TAGUDIN, Ilocos Sur—Relatives of the late Bishop Alfredo Florentin Verzosa, who served as bishop of Lipa, Batangas, sought the beatification of their late kin in recognition of his holy deeds to the people and faithful service to the Catholic Church.

Verzosa, the first Ilocano bishop, was a witness to the alleged miraculous “shower of rose petals” at the Carmelite Monastery garden in Lipa, Batangas in 1948.

The Verzosa clan, at their national grand reunion last June 27 in Vigan City, coinciding with the 54th death anniversary of the late bishop, started the initiative that is hoped to lead to his beatification.

The Verzosa clan, led by Police Deputy Director General Jesus Verzosa, Tagudin Mayor Roque “Jun” Verzosa and Laoag City Mayor Michael Farinas, vowed to finalize the evidence supporting the preliminaries for beatification and sainthood of the late prelate.

General Verzosa and Mayor Versoza were grandsons of the late bishop as their grandfather was the bishop’s brother.

“In this 54th death anniversary of Bishop Verzosa, our maiden grand reunion, could help the Congregation of the Missionary Catechist of Sacred Heart provide the proper evidence in support of the application process for the sainthood of the late prelate, hopefully first son of Ilocandia to become a saint,” Mayor Versoza said.

The Congregation of the Missionary Catechist Sacred Heart was founded in 1923 by Bishop Verzosa as the first Ilocandia bishop of Lipa from September 6, 1916 to February 25, 1951.

On the other hand, General Verzosa said their gathering sought to establish the linkages of members of tier clan so that they could unite in he campaign that could lead to the beatification and sainthood of late bishop Verzosa.

“Bishop Verzosa was the most prominent member of our clan. I really believe that he always guided the Versoza family through all the times,” the Police Deputy Director General said.

During the concelebration mass officiated be Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales at the Vigan Cathedral, he cited the late bishop in his homily as a “Holy Man” because of his good traits and attitude towards god and the people.

Rev. Fr. Erickson Josue, assigned parish priest of Batac, Ilocos Norte, admitted having discovered the story about the late Bishop Verzosa being one of the key personalities in the famous Lipa apparitions.

Citing the late prelate as a man of mission, Josue said “Bishop Versoza was distinguished for his missionary seal as he did not hesitate to go to the farthest barrio to do a lot of things for the church and the people.

In his research, Fr. Josue found that the late Bishop Verzosa, as a bishop of Lipa, had a personal encounter with miracles.

“When the alleged miracle became a sensational issue, he had to go to the monastery to tell the nuns to turn down the issue but he was entering the monastery, he was greeted by the phenomenon, “the shower of rose petals,” Fr. Josue narrated.

Fr. Josue believe reports that the cause of the removal of Bishop Verzosa from Lipa was politics within the church, exacerbated by the alleged apparition issue.

“Well as to the records, Verzosa was asked to retire from his beloved Lipa and went home to Vigan because of health reason,” he said.

“However, there were allegations from the people that he (Bishop Verzosa) was asked to resign because of the kind of politics in the church,” he said.

But this was not found in the record,” he added.