a key resource person to the Federation of Asian Bishop’s Conferences and the Synod of Asian Bishops in Rome. " (Source: Jesuit Communications)

He also had  the opportunity to work for 6 years  at the Vatican with then  Cardinal  Joseph Ratzinger before the latter  became Pope Benedict XVI.  One can then say that Bishop Tagle and Pope Benedict were  colleagues, at the very least.

When he shared  with the assembly last Holy Saturday about his motto, I found the words highly memorable. “Dominus est”  is   seemingly simple but  in reality, it is  a profoundly meaningful motto.  To me, it means to find the Lord in all things.

Similarly,  Bishop Tagle  comes across as  very unassuming —but beneath such a facade is an  immensely gifted,  fascinating person.

To know Bishop Tagle  is  truly a   privilege.  Deo Gratias!