Fr Mars P Tan SJ pronounced his Final Vows as a Jesuit priest on October 16, 2010 during Holy Mass at the Immaculate Conception Chapel in Xavier University. Fr Mars pronounced  his vows of perpetual poverty, chastity, obedience and special obedience to the Pope with regard to missions before Fr Jojo Magadia, SJ Provincial Superior of the Philippine Province Jesuits.

Fr Mars is a native of Placer, Surigao del Norte. He took up BS Biology at the Ateneo de Davao University, and finished his MA Theology at the Ateneo de Manila and MS Environmental Science at the University of Philippines in Diliman.

Presently, he is the rector of the Jesuit community at Xavier University and also the director of Xavier University’s McKeough Marine Center where he does research on the ridge to reef continuum. He is also a faculty member of the Biology Department.

Prior to his assignment at Xavier University, Fr Mars spent 3 years in Jesuit missions in Bukidnon as assistant parish priest, and 7 years as vice superior and formator of Jesuit scholastics at the Loyola House of Studies, Quezon City. He also worked  as environmental researcher at the Environmental Science for Social Change and as consultant at the Institute of Social Order, Ateneo de Manila University.

Fr Mars made his Tertianship, the final formal period of formation in the Society of Jesus, in Sydney, Australia. He professed his Final Vows 12 years after he was ordained a priest in 1998.

The Final Vows is considered as the final incorporation of a Jesuit priest into the Society of Jesus.