Click the picture for a larger view. These pictures are taken in 1998, and as noted by JP Mercado, Jr. (JPM shots).
To the Minor Seminary2.
This is the road up to the seminary as it looks today (April 9, 2000). In the early days in the sixties, we used to go down and climbed on some week-ends when we went on picnic to Tolomo Beach, some 3 kilometers away from the seminary. The road was cemented sometime in 1962. I entered the seminary in 1959.
The approach to the main buildingThe main building was were our dormitory in the second floor. The the first floor were the indoor recreation and shower rooms on one side (near the approach), and the study room and library and the refectory on the other side. At the middle of the first floor was the chapel. At the middle of the second floor was the Rector's office and Academic offices.
Me at the approach
I came in one day in 1998 to take pictures and recall the sights and sounds of the seminary life in yester years. It was quiet a nostalgia. I did enjoy my best youth in this place.
The flagpole
This is where we attended the flag ceremony before class. We were very few then, about 50 t0 70 in the earlier years.The surrounding was big enough for all of us.However, we stood there and started a very disciplined life of studies
A view of the main building
This is the view to the entrance.In the first floor here was the recreation hall and the shower rooms in the early sixties. Here we played pingpong, mississippi throws, crossword puzzles and monopoly during rainy days and recreation times.
A view of the main building
This is showing the other side where our study room was.In our high school days the discipline was with the defined schedules given to us.The Dean of Discipline assigned the hourly studies and the subject matters to be studied on these hours.If the assigned subject matter at 6 o'clock to 7 o'clock is Latin, all of us must study Latin and not any other subject matter. We would be disciplined and warned for disobedience. During study time, a priest would go around and check. Some of us managed to read nobels; we made sure we were not caught.To the end of this building at the back of the study room and library was our refectory.This was the best place of the seminary. We always dreamed of our turn to serve the Fthers in their meals, so we had the chance to taste the tastier left-overs. There were always lef-over, and all of us were given chance to serve.The cycle happens once every three weeks, and more as we grew in number in years. The small globe at the garden was made sometine in 1962 by the team and class of Edmundo Viacrucis. This was a summer vacation project. Our class was to do the map of the Philippines. It used to be hanged at the lobby until it deteriorated years later; but the globe remains up to today.
The other building
The first floor were our classrooms and lavoratory.In my class, we were here up to 1965 when we would tranfer to the new Regional Major Seminary in the neighboring location. This was when we became major seminarians in the second year of college.The second floor was the dormitory of the seminary fathers.
The Chapel
This was built and finished sometime in 1962 to 63.I remembered how messy the seminary was when this was built. We had to bear all the noise of carpentry and cementing, etc.It was grand when we inaugurated the chapel. It was and it is a beautiful chapel.We would sing the Gregorian Chant every morning. We sang here the first and last singing of the beautiful Gregorian Polyphony. This was conducted by Father Boucher. We practiced this for one year several times a week only to sing it once and no more.That was father Boucher, the perfectionist in choir projects.
The Seminary View Point
This is at the back of the second building,overlooking the Davao Gulf to the south.This was a rocky grounds with a lot of cobras. Then we made it into a yellow corn field in the early sixties with Father Fortin, then it was converted into a beautiful loan garden with fruit trees. The big trees around, including the acacia near the Kiosk were already alive then.The Kiosk was where we would start war games , covering the fields and the rivers down the hill. War game was one of our recreational projects, organized by the late Father Pigeon.We would slide down the hill covered with cogons ,using coconut leaf trunk.
The other building
This is the classroom building , viewed from the Kiosk on the Lool-out point.
Davao Gulf
The seminary is on top of a hill about 300 feet from sea level. At he Kiosk, we could see the gulf of Davao from Times Beach to south, overlooking Toril and the mountains of Santa Cruz, and Mt. Apo to the west.
The River below
This is the Tolomo river winding around our seminary hill.On quite afternoon, we could hear its sounds below. During war games and treasure hunting games we would be crossing this river with fun memories.
The Acacia Tree
This is the acacia tree at the side of the second building. I remember this to be planted by the team of Arthur Fernandez in 1959. Today, it is about 41 years old.
The view going out to the entrance
To the right is the old mango tree. It is still very alive. During the season, this used to bear a lot of fruit. It is the smaller mango, we call in the cebuano as "manga cabayo" (horse mango). It is very sweet and full of fiber. When the tree bears fruit, there are thousands of them, and they ripen yellow on the tree. we would gather a lot of yellows to our satisfaction every season.
