Apu Ceto: Gifted of Grace

TODAY, MARCH 9, marks the 89^th birthday of Archbishop Emeritus Paciano B. Aniceto. It has also been 12 years since Apu Ceto was succeeded as prelate of the Archdiocese of San Fernando, two years after reaching the mandatory age of retirement at 75.

Retired – we wrote here at that time – only from the administration of the archdiocese but not, never, from being the shepherd to his flock which he shall carry all his life. And, in the divine order of things, up until the life beyond, in the company of the elect basking in the glory of the Lord.

And indeed, he is as active, as involved, as committed as ever in his labors in the Lord’s vineyard everywhere, as though nothing has changed, in his status – for lack of a word – dispensing the gifts of his priestly faculties, sharing the gift of grace with his flock.

Correspondingly the outpouring of gratitude, praise, and reverence that came in the wake of his retirement continues to this day, ever growing that one feels some beatification process has commenced for the cause of Apu Ceto.   

Apu Ceto will be the first to dismiss even the slightest whiff of saintliness ascribed to him. Just an everyday human being trying to live up to his calling, he would rather be deemed, humbling himself as one “malating talasuyu.”

It is precisely though that “littleness,” that “trying to live up to his calling” that have – in the eyes of his flock – elevated Apu Ceto over and above their everyday pastors, and enshrined him in their hearts. Precisely as the Good Book says of those who humble themselves.

By transcending all socio-economic classes, embraced as much by the perfumed set as by the sweating masses, Apu Ceto is in a class all his own, unwavering though in his steadfastness to the Church’s preferential option for the poor. His mission most focused on “the last, the least, and the lost” in human society. Again, the Good Book on the blessed who shall have the kingdom of heaven, who shall inherit the earth.    

If there is anybody that literally graces any and all occasion s/he comes to, it is Apu Ceto, with his abundance of such sanctifying gift. So much abundance that urban legend has it: Apu Ceto administering the sacrament of extreme unction warrants an instant visa to heaven, that whomever he served the viaticum passes on blissfully through the pearly gates. The peace, serenity and joy as they lay in state – those he anointed proximate to death – a testament to the potency of Apu Ceto’s gift of grace. 

Less human instinct than spiritual rush for the living to reach out to, to touch Apu Ceto, and be imbued with his grace. This I personally witnessed as much in the Pampanga parishes as in the different churches in San Francisco and Los Angeles, in his three pastoral visits from the 2000 to 2004.

And not only Kapampangans and other Filipino regional groups, but even Latinos, African-Americans and whites were wont to circle about him after each Mass seeking his blessing, kissing his hand, embracing him, taking photographs with him, not a few of these framed and found spots in their altars and family shrines at home.

So, I already sound like the postulator for the cause of sainthood of Apu Ceto when he had only retired, and still very much alive. So be it, his most enthusiastic apologist I may serve, but I offer no apologies.

Touched by his grace, the day I entered Mater Boni Consilii Seminary, prayerfully hoping to be a priest. 

Unabandoned by him, in the darkest period of my apostasy, when the trinity of Marx-Lenin-Mao obliterated all faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  

Converted by his holiness – he did a Maximilian Kolbe, albeit of less-than-fatal proportion, when he signed my custody papers, offering himself in my stead at the Camp Olivas stockade, if ever I rejoined the movement. This in the earliest – and thus, most terrifying – days of Martial Law.

By his grace, I am alive and have become – for better – what I am now. As with countless others, not only in Pampanga but in the other dioceses he served, aye, every one whose life he has had even the slightest touch.

Apu Ceto is his own message. Messenger and message fused into one. It is from that oneness that emanates Apu Ceto’s charisma – in its true essence of grace endowed upon a person owing to his privileged position with the Divine, to paraphrase the sociologist Max Webber.

Apu Ceto is that good sermon we see, we feel, and – prayerfully – we live. 

(Snatches from previous Zona pieces dating from 2014, updated for our beloved Apu Ceto’s 89^th birthday, 9 March 2026)