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Radio Veritas the leading faith-based AM station in the Philippines, will air the canonical declaration to Diocesan Shrinehood of the St.Thérèse of the Child Jesus Parish in the University of the Philippines Los Baños, in Laguna on October 1, 2016.
Veritas public affairs programs, “Magkabiyak sa Batas” and “Veritasan” will be pre-empted by the Eucharistic celebration to be presided by Rev. Msgr. Jerry Bitoon H.P., Vicar General of the Diocese of San Pablo at 9am and other activities of the Parish during this magnificent event. The blessing of the facilities and the Chapel will be held earlier at 8:00am. At 12:00nn, the Holy Mass in honor of the feast day of St. Therese of the Child Jesus will be officiated at the Our Lady of Veritas Chapel in Quezon City.
The devotion to St. Therese of the Child Jesus started in the mid-1920s shortly after the Catholic Church canonized St. Therese. The students and professors of the then UP College of Agriculture and Forestry petitioned church authorities in the Archdiocese of Lipa to establish a chapel outside the university’s perimeter fence. A chapel was then built in honor of St. Therese in 1927 with a seating capacity of 120 people. Since then, it became the unofficial university chapel.
The present church with a maximum seating capacity of 1,000 was built and blessed in 1971. Currently, the parish is under the pastoral care of Father Luis A. Tolentino, who will also be the first Rector of the Shrine.
Saint Therese of the Child Jesus is one of the patron saints of the missions and co-patron of France. In 2013, the relics of St. Thérèse visited the UPLB community as part of its world pilgrimage. The relics of the parents of St. Therese, Louis and Zelie Martin, who were also canonized into sainthood last 18 October 2015 by Pope Francis, will also visit the Shrine on 18-19 January 2017 as part of the Philippine tour of the reliquary.
The declaration of St.Thérèse of the Child Jesus Parish as diocesan Shrine on October 1 coincides with St. Therese’s feast day celebration.
Radio Veritas 846 is owned and operated by the Archdiocese of Manila. Established in 1969, the Ramon Magsaysay recipient Catholic radio station continues to be the leading social communications ministry for truth and evangelization in the country today.
