Nueva Segovia archdiocese has begun moves to beatify its former bishop, Alfredo Verzosa.
A Mass was held yesterday to kick off the process.
Retired archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales of Manila, who is spearheading the process, said Verzosa changed the religious, spiritual, and moral portrait of southern Luzon.
Archbishop Ernesto Salgado of Nueva Segovia said the cause of Verzosa's beatification is a challenge to Filipinos "to keep our faith and to strengthen it by the grace of God, especially in the Year of Faith."
He became the first Filipino bishop of then Lipa diocese on January 20, 1917.
In 1923, Verzosa founded the Missionary Catechists of the Sacred Heart, a diocesan congregation for women.
He died on June 27, 1954.