A thanksgiving Mass in honor of Venerable Teofilo Camomot will take place in Cebu province’s city of Carcar next week.
The July 27 Mass will be presided over by Archbishop Charles Brown, the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, at a chapel located inside the Daughters of St. Therese Mother House compound.
During the Mass, the decree of the heroic virtues of Archbishop Camomot will be read by Archbishop Jose Palma of Cebu, while Archbishop Jose Cabantan of Cagayan de Oro will deliver the homily.
“Let us celebrate with sincere thanksgiving for the gift of our dear Teofilo Camomot being raised to the level of venerable,” Palma said during a press briefing in Cebu City on Wednesday.
More than 3,000 devotees and pilgrims are expected to attend the Mass that will be preceded with a conference on the process of beatification and canonization of saints.
The conference will feature as speaker Fr. Samson Silloriquez, the Rome-based Augustinian friar and postulator for Archbishop Camomot’s cause for sainthood.
After the Mass, a procession will be held to the nearby “Domus Teofilo” for the blessing of his tomb by the papal nuncio.
In a decree promulgated on May 21, 2022, Pope Francis recognized the heroic virtue of Archbishop Camomot.
According to the Archbishop Camomot Committee in Cebu, there have been testimonies of the archbishop’s ability to heal the sick and levitate in prayer.
A native of Carcar, he was ordained priest for the Archdiocese of Cebu in 1941 and was elevated to episcopacy in 1955.
His last assignment was as coadjutor archbishop of Cagayan de Oro where he served for 12 years.
He then returned to Cebu where he died in a car accident on Sept. 27, 1988 at the age of 74.
“In our own way, may we as well become inspired to try to live the virtues that he lived,” Archbishop Palma said.
“Let us also continue to pray that time comes that he would be beatified and eventually be canonized,” he added.
The Cebu archdiocese said that Archbishop Camomot was known “for his fame of sanctity during his life, his death and after his death”.
“His dedication to the poor and detachment from material possessions were the trademarks of his ministry,” it said.
