Canonization cause of Archbishop Teofilo Camomot advances

Cebu, Philippines, Nov 11, 2021 / 12:01 pm (CNA).

The Theological Commission of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints affirmed Tuesday the heroic virtues of Archbishop Teofilo Camomot, a Filipino prelate and founder of a religious order, who died in 1988.

The nine member commission’s Nov. 9 decision was unanimous.

“With this favorable outcome, the Cause of Beatification and Canonization of Bishop Camomot will be forwarded for further examination to the Commission of Bishops and Cardinals of the said Congregation,” the Archdiocese of Cebu said Nov. 10.

Archbishop Camomot was born in Cogon, Carcar, Cebu, March 3, 1914, to Luis and Angela Bastida, and was baptized the following day. He was confimed Aug. 22, 1915.

He underwent seminary formation at the Seminario Mayor de San Carlos in Cebu City and was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Cebu.

In 1955 he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Jaro, and was consecrated May 29.

He was then appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro in 1958. There, he served as pastor of St. Rita in Balingasag in Misamis Oriental province, where he founded the Carmelite Tertiaries of the Blessed Eucharist, today known as the Daughters of Saint Teresa, in 1960.

Archbishop Camomot resigned as coadjutor because of health problems involving his kidneys, and never succeeded as ordinary of the Cagayan de Oro archdiocese.

He returned to Cebu, and served as a parish priest.

The archbishop died on his way back to his parish in a car crash in San Fernando, Cebu, Sept. 27, 1988.

The Daughters of Saint Teresa, who had petitioned that his cause be opened, report that the archbishop lived a simple and austere life, showing great concern for the poor. Before celebrating Mass he would visit sick parishioners and attend to their needs.

Cardinal Ricardo Vidal, who was Archbishop of Cebu from 1982 to 2010, reported that there were testimonies of bilocation by Archbishop Camomot.

The Holy See approved the opening of an investigation into Archbishop Camomot’s life in 2010.

Earlier this week, the Cebu archdiocese called on the faithful to pray for the success of the archbishop’s cause for canonization.