Gilbert Luis R. Centina III

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Poet, fictionist and essayist Gilbert Luis R. Centina III (born 1947), a member of the religious Order of St. Augustine, is one of the leading Christian voices in contemporary literature, following in the tradition of another Augustinian, the 16th-century poet Fray Luis de León that critics have crowned as the Prince of Spanish Lyric Poetry. He belongs to the Spanish circumscription of the Augustinian Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus of the Philippines. On Sept. 20, 2006, Father Provincial Carlos F. Moran, OSA and Council named him pastor of the Augustinian-run parish of Holy Rosary in New York City. Edward Cardinal Egan formally appointed him pastor of Holy Rosary Parish on Dec. 1, 2006.

Shortly after entering the Augustinian Convent in historic Intramuros, Manila, he studied at the University of Santo Tomas, Manila's royal and pontifical university, where he obtained his ecclesiastical degrees (BA classical, Ph.B., STB, and STL, all cum laude). He earned his M.A. in comparative literature from the University of the Philippines and had completed required units toward a Ph.D. in comparative literature from a public university in the central Philippines but did not submit a thesis to be conferred the degree. Upon his ordination to the priesthood, he briefly served as a missionary in Peru.

Reverend Centina is the author of two books of poetry. His work has been included in Philippine high school and college textbooks. Besides English, he also writes in Spanish and in two Philippine languages, Hiligaynon and Tagalog. From the Asian Catholic Publishers and the Archdiocese of Manila under the late Jaime Cardinal Sin, he received the Catholic Authors Award in 1996.

[edit] Works

Books of Poems: Our Hidden Glaxette, Manila: M. Colcol and Company, 1970; Glass of Liquid Truths, Makati: Augustinian Fathers, 1974 and Iloilo City: Bayanihan Printing Company, third international deluxe edition, 1979).
Copy Editor, John Paul II in Iloilo (Iloilo City: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Jaro, 1981).
Editor (2002-05), Search, The Augustinian Journal of Cultural Excellence.

[edit] Awards

Catholic Authors Award
Focus Philippines Literary Awards, Poetry
Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, English poetry
University of Santo Tomas Annual Rector's Literary Awards, English poetry and short story