(Libmanan Camarines Sur; 29 July 2024) After twelve (12) years since St. James the Greater Minor Seminary (SJGMS) was established in Libmanan (Camarines Sur) in 2012, one of its pioneering students, Antonio Toledano Jr., finally processed to the altar of St. James the Greater Cathedral of his home parish, this municipality, on the 29th of July 2024, to receive the Sacred Order of the Priesthood. Fr. Antonio, at that time barely 16 years old, was fourth year graduating high school student at the Colegio del Santisimo Rosario (CSR) in Libmanan, when he entered the seminary.
Fr. Antonio belonged to an original batch of three (3) seminarians — Marco Atienza and Justin Mhel Piolino, being the other two — who resided at SJGMS but who attended classes at CSR, right across the Diocesan House and the Cathedral. Unlike in most, if not all, minor seminaries in the country and even elsewhere, seminarians at SJGMS are allowed to go home every weekend so they do not get prematurely and completely uprooted from their families — their natural environment — and transported into an artificial environment, the seminary. They also attend classes at a co-educational school where they are exposed to female classmates, again unlike in most Minor Seminaries which are exclusively male formation houses and educational institutions. Being fewer in number, the minor seminarians stay at SJGMS almost free of charge as it is completely subsidized by the diocese. They are, however, not exempt from paying full tuition fees at CSR. Such was the situation and the system Fr. Antonio found himself in as he began his vocational journey.
Fr. Antonio revealed later that in the beginning he had no intention of entering the seminary, much less of becoming a priest, only that he was just too polite and shy to say “no” when the bishop asked him if he wanted to enter the seminary. He was an altar boy then at the parish and he frequently assisted at the bishop’s masses, so he — along with another friend, Marco — was an easy target of the bishop’s enticements. In all likelihood, Fr. Antonio did not know then what he was saying “yes” to when persuaded by the bishop.
In the course of his short stay at the Minor Seminary (one year), he was further coaxed into continuing his studies at St. Benedict Diocesan Seminary (SBDS) in San Fernando (Camarines Sur). Again, he could not say “no” when the bishop asked him if he wanted to pursue philosophical studies at SBDS, as a step further towards the priesthood. But not only could he not say “no” to the bishop, he was also made to believe by a friend that transferring to SBDS would offer him the opportunity of playing a lot of football (soccer), a team-sports Fr. Antonio loved so much to play as a kid. Thus, the following school year 2013-2014, he found himself as a resident seminarian of SBDS in San Fernando.
It turned out, however, that SBDS did not even have a football field, for this was rather to be found at the Holy Rosary Minor Seminary in Naga City instead. Feeling like having been tricked, he felt disappointed of course, but then he held on. For all he knew, his vocation was already gaining roots, and slowly he felt he was in fact being drawn towards the priesthood. He said that the annual summer apostolate did more to deepen further those roots as it offered him a lot of pastoral experience that accorded him the satisfaction and the joy of taking part in the local Church’s evangelizing mission.
It is the story of how he was called that Fr. Antonio chose the passage in John 15,10-17 as gospel reading for his ordination. These verses remind him about his vocation story. Here, Jesus tells his disciples “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit…” The story of how he got into the seminary indeed shows that it was never his initiative, rather it was the Lord’s.
Fr. Antonio, who lost his father—Antonio Toledano Sr.—when he was twelve years old, was raised by his mother, Leonida Curioso, among three other sisters his senior, he being the fourth. Such a loss at a very young age only made Fr. Antonio more determined to make the presence of his father come alive, that is, in his being a priest, one whom his father could truly have been proud of.
The last (fourth) to have been ordained a priest among his classmates, Fr. Ruel Verdan, the Chancellor, announced towards the end of the mass that Fr. Antonio was being appointed by the bishop as Formator of his alma mater, the SJGMS, as Assistant Oeconomus, as part-time Parochial Vicar of his home parish, the St. James the Greater Cathedral Parish, and as Assistant Chaplain of Bicol Region General Hospital and Geriatric Medical Center (BRGH-GMC).
In another surprise move, all the other assignments of the newly ordained were announced as well: Fr. Neil John Bolocon, Parochial Vicar of St. James the Greater Cathedral (Libmanan); Fr. Nikko Alan, Parochial Vicar of St. Michael the Archangel (Pamplona); Deacon Rexwilson Alto, Formator of St. Joseph the Worker Pre-Seminary (Milaor). The appointments of three other priests were also announced: Fr. Romulo Castañeda, Parish Priest of St. Michael the Archangel (Pamplona); Fr. Aldrin Adolfo, Parish Priest of St. Therese of Lisieux Parish (Tara, Sipocot); and Fr. Juan Gabon, Parish Priest of Our Lady of Salvation Parish in Salingogon (Minalabac).
