Recollections
A chronicle of students' life at St. Jerome's
SCHOOL LIFE AT ST. JEROME'S (Part 2)
by Viv Angeles
THE REVEREND FATHER JOHN KAISER
Father Kaiser was a member of the Columban order of priests. The Columbans came to Morong in 1934 in response to the request of the
Archbishop of Manila for foreign priests. They stayed on until 1994. I do not know how the Columban fathers got the lakeshore towns but all the
priests from Jalajala to Angono belonged to the order. When they left
Morong, they said that their mission had been accomplished. The Philippine church has come of age and it is now the time for Filipinos to be
missionaries. I thought this was an interesting development. Christianity came from the west and now the easterners will most likely be missionaries
to the west. Christianity has come full circle in the Philippines.
Father Kaiser came to Morong in 1949. He was originally from Omaha, Nebraska. A friend of Diko Do and Nancy in Texas told Nanay sometime in the
early 1980s that she knew the Kaiser family. This was unbelievable! Helen had lots of stories about the Kaiser family, particularly about Fr. Kaiser.
Father Kaiser was a towering figure, with a smallish face. He always went around town in his motorcycle and he owned a gun. Fr. Pat even said in
1987 that Fr. Kaiser had fired it once, into the air, when he was mad or something. Fr. Pat's reaction was "a man of the cloth with a gun!"
In 1950, Fr. Kaiser started St. Jerome's Academy. Many Morong families supported him in this venture and that was part of the reason the
Atendidos, Mateos, Matawarans, Tiburcios and several of us, San Miguels and Angeleses were there. Like other Columban priests before him, he
frequented our home, brought his guests there, and shared Nanay's fondness for roses. Many of Nanay's roses found their way to the azotea of the
convento.
Father Kaiser was constantly busy, doing electrical, landscaping, maintenance work and being priest. We had seen the place where the priests
lived and I could not understand how they lived with all that mess -- boxes of things and books all over the place. He would climb up the church tower
in his work clothes, which were always white T-shirt, and dark pants and cut the vines and bushes growing on the sides of the tower. We would be
looking up at him from the patio, either worried that he might fall, or amazed that he was like Tarzan. At other times, he would be directing us in
fancy drill marches in the patio.
Our freshman literature class was one of two or three teaching assignments Father Kaiser had. Either he wanted to do it, or they wanted to
save money by not hiring more teachers. I cannot forget that long discourse he had on how an apple with a rotten part can still be eaten, but you have
to take the rotten part out first. This discourse was in connection with our book, Philippine Prose and Poetry. One of the selections in it was
entitled "Sisa." It is part of Jose Rizal's Noli me Tangere, a novel that exposed the abuses of Spanish friars and officials and which eventually led
to the death of Rizal by firing squad. Sisa was a woman whose children, Crispin and Basilio, were sakristans at the church and were subjected to
the abuses of the parish priest. One of the boys died, and the other disappeared. Sisa became a madwoman. Father Kaiser said that if an apple
has a rotten part, we have to cut that part before eating the apple. So, we skipped that selection. This was 1956-57, a time when we, students of St.
Jerome's were not exposed to the realities of colonialism. We were supposed to be thankful to Spain for Christianity and were often told that
the Moros were bad because they refused to accept Christianity. Our measure of a person was more in terms of whether he was Catholic or not. At that
time, we did not question. We were told and we accepted. But of course, times have changed. We were to learn later of the evils of colonialism and
of Spanish colonial policy in particular.
One of the things Father Kaiser liked to do was show movies. Somehow, Chita and I were used by the teachers to get him to do this. I remember at
least twice, when for some reason or other, the teachers decided that we'd have movies. They probably did not feel like teaching. So here were Tia
Edita Matawaran and Miss Rito, telling Chita and I to go to Father Kaiser and ask him to show us movies. We were supposed to be kids whom Father
Kaiser would never refuse. So, acting like spoiled brats, Chita and I told Father Kaiser something to the effect we really wanted to watch movies
the rest of the day. So he drove to Tanay to borrow a film. In the meantime, the students and teachers removed the room partitions, hung up
white sheets for a screen and by the time Father Kaiser came back, the place was an improvised movie house.
Father Kaiser also loved gardening. There was a courtyard in the convento and he had the whole place dug up. He designed a garden, which he
said would resemble those royal gardens in Europe. Each class was assigned a particular area to tend and we had adelfas, roses, chichiricas, etc. in
that garden. Several of the roses had come from Nanay's own collections. When we went to visit in 1987, I realized that the garden was no longer
there. Instead, the courtyard was cemented and I saw piles of wood, debris, and others in some corners.
The problem with Father Kaiser was, he gave lengthy homilies and a lot of times, they lasted more than an hour. Because of this, most of the young
men would get out of the church during the homily and stay in the patio. There, they would smoke or chat, and then come back in time for the credo.
The women, who were supposed to be more devout, stayed inside the church with the children as Father Kaiser lambasted whomever he was angry at. Many
times, we wondered about the connections between the readings and gospels and the homilies. He used the pulpit to attack anyone who did not agree
with his ideas. If he fought with the mayor, he tackled it in the homily the following Sunday.
