Gilbert Luis R. Centina III

An Augustinian friar[6] under the Spanish circumscription of the Augustinian Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus of the Philippines, he entered the Augustinian Monastery in historic Intramuros, Manila and attended the University of Santo Tomas,[7] the Philippines' royal and pontifical university. He graduated cum laude in each of his four ecclesiastical degrees from the University of Santo Tomas: BA classical, Ph.B., STB, and STL. He earned his MA in comparative literature at the University of the Philippines and completed the coursework toward a Ph.D. in comparative literature at another state university but left without completing his dissertation.

After his ordination to the priesthood, he briefly served as a missionary in Peru. He taught literature as a professorial lecturer, served as a school chaplain for many years and as pastor of a Manhattan parish church.[8][9][10] Along the way, he authored hundreds of newspaper columns and magazine articles as well as edited a scholarly journal on St. Augustine and contributed poetry and fiction to literary publications. He lived and worked in Spain for seven years,[11] from 2013 until his death in 2020.[12]

At the time of his death on May 1, 2020, due to complications from COVID-19 in the northwestern city of Leon, Spain, Centina had just completed his eighth poetry collection, Recovecos/Crevices. The poetry book, which contains three hundred fifty poems in Spanish and English, is his third bilingual poetry collection. He started producing bilingual books in English and Spanish after rediscovering his Spanish roots in Spain, where he was assigned from 2013 until his death in 2020 and where he found a receptive and growing audience.[13]

His time in Spain was marked with an explosion of creativity, resulting in the publication of six poetry books, a novel and a book of literary criticism.[14] Such was the intensity of his creativity that in less than a year, he was able to produce three poetry books Madre España, which he released in July 2019,[15] quickly followed by Plus Ultra y otros poemas/Plus Ultra and Other Poems, which was published in January 2020 and Recovecos/Crevices These three books were produced under very difficult circumstances for Centina who struggled with his health after a difficult kidney transplant surgery in June 2018 at Bilbao's Cruces Hospital, where he underwent seven surgeries in a span of one month as surgeons struggled to fix a leaking bladder that was causing him constant infections. In the end, they attached a nephrostomy tube to his new kidney into a collecting bag outside his body. He hinted about his health problems in the preface to his book Madre España, in which he thanked the Spanish people for their generosity: "I am writing this a year to the day I underwent a life-saving surgery, full of gratitude in my heart for the hospitality and the generosity of the Spanish people, which have sustained me in my long and continuing journey to recovery. Their selflessness exemplifies the nobility of their Iberian roots."[16]

On April 7, 2013, he published Somewhen[17] in the United States, his third poetry book. Portland Book Review[18] described Somewhen as "modern poetry at its best," adding that "for modern poetry to be this eloquent and thought provoking is a grave task that Centina III accomplishes splendidly." Sacramento Book Review[19][20] called the book "lyrical" and "positively radiant" and noted that it is "deeply rooted in religious history, mythology and mysticism." The collection, it added, "honors the [Catholic] church's fortitude, individual spirit and conviction, belief and the voyage thereof."

The collection marked his comeback to poetry writing after a long hiatus that followed his winning the Focus Literary Awards in poetry in 1982. Along the way, he devoted himself to his priestly duties and limited his writing to newspaper columns. During this time, he served as editor-in-chief of Search, a journal on the life and works of St. Augustine of Hippo published in Makati City, Philippines, by Colegio San Agustin-Makati.[21] Somewhen was followed by the publication of Rubrics and Runes (New York: June 2013), Triptych and Collected Poems (New York: August 2013) and Getxo and Other Poems (New York: January 2014). His earlier books of poems, Our Hidden Glaxette and Glass of Liquid Truths, were also republished in May 2013.

