Anscar Chupungco

Dom Anscar Javier Chupungco (born Herminio Javier; 10 November 1939 – 9 January 2013) was a Filipino Benedictine liturgist, theologian and educator at the Pontifical Atheneum of St. Anselm in Rome and San Beda University in Manila. He was known for integrating local customs and traditions into the Catholic Mass.

Biography Chupungco was born in Cainta, Rizal, to Estanislao Santo Tomas Chupungco and Dominga Javier. He became a monk of the Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat in Manila in 1958 at the age of 19, at which time he was given the religious name of Anscar (after Ansgar, a Benedictine missionary saint of the 9th century. He was ordained a priest in 1965.

Chupungco earned his licentiate in philosophy and theology (both magna cum laude) from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila and his doctorate in Sacred Theology, specializing in liturgy, from the Pontifical Atheneum of St. Anselm, learning from the scholars in the field who had served as periti (expert consultants) during the Second Vatican Council.

Ministry Chupungco became a member of the faculty of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Liturgy in Rome in 1973, the first Filipino to teach there. He was later chosen as the president of the institute and rector magnificus of the Atheneum. He also established the Paul VI Institute of Liturgy in the Philippines, in conjunction with the Bishop of Malaybalay,Gaudencio Rosales. This faculty was to serve as a center for forming liturgists to serve throughout Asia.

As a leading expert in liturgy, Chupungco was sought after in many parts of the world. He also produced the Handbook for Liturgical Studies, which became a standard set of textbooks for liturgical education in the world. He was a board member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in Rome.