“Like living creatures, with the passing of years, books age, too. Let us be gentle with old age for we, too, like old books, are destined to grow old.”

This beautiful imagery from Fr. Angel Aparicio, O.P., prefect of libraries at University of Santo Tomas in Manila, is the impetus of a grand project called Lumina Pandit II—a multi-million undertaking, supported by Unionbank of the Philippines, which seeks to restore, preserve and digitize the priceless heritage collection of the university’s centuries’ old Miguel de Benavides Library.