Alfredo María Obviar y Aranda (29 August 1889 – 1 October 1978) was a Filipino

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

of the

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and the founder of the Congregation of the Missionary Catechists of Saint Thérèse of the Infant Jesus. He was Bishop of Lucena until his death. His

beatification Beatification (from Latin , "blessed" and , "to make") is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. ''Beati'' is the p ...

process was opened in 2001 and Obviar was declared

venerable ''The Venerable'' often shortened to Venerable is a style, title, or epithet used in some Christianity, Christian churches. The title is often accorded to holy persons for their spiritual perfection and wisdom. Catholic In the Catholic Churc ...

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in 2018.

Early life

Alfredo María Obviar y Aranda was born on 29 August 1889 in Mataás na Lupa, Lipa,

Batangas Batangas, officially the Province of Batangas ( ), is a first class province of the Philippines located in the southwestern part of Luzon in the Calabarzon region. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 2,908,494 people, making ...

to Telesforo Obviar and Florentina Catalina Aranda. He became an orphan at the early age, and was put under the care of his relatives from his mother's side."Venerable Alfredo Obviar", ''Oclarim'', Semanario Catolico de Macau, November 23, 2018
/ref> Obviar received his early religious instruction at the college of

St. Francis Xavier Francis Xavier, SJ (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; ; ; ; ; ; 7 April 15063 December 1552), venerated as Saint Francis Xavier, was a Navarrese cleric and missionary. He co-founded the Society of Jesus and, as a representative o ...

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

run by the

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, where he graduated in 1901. He earned his degree in Bachelor of Arts at Ateneo de Manila in 1914, and proceeded to the

University of Santo Tomas The University of Santo Tomas (UST; ), officially the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines or colloquially as ''Ustê'' (), is a Private university, private Catholic school, Catholic researc ...

Pontifical Seminary for his theological studies. Obviar received the sacerdotal ordination on 15 March 1919. His pastoral ministry began that same year at Luta (now Malvar, Batangas) and he continued as vicar of the

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

-parish in Lipa from 1927 to 1944. In both parishes, he established catechetical centers in the '' población'' and the ''

barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city delimited by functional (e.g. residential, comm ...

s''. He was also

Vicar General A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop or archbishop of a diocese or an archdiocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vica ...

for the Diocese of Lipa, and was appointed confessor and chaplain of the Carmelite monastery of Lipa.

Religious life

On March 11, 1944, Obviar was appointed the first

auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

of Lipa and titular bishop of Linoë,

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. He was subsequently ordained to the episcopate on 29 June 1944, with the Apostolic delegate to the Philippines, Archbishop Guglielmo Piani, as principal consecrator, with Pedro Paulo Santos, Bishop of Caceres, and César Ma. Guerrero, auxiliary bishop of Manila as co-consecrators. On 22 January 1951, Obviar was installed as

Apostolic administrator An apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

of the new Diocese of Lucena. Motivated by his great work for

catechesis Catechesis (; from Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of converts to Christianity, but as the ...

, he founded the Missionary Catechists of St. Therese (MCST) on August 12, 1958.Tubeza, Philip C., "Retired Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales to make a saint", ''Philippine Daily Inquirer'', October 16, 2011
/ref> He established the Missionary Catechists of Saint Thérèse of the Infant Jesus (MCST), with the help of Mother Mercy Medenilla, who became the first superior of the MCST, and has four other women. The earliest monastic MCST was founded in San Narciso, Quezon. To compensate for the shortage of priests in the new diocese, Obviar also founded the Our Lady of the Most Holy Seminary which was later renamed as Our Lady of Mount Carmel Seminary, a minor seminary in Sariaya, Quezon. Decades after, a major seminary was founded by the Diocese of Lucena re-institutionalizing the name Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Seminary. The establishment of this increased the number of priests attending from 1951 to 1975. In the year of his retirement, it had increased by more than 100 priests. Obviar ordained Ricardo Jamin Vidal to the priesthood on St. Patrick's Day, 17 March 1956, in Lucena; Vidal would later become a

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

and Archbishop Emeritus of the Archdiocese of Cebu. From 11 October 1962 to 8 December 1962, Obviar was a Council Father at the first session of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

. After more than 18 years as administrator, Obviar was declared the first diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Lucena on July 15, 1969. He served as Bishop of Lucena until his retirement in 1976.

Death

Obviar died at the age of 89, in Lucena, Quezon, on 1 October 1978, on the feast of his

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

Thérèse of the Child Jesus.

Beatification process

The beatification process was opened in 2001, Obviar was declared

Servant of God Servant of God () is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression ''Servant of God'' appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in ...

in 2005.

named him as

on 7 November 2018."Pope Francis declares Bishop Alfredo Obviar a 'venerable'", GMA News Online, November 8, 2018
/ref>

Notes

References

Hagiography Circle

External links

MCST website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obviar, Alfredo Maria Aranda 1889 births 1978 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the Philippines Ateneo de Manila University alumni University of Santo Tomas alumni People from Lipa, Batangas People from Lucena, Philippines Roman Catholic bishops of Lucena