Brother Jieo Tecson professes as a Salesian

​On August 15, Brother Jieo Aleksander Tecson, SDB, from Calgary and four other men made their first religious profession as Salesians of Don Bosco during a celebration of the Eucharist at the National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians in Haverstraw, N.Y.

The other four men are Brothers Carlos Cerda Gutierrez, SDB, Lorenzo Carlo D’Alessandro, SDB, Nicholas Kurt Jandernoa, SDB, and Christo Ruben Philistin, SDB. Father Dominic Tran, SDB, provincial, presided at the Mass and received their vows in the name of the Salesian rector major. The five had completed a year of novitiate at the Salesian house of formation in Richmond, Calif., under the guidance of Father Joseph Thinh Nguyen, master of novices.
Bro. Jieo Aleksander Tecson, 24, is a native of Quezon City, Philippines. His parents are Gaudencio and Maria Cristina Tecson, and he has a twin sister, Anna Kristina, and a younger brother, Jed Angelo. They immigrated to Calgary, Alberta, and became involved in St. Patrick’s and Holy Spirit parishes there.

Jieo’s father had gone to a Salesian school in the Philippines. Jieo, however, discovered the Salesians by reading about Don Bosco in a lives of the saints book and then seeing the movie St. John Bosco: Mission to Love. The movie suggested to him that he might become a priest like Don Bosco, caring compassionately for the young. A homily preached by one of his parish priests, Fr. Cristino Bouvette, led him to think about the priesthood as a radical form of fatherhood, which “scared, challenged, and intrigued me all at once.” Some years later, after his first year at university, he was investigating possibilities for religious life and contacted Fr. Jim Berning, SDB, the vocation director in Canada. In the Salesians he found four of his personal desires: missions, priesthood, youth work, and religious devotion.

Brother Jieo Tecson

Thus Jieo became a candidate at Orange, N.J., in August 2022 and a prenovice at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J., in August 2023. During his prenovitiate year, he taught catechism at St. John Bosco Parish in Port Chester, N.J.
“The best part of my novitiate year,” says Bro. Jieo, “was the spirit of brotherhood I experienced with my fellow novices, in moments both of praying and of playing.” He also found a lot of satisfaction in ministry to the students at Salesian College Prep, adjacent to the novitiate house.

After professing as a seminarian, he will continue his religious and priestly formation in Orange, N.J., while studying philosophy at Seton Hall University. There “I hope to deepen my relationship with God, better assimilate the spirit of Don Bosco, and continue cultivating my skills for ministry among the young. With God’s help, I wish to become more and more conformed to Christ, especially in his obedience, poverty, and chastity, and to learn truly what it means to be a sign and bearer of his love for young people.”

Further down the road, Bro. Jieo hopes that he might become a missionary in some foreign land. “Most of my favourite saints were missionaries (the Canadian Martyrs among them!),” he states. But his ultimate aspiration is to become a saint.

The Eucharistic Celebration

Forty priests concelebrated the profession Mass, assisted by numerous members of the Salesian Family, family members of the newly professed, students from Salesian schools, and other friends. The 470-seat chapel was about two-thirds full.

Introducing the Mass of Our Lady’s Assumption, Father Dominic (in three languages) voiced thanks to God for calling us, thanks to our mother Mary, thanks to our brothers for their “yes” to God, and thanks to their parents—who were commended a couple more times during the rites.

Fr. Dominic’s homily focused on God’s initiative. On our own, he said, we’d never be ready to do God’s work. The Virgin Mary shows us that he can do great things in us, which he illustrated through several of Mary’s virtues and applied them to religious life.

Brother Jieo's family

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Written by Fr. Michael Mendl, SDB