Our Hidden Galaxette

His first novel is a roman à clef, written under a nom de plume. The novel, Wages of Sin, was published as a limited edition in Honolulu in 1988. On June 20, 2013, he released under his real name his controversial second novel Rubrics and Runes, a satire tackling clericalism, simony, financial shenanigans and sex abuse in the Catholic Church as perpetrated by some misguided churchmen.[22][23]

According to the blurb of Rubrics and Runes, it "tells the story of a friar who gets caught in the maelstrom of conventual and secular politics when the two supposedly incongruous worlds collide. When José Morán entered the monastery, it was to pursue the highest form of chivalry. But his fate as a religious priest takes a precipitous turn when social paroxysm grips the fictional island-nation of Islas e Islotes after the downfall of the government. To cover up his own misdeeds, his abominably corrupt religious superior leading a double life seizes the ensuing chaos and collaborates with human rights violators in military uniform to accuse the completely innocent friar of a fabricated heinous crime. The plot unravels as those who claim to follow Christ wade into politics, taking for granted his injunction to 'render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.'"

In an article titled "Una Perspectiva Históríca de la Poesía Hispanofilipina"[24] that he wrote for Universidad de Murcia, Edmundo Farolan, poet and correspondent[25] of the Real Academia Española, cited Centina's poetry in Spanish as belonging to an avant-garde group of Filipino poets who “in addition to Castilian...write in other languages and in different styles and themes—free verse and prose, to traditional metrics surrealist themes, Dadaists and protest, realistic subjects, religious and serene. Avant-garde, but returning to the castellano classics: Quevedo, Gongora, Santa Teresa de Jesus, Manrique and Garcilaso de la Vega."

In May 2017, he published Diptych/Díptico,[26] his first bilingual (English-Spanish) poetry collection. Midwest Book Review'praised the book as a "beautiful synthesis of poetry, philosophy, spirituality and psychological inspection that is well illustrated especially recommended for poetry readers who seek a journey from individual inspection to universal spiritual truth..."[27] In December 2017, Centina came out with Spiritual Quest in Verse: A Literary Criticism of the Religious Poetry of Ricardo Demetillo.[28]

Poetry:

• Our Hidden Galaxette, [first edition, Manila: 1970; second edition, New York: 2013].
• Glass of Liquid Truths [first and second editions, Makati: 1974; third international deluxe edition, Iloilo City: 1979; fourth edition and first printing in the United States, New York: 2013].
• Somewhen [New York: 2013].
• Triptych and Collected Poems [New York: 2013].
• Getxo and Other Poems [New York: 2014].
• Diptych/Díptico [New York: 2017].
• Spiritual Quest in Verse [New York: 2017]
• Madre España and Other Poems [New York: 2019]
• Plus ultra y otros poemas/Plus Ultra and Other Poems [New York: 2020]

Novels:

• Wages of Sin [Honolulu: 1988].
• Rubrics and Runes [New York: 2013].

Literary Criticism:

• Spiritual Quest in Verse: A Literary Criticism of Ricaredo Demetillo's Religious Poetry [New York: 2017].

Others:

• 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.

• Catholic Authors Award
• Focus Philippines Literary Awards, poetry
• Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, English poetry, 1974
• University of Santo Tomas Annual Rector's Literary Prizes, English poetry and short story
• Named as one of the outstanding chaplains of the Philippines in the year 2000, Knights of Columbus, Manila.

• Farolan, Edmundo, An Historical Perspective of Filipino Spanish Poetry, University of Murcia, Spain.
• Extended Hours, One Day Only: Absolution in the City, The New York Times. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
• Augnet.org. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
• Course Outline-Philippine Literature. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
• Bonifacio, Andrew Isiah P. The Varsitarian at 80 Exhibit. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
• Flynn, Fr. John. Changes in Religious Identification, Zenit.org, The World Seen from Rome. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
• 'Priest Launches Book on Cassocked Hypocrites', Ucannews.com. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
• 'Priest Unmasks Cassocked Hypocrisy in Latest Novel,' GMANews. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
• 'New Way to Support Old Church,' The New York Times. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
• Sacramento Book Review.
• Portland Book Review