A Catholic congregation is deepening devotion to St. Ezekiel Moreno as a source of hope for cancer patients, as the disease continues to affect an increasing number of Filipinos.
Fr. Bernard Amparado, prior provincial of the Augustinian Recollects’ Province of St. Ezekiel Moreno, said the congregation wants the devotion to go beyond private prayer.
‘We are actively ensuring that this devotion serves as an instrument of hope and healing for cancer patients,’ Amparado told Radyo Veritas, adding that pastoral care, anointing and veneration of the saint’s relics should be part of the practice.
About 150,000 new cancer cases are reported annually in the Philippines, with breast and cervical cancers among the most common.
The Augustinian Recollects have promoted the devotion through nationwide pilgrimages of the saint’s relics and feast celebrations.
Archbishop Charles Brown, apostolic nuncio to the Philippines, marked the 120th anniversary of the saint’s death on August 19, saying suffering can deepen faith rather than weaken it.
‘Those sufferings didn’t separate him from Jesus. They actually made him realize that Jesus was close to him,’ Brown said in his homily at the St. Ezekiel Moreno Novitiate House in Antipolo City.
Brown offered the Mass, held on the saint’s feast day, for the sick, especially cancer patients.
St. Ezekiel’s own battle with cancer became central to his spiritual legacy. Born in Spain, he arrived in the Philippines in 1870 and was ordained in Manila the following year.
He served as a missionary in Manila, Palawan and Mindoro for 15 years before continuing his ministry in Colombia and later becoming a bishop in Spain. He died August 19, 1906, at age 58, having continued his work despite his illness.
Pope John Paul II canonized him in 1992, and the Church recognizes him as the patron saint of cancer patients.
More Philippine parishes are now honoring St. Ezekiel as patron, venerating his relics and supporting pastoral care for the sick.
In 2024, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines elevated his feast from an optional to an obligatory memorial nationwide.