Whence comes another Fr. Bernad?

Quietly and unobtrusively, peacefully, silently, last Sunday at noon, Fr. Miguel A. Bernad, S. J. passed away in Cagayan de Oro. He left a body of written work—on topics from literary criticism, to history, biography and travel essays—that amazes by its quality and quantity. He left his mark as a teacher that his students carry through their lives.
Born and reared in Mindanao, brought up on its history including tales from his forefathers about their interaction with Rizal in exile at Dapitan, studious, with a flair for writing and literature, he became a Jesuit having found the treasure of his being, a religious vocation that brought him to the priesthood.
Fr. Bernad was a legendary literature teacher who nevertheless conducted himself as such almost under the radar of the great passions and themes of literature. Literature was ever the centerpiece of his class, the teacher, the impeccable guide, keeping it as the focus of attention. He was diligent, competent, prepared for class and laid the groundwork for serious, but not unlively, philosophical and moral commentary of the literature he was teaching. He was the compleat literature teacher who could quote from memory, demonstrate connections from genre to genre, elaborate the backgrounds and times of authors and themes. Those who went through his classes learned to love literature, appreciate books, live the humanities.
Fr. Bernad was over 90 when he passed on, having taught for generations at the Ateneo University in Manila, at Ateneo de Cagayan which became Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro, as well as in foreign academic institutions (National Taiwan University, Tamkang College of arts and Sciences, Taipei and Yale University, his graduate school, where he lectured.) Besides teaching, Fr. Bernad wrote, edited, reviewed books, interpreted literary works. Two established publications bear his influence—The Journal of Philippine Studies of the Ateneo de Manila University and Kinaadman of Xavier University where he was a pioneering editor.
Fr. Bernad also had a considerable number of historical publications. Religious Revolution in the Philippines (in four volumes), which he wrote with his fellow Jesuit Fr. Pedro de Achutegui, is a landmark study of Philippine religious movements at the turn of the 19th century hand in hand with the Philippine Revolution. He also wrote on Aguinaldo and the Revolution of 1896. He is one of the chroniclers of Jesuit history in the Philippines, writing numerous biographical sketches and biographies of his predecessors as literature teachers, Mindanao pastors and fellow historians.
On February 18, Fr. Bernad came to Manila and launched five books. All of them were new, though much of their material had been published over more than 50 years but had been out of print for some time. There were Jesuit biographies, others were literary criticism tomes, one was philosophical and moral commentary, and another was a series of travel essays from a trip to Latin America in the 70s. There were three publishers involved resurrecting out of print pieces that had over time been searched for by those who had heard about them. The Ateneo Publications organized the book launch, which drew a large appreciative crowd led by National Artist Frankie Sionil Jose and leading writer, Gregorio Brillantes. Fr. Bernad with his very poor eyesight was nevertheless besieged for autographs. I thought to send the books I bought to him for a later time to autograph at leisure. In a month’s time, three days short of a month after his book launch, he flew to His Maker.
I will always remember the last lecture he gave that I attended at the Ateneo University. The subject was Dante’s Divine Comedy and he opened it directly with a long quotation in medieval Italian from the work whereupon he proceeded to dissect and annotate it, all from memory. He was close to 90, still the supreme literature teacher and literary critic.
Whence comes another Fr. Bernad?
miongpin@yahoo.com