Pontificio Collegio Filippino

Pontificio Collegio Filippino (English: "Pontifical Filipino College"; Filipino: "Dalubhasaang Pilipinong Pontipikal"), officially Pontificio Collegio Seminario de Nuestra Señora de la Paz y Buen Viaje (English: "Pontifical College Seminary of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage"), is a college for diocesan priests from the Philippines studying at pontifical universities in Rome, Italy. It was formally established as an institution with pontifical rights by Pope John XXIII on June 29, 1961 through the Papal Bull "Sancta Mater Ecclesia".
The current rector is the Rev. Gregory Ramon D. Gaston, S.T.D.
Building and some of its Unique Features.
The Collegio is at 490 Via Aurelia on a lot between the Collegio Pio-Brasiliano and the Villa Pacelli, in a suburb of Rome. The four-story building was designed by Edoardo Cherubini in a 1060s contemporary design.
On canonization of St. Pedro Calungsod, the second Filipino saint, a commemorative retablo was made by Filipino sculptor Wilfredo Layug from Betis, Guagua, Pampanga, for the chapel at the crypt of the Collegio. Both "relleba" (relief murals) of the retablo depict Sts. Lorenzo Ruiz and Pedro Calungsod being tortured by pagans to force them to renounce their faith. St. Lorenzo Ruiz was executed in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1637, while St. Pedro Calungsod was killed together with Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores in 1672 in Tumhon, Guam. In the mural of St. Pedro Calungsod, Layug carved the image of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, the Patroness of the Pontificio Collegio Filippino. The angels are Filipina women garbed in "baro" and "saya" (native Filipino blouse and skirt), done in "estofado", a detailed carving style that gives the image the look of real clothes. Bamboo is a constant motif in the Retablo.
History.
Cardinal Rufino Santos proposed establishing the college during the meeting of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines on January 26–31, 1959. His plan was supported by the Philippine bishops and approved by the Vatican. On August 8, 1959, Pope John XXIII personally blessed the cornerstone for the building in the private study of his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo. Cardinal Santos and Philippine Ambassador to the Holy See, José María Delgado, witnessed the event. The following day, Cardinal Giuseppe Pizzardo laid the cornerstone on the site of the edifice in the presence of 70 Cardinals, diplomats, Superiors General, seminary and university rectors and other distinguished personalities. Pope John XXIII blessed and inaugurated the modern edifice on October 7, 1961, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.