Father Vicente P Marasigan, S.J. is the second oldest Jesuit in the Philippine Province of the Society of Jesus. (The oldest is Fr Pierre Tritz,SJ, who will be 100 years old this year.) Fr Marasigan was well-known even at birth. His mother, Ana H. del Pilar, was the daughter of Marcelo H. del Pilar, and Gregorio del Pilar was his uncle.
Father Marasigan did his primary and secondary studies at the Ateneo de Manila in Intramuros, 1926-35, and entered Sacred Heart Novitiate on May 30, 1935. He did his theology partly at Padre Faura and completed it at Woodstock College in Maryland, USA. After ordination in 1946 he did special studies in Math at Fordham University in New York and astrophysics at Georgetown University, Washington DC till 1952.
On his return to the Philippines in 1952 Fr Marasigan was assigned to the Manila Observatory. In the succeeding years he taught physics, math, cosmology, and scientific questions in physics to young Jesuit scholastics in Cebu and Quezon City for many years. He also did research on the ionosphere. In the early 1980s he took a couple of years off to do research on a completely different field–popular religiosity at Mt Banahaw, Kinabuhayan, Dolores, Quezon province.
Although Fr Marasigan has been in the Lucas Infirmary for a number of years now, he has maintained an active lifestyle within Loyola House of Studies. He is often seen sunning himself in the garden outside the infirmary. He goes around the long corridors and to the recreation room to read. In his room he often opens his computer and plays computer games, reads novels, watches movies, emails his philosophical and spiritual thoughts, etc. He watches choice programs on TV. He drinks a measured quantity of red wine at meals and welcomes an occasional shot of brandy, especially if it is Cognac. A gifted pianist,he recently stopped playing the piano because it was too difficult on his fingers. He complains of occasional aches and pains and of weak hearing in one ear. He continues to be mentally alert and enjoys good memory. He was hoping that the Lord would call him to his eternal mansion a few years ago but the Good Lord clearly has other plans for him.
