“If we encounter a man of rare intellect,
we should ask him what books he reads.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Vincentian Fathers have been at the forefront of the formation of the Filipino clergy since the time of the Spanish occupation. They have been the administrators and formators of seminaries in different areas in the country at some point or other; in particular, the San Carlos Major Seminary in Cebu, which has been recently turned over to the diocesan clergy.

The article illustrates the kind of academic, philosophical and theological training that the Vincentian Fathers have provided for the formation of the clergy in Cebu through the books and materials they have left behind, after they turned over the administration. Through this collection of books and references, some dating hundreds of years ago but are still significantly valuable, the seminary, as the paper suggests, has an indispensable tool in its hand to continue the legacy that the Vincentian Fathers have started, as far as the formation of a well-equipped, edified clergy is concerned.