Venerable Teofilo Camomot

Teofilo Bastida Camomot (3 March 1914 – 27 September 1988) was a Roman Catholic archbishop from the Philippines. Ordained a diocesan priest of the Archdiocese of Cebu on 14 December 1941, he was eventually appointed an auxiliary bishop on 23 March 1955 and receiving the titular see of Clysma. He became coadjutor archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro on 10 June 1958, becoming titular archbishop of Marcianopolis. While waiting for then-archbishop James Hayes to retire, Camomot resigned for health reasons on 17 June 1970. He was killed in a vehicular accident in San Fernando on 27 September 1988 at the age of 74. A process was started which may lead to his canonization as a saint. Camomot was born on 3 March 1914, in Barangay Cogon, Carcar, Cebu, to Luis Camomot and Angela Bastida. He was christened the following day, and on 22 August 1915, he received the Sacrament of Confirmation. From an early age, Camomot was already immersed in a very religious environment. He spent his elementary years at Carcar Elementary School where he was nicknamed "Lolong". After graduating from elementary, Camomot decided to help his father on the farm and dreamt of being an agriculturist, which his mother disapproved of. When his elder brother Diosdado visited and saw Camomot was not attending school, he asked him if he wanted to enter the seminary. Camomot entered the Seminario Menor de San Carlos in Mabolo, Cebu City, for his secondary education from 1932 to 1933, pursuing his philosophical and theological studies at the Seminario Mayor de San Carlos. He was ordained a priest on 14 December 1941, celebrating his Cantamisa (first Mass of a newly ordained priest) at the second floor of his family house instead of the parish church in Carcar because of the outbreak of the Second World War. For twelve years, he served as curé of Santa Teresa de Ávila Parish in Talisay.