Oldest Filipino Bishop Laid to Rest

MALOLOS, Bulacan, March 27, 2009— The country’s oldest bishop and the only living participant to the Vatican II, Bishop Manuel Del Rosario, was laid to rest Friday at the crypt of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, here.

The ceremony was led by the Papal Nuncio to the Philippines Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams with Cebu Archbishop Ricardo J. Cardinal Vidal, Caceres Archbishop Leonardo Z. Legazpi, Balanga Bishop Socrates B. Villegas, Daet Bishop Gilbert A. Garcera, Calbayog Bishop Isabelo C. Abarquez, Kalookan Bishop Deogracias S. Iniguez, Batanes Bishop Camilo D. Gregorio, Virac Bishop Manolo A. Delos Santos, Malolos Bishop Emeritus Cirilo Almario, Malolos Bishop Jose F. Oliveros and several other bishops as concelebrants.

In his homily, Archbishop Adams praised Bishop Del Rosario for being “a priest for 70 years, a bishop for 53 years and a Christian for the past 93 years.”

He added “now our brother, priest and bishop has gone ahead of us” and “death has come close to us again.”

He said “when someone we know dies the thought of their living in another dimension strengthens us in our sorrow.”

He added “we cannot but think of the life of our brother bishop, Bishop Del Rosario, who in so many ways had faith in his existence serving God – as a priest and as a bishop.” He said the late bishop never wavered “in his trust with our Lord God as Bishop Manuel is a child of God.

He concluded by saying the late prelate is “the exponent of hope” for “even in his illness, he served the Lord.”

The country’s oldest and one of the world’s oldest bishops died peacefully at Yanga Hospital in Bocaue, Bulacan early Monday morning after contracting pneumonia.

From CBCP News http://www.cbcpnews.com/?q=node/8073