THOMASIAN Bishop Emeritus Camilo Gregorio of the Prelature of Batanes died on Monday evening following cardiac arrest. He was 78.
Fr. Deo Layug, vicar general of the Batanes prelature, said the bishop suffered a mild stroke on May 17, Thursday, while he was under dialysis treatment.
Gregorio finished his theology studies at the University of Santo Tomas and was ordained at the Diocese of San Jose in Nueva Ecija in 1963.
He obtained a master’s degree in educational administration at Fordham University in New York and a doctorate in theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas in Rome.
In 1989, he was named bishop of Bacolod, two years after his appointment as auxiliary bishop of Cebu.
Gregorio was the fourth bishop of Batanes. The Vatican named him head of the Batanes prelature in 2003. He retired in May last year, after serving for almost 14 years.
His last major public appearance was during the ordination of Msgr. Bartolome Santos Jr. as bishop at Malolos Cathedral on April 30.
Gregorio’s wake will be held at the Santo Domingo Church in Quezon City, the motherchurch of Filipino Dominicans, as he was a member of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Dominic.
The late bishop’s remains will be flown to Batanes where he will be buried on May 28.
