January 31, 1920 - November 20, 2012.
The first bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Pablo (Laguna, Philippines) has died. He was 92, and was about to turn 93 in a little more than two months. He was the last living Filipino bishop who had been a Council Father of Vatican II and the last living member of the pre-Vatican II Philippine Catholic hierarchy.
From the website of the Diocese of San Pablo (Laguna, Philippines):
His Excellency MOST REV. PEDRO N. BANTIGUE, JCD, D.D., Bishop Emeritus of San Pablo, was born on the 31st of January, 1920 at Sta. Monica Hagonoy, Bulacan. The son of Marcos Bantigue and Eusebia Natividad.
He was ordained priest in the Archdiocese of Manila on May 31, 1945. On May 29, 1961, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Manila and Titular Bishop of Catula. Finally, on July 25 of the same year, he was ordained Bishop by Rufino Jiao Cardinal Santos.
On April 18, 1967, six years after being lifted to the Episcopate, he was appointed the First Bishop of San Pablo (Laguna) and remained in the same office until July 12, 1995. He retired at the age of 75.
The old website of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines notes that Bishop Bantigue was once a member of the Marriage Tribunal, chairman of the CBCP Commissions on Life, Clergy and Prisoners' Welfare. He was Treasurer of the CBCP in 1976.
When the "Year of Faith" marking the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council was launched on October 11, 2012, Bishop Bantigue was one of 76 living Catholic bishops who had been Council Fathers. (See the list here.)
A photo gallery of the bishop's life and times as priest and bishop can be found at the Catholic Hagonoeño website: Pedro Natividad Bantigue: Obispong Bulakeño, Paring Hagonoeño
Greetings! I'm not sure whether this Blog site is still active but I just need to some assitanced from the author. My name is Very Reverend Vicente Natividad DeLa Cruz, MCL, JCL, Judicial Vicar of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux in Louisiana, USA. My father is from Malolos, Bulacan and my mother is from Calamba, Laguna. My grandfather is a first cousin of Bishop Bantigue. I was wondering where you obtained this picture of Bishop Bantigue? I'm interested of getting a copy of it for our family and the next generations to come. You can reach me at vicruz@msn.com Thanks so much for featuring our Lolo Pedro.
ReplyDeleteGreetings to the author of this blog and to the visitors.
ReplyDeleteI was able to compile a list of names of all Filipino Council Fathers
here: http://pinoytradsem.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-filipino-council-fathers-of-second.html