He was born in
Molo, Iloilo City, one of eight siblings, to José Hontiveros and Vicenta Pardo. He studied at Capiz Elementary School and transferred to
Ateneo de Manila High School, graduating in 1939. He attended
San Jose Seminary from 1939 to 1945 and joined the
Society of Jesus in 1945; he professed his simple vows in 1947. He began
theology studies in the
United States in 1951 and was ordained a priest by Cardinal
Francis Spellman in 1954. Following the
Second Vatican Council's authorization of the vernacular in the liturgy, Hontiveros began to write liturgical hymns in the 1960s. He wrote his first hymn for
Mass at the Jesuit-administered San Jose Manggagawa parish in Barangka,
Marikina, intending that it could be easily sung and learned by ordinary Filipinos. This established the tradition of Filipino popular
hymnody that was later labeled as "Jesuit music." His most famous hymns include
Tagalog settings of the
Gloria ("Papuri sa Diyos") and
Magnificat ("Ang Puso Ko'y Nagpupuri"), as well as "Maria, Bukang-Liwayway" () and "Pananagutan" (), among others. His works have been published and sung in many parishes in the Philippines and abroad; his Gloria has been sung at
St. Peter's Basilica in
Rome. His works were published by the
Ateneo-based
Jesuit Music Ministry.
Illness and death Hontiveros suffered a
stroke in 1991 which affected his mobility and ability to communicate. On January 4, 2008, he was found lying unconscious in a hallway of the Loyola House of Studies in
Quezon City, and physicians later determined that he had suffered another stroke. He died on January 15, 2008. Among the attendees at his funeral on January 19 was President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who presented a posthumous award for his work. ==Legacy==