ASIA/PHILIPPINES - DEATH OF FIRST FILIPINO VICAR APOSTOLIC OF CALAPAN

Friday, 27 June 2003

Manila (Fides Service) – On 23 June at Quezon City Seminary after a long illness, which afflicted him for three years, Bishop Simeon Valerio, Divine Word Missionary, passed away.
The Bishop, who was 86 will be remembered by his brother Bishops and the local Catholics above all for his dedicated pastoral service in the Apostolic Vicariate of Calapan in eastern region of the island Mindano, where he will be buried in Santo Nino cathedral.
Bishop Valerio was the first Filipino to be appointed Apostolic Vicar of Calapan (26 November 1973). As such he devoted himself tirelessly to evangelisation and Christian formation of the local people who recall his patience, apostolic zeal and generosity. His passion for missionary activity was well known and in fact he was National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the Philippines from 1959 to 1964. PA (Fides Service 27/6/2003 EM lines 38 Words: 478)


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