Most Rev. Socrates B. Villegas, D.D., Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan



His Excellency, MOST REV. SOCRATES B. VILLEGAS, D.D. was born in Manila, September 28, 1960. He is a bishop of the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines. He is new the Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan in Pangasinan, Philippines.

Socrates B. Villegas is the youngest of the three children of Norma Jacinta Buenaventura and the late Emiliano Villegas. He attended primary education in Pateros, Metro Manila, his hometown, and finished secondary education at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Manila. He studied for the priesthood and received his degree of Master of Arts in Theological Studies at San Carlos Seminary in Guadalupe, Makati City. Ordained to the priesthood by the late Jaime Cardinal Sin on October 5, 1985 at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Manila, he served as personal secretary of the Archbishop from his ordination until 2004. While keeping this post, he also served as rector of the EDSA Shrine and Vicar general of the archdiocese.

Pope John Paul II appointed him auxiliary bishop of Manila on July 25, 2001. He received the episcopal ordination from the late Jaime Cardinal Sin on August 31 of the same year.
He was installed as the third Bishop of Balanga on July 3, 2004 and convoked the First Diocesan Synod in 2006. He also founded the St. Joseph's College of Balanga.
On September 8, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan.

See the photos of Canonical Installation of Most Rev. Socrates Villegas last November 4, 2009.

Archbishop Villegas is currently the Chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Catechesis and Catholic Education of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines and President of the Asia-Oceania Mariological Society.
Pope Benedict XVI appointed him member of the Presidential Committee of the Pontifical Council for the Family on September 30, 2009.

He has written and published six books of homilies and spiritual reflections. He was awarded the 1994 Catholic Authors’ Award and the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) of the Philippines in the year 2000. The Bataan Peninsula State University bestowed on him the Degree of Doctor of Humanities honoris causa in recognition and appreciation of his work for the province of Bataan.

He is a member of the Secular Franciscan Order (SFO), the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. He was the Chief Executive Officer of the Tenth World Youth Day held in Manila in 1995 and the Fourth World Meeting of Families in 2002.

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