Draft:Artemio Casas

His Grace Archbishop Artemio Casas (October 20, 1911-March 29, 1989) was a Filipino prelate who served as Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Jaro from 1974 to 1985.

Early Life and Education
Born in Meycauayan, Bulacan on October 20, 1911, Casas was the child of Exequiel Casas and Maria Gabriel. He was a graduate of Colegio de San Juan de Letran and of the University of Santo Tomas Central Seminary. As a student of UST, he was a member of its student publication, The Varsitarian.

Clerical Career
Casas was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Manila on March 20, 1938. He was first assigned as Assistant Parish Priest of St. James Parish of Paombong, Bulacan, before he served at St. John the Baptist Parish of San Juan, Rizal, and San Roque Parish of Cavite City. After these stints, he was reassigned to be the first Parish Priest of the Immaculate Conception Parish of Tayuman, Manila and became Rector of Manila Cathedral from 1956 to 1962. He was the rector of the Manila Cathedral when it was re-opened in 1958 after its post-war reconstruction.

Apart from his pastoral roles, he also served as Archdiocesan Chancellor and Censor Librorum, and theologian during the First Plenary Council of the Philippines in 1953.

Episcopacy




On December 11, 1961, Pope John XXIII appointed Casas as the first bishop of the newly established Diocese of Imus in Cavite. He was ordained to the episcopate on February 24, 1962 by Manila Archbishop Rufino Cardinal Santos, assisted by Nueva Segovia Archbishop Juan Sison and Bishop Peregrin de la Fuente Néstar, Prelate of Batanes and Babuyan Islands as co-consecrators. Santos also installed him as Bishop of Imus on April 26 of the same year at the Our Lady of Pillar Cathedral, Imus, Cavite.



It was during his stint as Bishop of Imus that he attended all sessions of the Second Vatican Council.

In 1968, Pope Paul VI appointed Casas as Auxiliary Bishop of Manila and Titular Bishop of Macriana Minor. Together with bishops Hernando Antiporda, Juan Bautista Velasco Diaz, and Bienvenido Lopez, they assisted Cardinal Santos in the administration of the Archdiocese of Manila. Casas acted as Vicar Capitular of Manila upon Santos' death in September 1973, until the appointment of Jaro Archbishop Jaime Sin to the See of Manila in January 1974.

Several months later, on May 11, 1974, Casas was appointed by Pope Paul VI to replace Sin in the see of Jaro, Iloilo. He thus became the 10th prelate of Jaro and the third archbishop to hold the post. It was during his tenure when Pope John Paul II visited Jaro in 1981 and canonically crowned the image of the Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria enshrined at the Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral.

Retirement and Death
In 1985 upon reaching the age of 74, he resigned as Archbishop of Jaro and was succeeded by his auxiliary bishop, Msgr. Alberto Jover Piamonte. He died on March 29, 1989 at the age of 77.