– Roy Lagarde
(CBCPNews) Pope Francis issued a decree Thursday, November 8, advancing the sainthood cause of Bishop Alfredo Obviar, declaring him “venerable.”
The pope recognized that Obviar, the first bishop of Lucena, lived the Christian virtues in a heroic way.
The announcement makes the bishop, who died in 1978 at the age of 89, two steps closer to sainthood.
The pontiff would have to recognize a miracle attributed to the late bishop’s intercession in order for him to be beatified. A second miracle would be needed for canonization.
The cause for sainthood of Obviar was introduced by the Lucena diocese. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints granted the “Nihil Obstat” (“nothing hinders”) to the diocesan inquiry of his life in 2001.
Few years later, the decree of validity was issued in 2007 marking the start of its “Roman Phase.”
In 2014, the “Positio” was submitted and the review of Theologians was concluded early last year.
Born in Lipa, Batangas, Obviar was ordained a priest in 1919. In 1944, he was named as the first Auxiliary Bishop of Lipa.
He was known as the founder of the Missionary Catechists of St Therese, a religious congregation of nuns with missions across the Philippines and in some countries.
In 1969, he was appointed as bishop of Lucena, a post he served until his retirement in 1976.
FIRST TWO FILIPINO SAINTS
(Clarim) The first two Filipinos to be declared saints are a married man, Lorenzo Ruiz, and a teenager Pedro Calungsod.
Ruiz was a Filipino-Chinese layman, with two sons and a daughter. He was martyred in Japan on September 27, 1637 and was beatified with his companion martyrs by Pope John Paul II in Manila on February 18, 1981 and was canonized on October 18, 1987 in Rome. His feast day is on September 28th.
Beatified in March 2000 by Pope John Paul II, Pedro Calungsod was canonized on Oct. 21, 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. Sept. 2 is the feast day of San Pedro Calungsod, this being the date of his death. San Pedro Calungsod was a sacristan and a missionary cathechist. Born in 1654 in the Diocese of Cebu, Pedro was quite very young when he, together with some Spanish Jesuits traveled to the Mariana islands to spread the Gospel. Later he and a missionary priest, (Blessed) Diego Luis de San Vitores would proceed to Guam. On Sept. 2, 1672, the two would be killed by a hostile Chamorro for baptizing the latter’s newborn baby girl. Pedro was only 17 at the time of his death.
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