Buenaventura Paredes was the 78th successor of Dominic as Master of the Order of Preachers. Born to a pious family in Castañedo de Valdes, Luarca, Spain on April 19, 1866, Paredes eventually decided to enter the Order of Preachers and received the Dominican habit on August 30, 1833. True to the Dominican tradition of scholarship, he studied theology, civil law, and philosophy and letters prior to his ordination to the priesthood on July 25, 1891. After his ordination, he pursued further studies with which he earned his doctorate in philosophy and letters and in jurisprudence. He then traveled to the Philippines as a missionary assigned to the Dominican Province of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary. While in Manila, he obtained the degree of lector in theology, which was a requirement for teaching in the University of Santo Tomas. Paredes was a professor of political and administrative law at the UST Faculty of Civil Law which was then in Intramuros. He was also director of the UST published Catholic newspaper "Libertas".