A new bishop will formally lead the Diocese of Daet’s more than 600,000 Catholics on May 1.
Bishop-elect Herman Abcede will be ordained at the Most Holy Trinity Cathedral in Daet, Camarines Norte, on the feast of St. Joseph the Worker.
Following his ordination, he will be installed as the diocese’s fifth bishop.
The date of his episcopal ordination and installation was announced March 9 during Mass at the cathedral by its rector, the Fr. Eduardo Regore.
Pope Francis on March 4 appointed Abcede, a Rogationist missionary, as the new shepherd of Daet.
Born in Vinzons, a town in the same province, he earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila before continuing his formation at the Rogationist Seminary of Manila.
He later pursued theology at the Don Bosco School of Theology in Parañaque City and obtained a licentiate in canon law from the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.
Abcede gave his perpetual vows in 1991 and was ordained priest in 1996.
The 59-year old was serving as superior of Community at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary in Parañaque at the time of his appointment.
Among his previous roles, he served as superior of the congregation’s St. Matthew Province, which is based in the Philippines and also has communities in Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, South Korea, and Vietnam.
Since 2018, he has been a member of the Matrimonial Tribunal of the Diocese of Parañaque and a defender of the bond. In 2021, Bishop Jesse Mercado of Parañaque appointed him as a judge of the same tribunal.
