Antique Bishop Emeritus Martinez dies at 86

Antique Bishop Emeritus Raul Jose Quimpo Martinez. | PHOTO: CBCP News via Facebook

MANILA, Philippines — Antique Bishop Emeritus Raul Jose Quimpo Martinez died on Monday night. He was 86.

The Diocese of San Jose de Antique said Martinez passed away after suffering from a stroke.

The Christ the King Parish Greenmeadows, where Martinez served as a resident bishop, said the clergyman died at 11:24 p.m. on September 2.

“It is with a heavy heart that we announce that our dearest Bishop Raul has returned to the house of the Father,” the Christ the King Parish Greenmeadows said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

The Diocese of San Jose de Antique said on August 22 that Martinez was confined at The Medical City in Pasig City following a stroke a week before.

Details of Martinez’s wake and funeral will be announced later, according to the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Secretariat.

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“We request your prayers for the eternal repose of his soul in the mercy of God’s embrace,” the CBCP Secretariat said in a Facebook post also on Tuesday.

Martinez was ordained as priest in 1961 and had his Episcopal Ordination as a bishop in 1983 – both at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Roxas City, Capiz.

In 1968, he became Rector of the St. Pius X Seminary in Roxas City, and then Rector of the St. Joseph Regional Seminary in Iloilo City in 1978.

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Martinez was a member of the CBCP Permanent Council from 1986, and eventually the Chairman of the Episcopal Commission for Non-Believers.

He officially retired in 2002 at the age of 65.

Martinez received his theology degree from the University of Santo Tomas Central Seminary in 1960 and obtained his master’s degree from Angelicum University in Rome in 1973.