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News and Events
I fondly remember my very first meeting with Fr. Boquiren. He was a young Dominican priest I met in San Juan de Letran College in Intramuros and was then the National Director of the Holy Name Society. I had just passed the Bar Examination in August 1958 as the results showed in 1959. As the euphoria of realizing that I was already a full-pledged lawyer after having worked my way through law school died down, I thought of how I could show my gratitude to God for the blessings that He had given me. I consulted our Parish Priest, who was then Fr. Manuel S. Guerrero. It was he who advised me to organize the Holy Name Society Unit in our Parish, because he noted that except for two old men all those who were receiving communion were women. He suggested to me to gather all the young men of the town and with them organize the Holy Name Society. I looked for the Director of the Holy Name Society and so I met Fr. Boquiren.
Fr. Boquiren guided me in the formation of our HNS Unit. He emphasized on the need for all prospective members to undergo a probation period. It lasted for three months and on the second Sunday of December of 1959, we had the induction and Fr Boquiren came to witness it. It was sight to behold: all were dressed in barong and processed to the altar singing, Holy God, we praise Thy Name.
My association with Fr. Boquiren started that year and went on until 1968 when he was assigned to one higher position �Rector of the Central Seminary of UST. Three decades later he would return to the Holy Name Society: 1996-2006. During this period he introduced several changes that helped the Society meet the challenges of the times. Unfortunately, he lost his voice - his great asset as a preacher and gradually succumbed to the big C.
Later, I gathered from his loyal personal driver and his niece, Ma. Carolina Bondares the following data. Fr. Boquiren was born in Barrio Omando, in Malasiqui, Pangasinan to Domingo Boquiren and Isabel Neri. Fr. Jim, as he was fondly called, was the youngest of seven siblings. All of them had died leaving him as the last to pass away. Almost all his nieces and nephews are in the United States.
Father first studied at the Binmaley Elementary School, and then at the Mary Help of Christians Seminary and later on at the UST Central Seminary as a Dominican. He was sent to Rome to pursue his post graduate studies and it was there that he was ordained priest Later he would be assigned to this Seminary as its Rector.
He has such a love for keeping memorabilia. This led him to put up his own museum in his hometown of Malasiqui. Here one would see on display his pictures of ordination, his travels, the pictures of his parents, his beloved Holy Namers and their activities which makes it a must for all Holy Namers to see. In many of his talks with me he would say that it is his honest conviction that there are many persons who lived holy lives and therefore may be considered saints. I like to believe that Fr. Boquiren lived that kind of life and deserves to be considered as such.
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