VIGAN CITY, Philippines (UCAN) -- Massgoers marking a bishop's death anniversary expressed hope the late prelate would be declared a saint.

Divine Word College of Vigan students pose for a photo with Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales of Manila.

On June 27, Nueva Segovia archdiocese commemorated the 54th death anniversary of Bishop Alfredo Versoza, the first bishop from the northern Philippines' Ilocos region. Bishop Versoza's family offered the Mass at Metropolitan Cathedral in Vigan City, 330 kilometers northwest of Manila.

Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales of Manila led the Mass, with Archbishop Ernesto Salgado of Nueva Segovia and Bishop Sergio Utleg of Laoag as concelebrants.

In his homily, Cardinal Rosales told about 3,000 Massgoers: "You have a possible saint in your midst." He said it would not be a "surprise" that people from Vigan would push for Bishop Versoza's declaration as a "blessed man and, later on, a saint."

If this happens, the cardinal remarked, "I would continuously thank and praise God."

Recalling how Bishop Versoza had anointed him during his confirmation as a young boy, Cardinal Rosales described the bishop as a "zealous, holy man."

The first Ilocos bishop was born in Vigan City on Dec. 9, 1877. He was ordained a priest in 1904 and served as the first Filipino bishop of Lipa in Batangas province, southeast of Manila, from 1916 to 1951.

According to the archdiocesan chancery website, he established the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart in 1923 as part of his catechetical and youth ministry. In 2007, the sisters published the book, Life of Bishop Alfredo Florentin-Versoza as a tribute to their founder.

Sacred Heart Sister Estrelle Cornito, 48, traveled from Batangas to Vigan to pay homage to the founder, whom she considers a "saint." She told UCA News that reading in the book how Bishop Versoza lived a simple life and donated to the poor convinced her of his holiness.

Seminarian Rene Paguirigan from Laoag, north of Vigan, told UCA News at the gathering he believes Bishop Versoza is "worthy" of sainthood because of his "humble acceptance" when asked to resign.

Divine Word College of Vigan students look at the bust of Bishop Alfredo Versoza of Lipa.

Bishop Versoza was asked by Church officials to resign in 1951, after he accepted reported apparitions of the Blessed Mother to a young postulant, Sister Teresita Castillo, at a Carmelite convent. That year, a six-bishop commission declared the Lipa apparitions, including an alleged shower of flower petals, a hoax. But to this day pilgrims continue to visit the Virgin Mediatrix of All Grace, the statue placed at the site of the claimed apparitions.

In 1992, then-Archbishop Mariano Gaviola of Lipa publicly affirmed his belief in the apparitions. However, the Vatican has never recognized them.

According to the archdiocesan chancery website, Bishop Versoza obeyed orders for him to resign "even if he had to suffer criticisms and insults." He spent his retirement "silently" in his hometown in Vigan City, where he died in poverty at the age of 76 on June 27, 1954.

Nueva Segovia archdiocese serves Ilocos Sur province, where 80 percent of the 660,863 population are Catholics.

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