Father Kaiser died in an accident on that bend in the Morong-Teresa road on July 24, 1961. He was driving his green pick up truck with several
faculty members and must have been driving very fast when the truck turned turtle. He was brought to the Morong Emergency Hospital where Tatay
attended to him but nothing else could be done. He was buried in Morong, according to his wishes.
ST. JEROME'S ACADEMY
I went to the local parochial school -- St. Jerome's Academy, from first grade to first year high school. It was named after our patron saint,
San Geronimo, or St. Jerome.
The school was established in 1950. I remember Nanay and Tatay talking about sending me to the new school. They were talking with Tio Uro
(George's father, who was very much involved in church activities). They talked about the importance of having a Catholic school and Catholic
education for children. I was rather apprehensive, but did not remember raising an issue about it. Marilee was not born yet, and Kuya Pat, Diko Do
and Ate Girlie were already going to the public school (Tomas Claudio Memorial School). It never occurred to me to ask why I was the only going
to the new school.
This new school turned out to be St. Jerome's Academy. I did not go to the kindergarten class. There was no such class. I thought I was in
kindergarten but realized, after a few months, that we were in first grade. Chita and I were among the first batch of first graders together with Rosie
Soriano, Ellen Nora, Aurelia from Hardin who was good in Math, Vangie Cruz, Crispin Aranda, Zarde Capinpin, Ruben Orig, and others. Our teacher was
Miss Dolores Foz.
I cannot remember the exact tuition but it was to be paid monthly. Nanay always paid at the beginning of the school year because she did not
want to be bothered with keeping track of when payments were due.
Our first grade classroom was on the second floor of the convento. That second floor at the time was actually a big open area, but they had
put some temporary walls for our classroom. Other grades met somewhere else in the building. The priests lived in a big room towards the east end of
the second floor. There was an azotea (balcony) at the back of that room, where the priests would occasionally have breakfast or coffee amidst Father
Kaiser's roses. This azotea was eventually transformed into a classroom and the office of the principal. Since they just built over the azotea and
used the same tiles as the floor, the principal's office was always flooded
every time it rained.
The convento was an interesting building to explore. There was that particular passageway between the walls in the first floor. We heard many
stories about that passageway. Someone said that there was an old lady who lived there. We tried to go several times, but always got scared and ran
back after about five steps. It was only in 1994 that I learned from Tia Edita that it actually led to the room of the priests.
There were several renovations done in the convento the whole time I was there, to accommodate classes. Partitions were added, the priests moved
to the room above the sacristy of the church, and the priests' kitchen was moved to an addition near the priests' room. It was closer to the
classrooms and every time Aling Felisa cooked lunch, the scent of her sautéed garlic, onion and tomatoes (the basics for many Philippine dishes)
permeated our classrooms. Since we did not have a Home Economics building, cooking demonstrations were also held in this kitchen. It was much better
than the old and dark kitchen where we boiled eggs in fifth grade Home Economics. We were excited about that cooking demonstration and the next
thing I knew, Errol San Juan was asking me why such a simple thing as boiling an egg had to be taught in Home Economics at St. Jerome's.
MISS RITO, OUR BALLERINA
I do not exactly remember when Miss Rito was hired to be principal of St. Jerome's. She was an interesting woman. Her complexion was dark, she
had tight curls, and a rather pointed chin. She spoke English well, and one of the first things we learned about her was that she was a ballerina! That
was perfect for our programs! St Jerome's was known for staging elaborate feast day programs and Miss Rito was very enthusiastic about it.
True enough, she tried to transform us into ballerinas. We'd spend endless hours rehearsing at Tia Ana's home in San Joseph. Tia Ana had a
hi-fi and most of the time we had the whole house to ourselves. She had a stall in the market where she practically lived, and she has two sons -
Efren, then a medical student, and Cesar who was also a student in St. Jerome's and was also involved in
the programs.
Miss Rito danced with passion, as she demonstrated to us the steps in Swan Lake. I could almost hear her now saying "shoulders back, chin up,
hands in positions!" Try to imagine Ruben Orig, Cesar Soriano and Cecil Tiburcio playing the male roles in Swan Lake. I was one of the swans and
Naida Martinez had the lead role. True, we tried to do those steps --pas de deux, arabesque, and what have you and Miss Rito always said we were
wonderful. Never mind that we were teetering on "ballet shoes" made by Ando
Raymundo, the only shoemaker in town, and that none of us ever had ballet lessons.
These "ballet" performances, however, were not really new to us. Miss San Felipe, with the help of Tancio Gonzales (who used to teach at San
Beda) choreographed an earlier ballet production, "Waltz of the Flowers." I was
queen of the flowers. Naida Martinez, Ellen Nora, Perla Gonzales, Chata Claudio, Vangie Gonzales, Chita, and Rosie were among the dancers. Rosie
was the only one who used wide ribbons for her "ballet" shoes. She said her Tio Apo (Nap Aralar) wanted it that
way.
Angeling, our dressmaker in Manila made my "tutu", but my shoes were Ando shoes. Whirling around with layers of tulle under my "tutu" which made
me itchy and trying to dance on tippy toes with my Ando ballet shoes were not easy tasks.
