Gabriel Martelino Reyes (March 24, 1892 – October 10, 1952) was the 28th
archbishop of Manila, and the first native
Filipino to hold that post. He previously served as
Archbishop of Cebu from 1934 to 1949, and then served as Archbishop of Manila from 1949 till his death in 1952.
Biography
Gabriel M. Reyes was born on March 24, 1892, in
Kalibo, (then a part of
Capiz). He entered
St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary
The Seminario de San Vicente Ferrer (Saint Vincent Ferrer Seminary), also known as San Vicente Ferrer, Seminario or Saint Vincent, is a college-seminary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Jaro located in Iloilo City. It was founded in 1869 an ...
in
Jaro,
Iloilo City at the age of 13, during the time of Bishop
Frederick Rooker Frederick may refer to:
People
* Frederick (given name), the name
Nobility
Anhalt-Harzgerode
*Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670)
Austria
* Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198
* Frederi ...
. He was ordained a priest, on March 27, 1915 by
Dennis Joseph Dougherty, the then-bishop of the then-
Diocese of Jaro. After ordination, Gabriel was immediately appointed coadjutor parish priest of the future cardinal at the Cathedral Parish of Jaro. After a few months Mons. Dougherty made him the parish priest of the cathedral.
["Archbishop Gabriel M. Reyes (1932 – 1949)"]
. Bag-ong Lungsoranon. Retrieved on 2012-02-27.
A few months later Gabriel was sent to a very challenging mission to
Balasan, Iloilo
Balasan, officially the Municipality of Balasan ( hil, Banwa sang Balasan, tgl, Bayan ng Balasan), is a 4th class municipality of the Philippines, municipality in the Philippine Province, province of Iloilo, Philippines. According to the 2020 ...
, the farthest town of Iloilo up north. As the parish priest of this town, he covered sixteen small islands with neither roads, chapels nor convents but only ruins amidst an increasing number of
Aglipayan and
Protestant churches.
In 1918, he was transferred to be the parish priest of Capiz, Capiz (now
Roxas, Capiz). On July 20, 1920, he was chosen as the
diocesan chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
and secretary by the new bishop of Jaro, Mons. James McClosky. He was also the parish priest of
Santa Barbara, Iloilo.
In 1927, he was named the
vicar general of Jaro.
[
Five years later, Mons. Gabriel Reyes was appointed by the Holy See as Bishop of Cebu. He received his episcopal consecration in the Cathedral of Jaro, on October 11, 1932, from the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Guillermo Piani, ]S.D.B.
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, caption = Coat of arms
, abbreviation = SDB
, formation =
, founder = John Bosco
, founding_location = Valdocco, Turin ...
, with Mons. James McClosky - Bishop of Jaro, and Mons. Alfredo Verzosa, Bishop of Lipa, as co-consecrators. Two days after, he was installed in Cebu.
On April 28, 1934, after more than three centuries, the Diocese of Cebu was elevated by Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fro ...
into an archdiocese
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...
, with Gabriel Reyes as the first archbishop.[ In Cebu Mons. Reyes ordained every year dozens of new candidates to the priesthood. He established the Parishes of Guadalupe, Tabuelan, Simala and Santa Lucia to add to the existing parishes, and launched an evangelization program. He also started the “Catholic Hour” over radio station DZRC.]
On August 25, 1949, he was appointed by Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...
as coadjutor to Archbishop Michael O’Doherty of Manila with right of succession (and apostolic administrator sede plena). On the death of the Archbishop on September 29, 1949, he took over the archi-episcopal See of Manila, being its first Filipino archbishop.
On October 14, 1949, he was installed as Archbishop of Manila and took canonical possession of this See of Manila.
Last years and legacy
Reyes became ill, and died at the age of 60 on October 10, 1952 in a hospital in Washington, D.C.
He was the immediate predecessor of two Filipino prelates who became cardinals: Julio Rosales, who succeeded him in Cebu, and Rufino Santos, who succeeded him in Manila.
Archbishop Reyes renovated the Cebu Cathedral, which had been bombed during World War II. He established parochial schools, and the Cebu archdiocesan officer newspaper '' Diaro-Kabuhi Sang Banua.'' As archbishop of Manila, he oversaw the construction of the new campus of San Carlos Seminary
The Royal and Conciliar San Carlos Seminary is the archdiocesan seminary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila. It was established in the year 1702, by decree of King Philip V of Spain. At present, the institution houses seminarians belo ...
in Makati in 1951. A Catholic center he wished to build when he became archbishop of Manila was built by his successor, the Pope Pius XII Catholic Center, on U.N. Avenue in Manila. The Archbishop Gabriel M. Reyes Memorial Library (AGRM Library), the resource center of the San Carlos Pastoral Formation Complex, was dedicated in his honor.
In his hometown Kalibo, the street fronting his birthplace was named after him. Also, a monument was erected in his honor in his birthplace. In December 2015, the monument was transferred to a new location in the Kalibo Pastrana Park which was formally turned over by the Archbishop Gabriel Reyes Memorial Foundation to the local government of Kalibo on October 10, 2016, coinciding with his 64th death anniversary and the foundation's 39th anniversary.
Likewise, a major thoroughfare in Cebu City traversing from Barangay Camputhaw to the junction of Barangay Kasambagan, Lahug and Barrio Luz was named as Archbishop Reyes Avenue.
References
External links
Archbishop Gabiel Reyes (bio)
from Bag-Ong Lunsoranon, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Cebu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reyes, Gabriel
1892 births
1952 deaths
Roman Catholic archbishops of Manila
People from Aklan
20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the Philippines
Burials at the Manila Cathedral
Roman Catholic bishops of Cebu
Roman Catholic archbishops of Cebu
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila
Presidents of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines