My Bishop in Vatican II

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I’m doing a biography for the pioneer Bishop of my Diocese, the Most Rev. Epifanio Surban, D.D.

I want to know if he participated in Vatican II and what were his contributions.

All I have is this.

Could the Vatican release that sort of information? My diocese is a bit hazy on documents and history, so I could only do so much with what we have.

Please don’t criticize me, I just want to know if it could be done and if it could, how?
 
KnightOfSPUD said:
I’m doing a biography for the pioneer Bishop of my Diocese, the Most Rev. Epifanio Surban, D.D.

I want to know if he participated in Vatican II and what were his contributions.

All I have is this.

Could the Vatican release that sort of information? My diocese is a bit hazy on documents and history, so I could only do so much with what we have.

Please don’t criticize me, I just want to know if it could be done and if it could, how?
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My understanding is that all of the world’s Catholic bishops are invited to ecumenical councils, so I’d start by seeing when this bishop was consecrated. If it’s before the Second Vatican Council opened, chances are he was there (unless some grave emergency or motive prohibited him from attending).
 
KnightOfSPUD said:
Could the Vatican release that sort of information?
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“The Vatican” is a very busy place with many offices.
KnightOfSPUD said:
Please don’t criticize me, I just want to know if it could be done and if it could, how?
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You could write, call, or email and ask.

The Papal Archives is open only to certain levels of scholars. A high school or college student is not at that level. See here;

asv.vatican.va/content/archiviosegretovaticano/en/consultazione/accesso-e-consultazione.html

You could try contacting the Vatican Library:

vatlib.it/home.php?pag=contatti_uffici

A better approach would be to** contact the archivist at your diocese**, not the Vatican.
 
KnightOfSPUD said:
I’m doing a biography for the pioneer Bishop of my Diocese, the Most Rev. Epifanio Surban, D.D.

I want to know if he participated in Vatican II and what were his contributions.

All I have is this.

Could the Vatican release that sort of information? My diocese is a bit hazy on documents and history, so I could only do so much with what we have.

Please don’t criticize me, I just want to know if it could be done and if it could, how?
Click to expand...
I have the 3 volume set of the Vatican Council II Daybooks. I checked the index of each volume for “Surban” and did not find any results. That doesn’t necessarily mean he wasn’t there as the Daybooks only hold so much info. It would have been a good source had he been mentioned, though. :o
 
Assuming he was the Bishop of the Diocese of Dumaguete, according to Catholic Hierarchy, he was a council father for all 4 sessions. Joe might not have found him as CH has him listed as Bishop Epifanio Surban Belmonte (?).
 
KnightOfSPUD said:
I’m doing a biography for the pioneer Bishop of my Diocese, the Most Rev. Epifanio Surban, D.D.

I want to know if he participated in Vatican II and what were his contributions.

All I have is this.

Could the Vatican release that sort of information? My diocese is a bit hazy on documents and history, so I could only do so much with what we have.

Please don’t criticize me, I just want to know if it could be done and if it could, how?
Click to expand...
Yes, they do make that information public.

The only time an individual bishop* is on-record would be if he made an “intervention.” That means, if he made a comment suggesting a change in a document before it was finalized, then that fact would be recorded. Just for example, Bishop John Doe says “In paragraph 4, I suggest that the opening sentence should read ‘Father, Son and Holy Spirit’ instead of ‘Holy Trinity.’” That was recorded for history.

Most of the participants names were actually not recorded. The bishop who ordained me was a participant. He often said that he was glad that he had made an intervention because that was the only way he could prove that he was there.
  • By that, I mean one who was not a Cardinal-Prefect or a recording secretary, etc. i.e. the average bishop, who did not have any particular role beyond being a voting participant.
 
Usige said:
Assuming he was the Bishop of the Diocese of Dumaguete, according to Catholic Hierarchy, he was a council father for all 4 sessions. Joe might not have found him as CH has him listed as Bishop Epifanio Surban Belmonte (?).
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I re-checked the indices for “Belmonte” (and “Epifanio” for good measure") and still came up empty.

As Father said, though, that may just mean he did not give an intervention (though I’m not even 100% certain that the Daybooks even include every intervention).
 
Joe_5859 said:
I re-checked the indices for “Belmonte” (and “Epifanio” for good measure") and still came up empty.

As Father said, though, that may just mean he did not give an intervention (though I’m not even 100% certain that the Daybooks even include every intervention).
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Thanks for checking, Joe. It was worth a shot.

I’m always curious how Catholic Hierarchy knows who was at the sessions and who wasn’t. I know Archbishop Vehr of Denver wasn’t there since he was in his early 70s, but he sent Bishop Maloney (the auxiliary Bishop at the time) as his representative. I only know that because he was from my home town.
 
Usige said:
Thanks for checking, Joe. It was worth a shot.

I’m always curious how Catholic Hierarchy knows who was at the sessions and who wasn’t. I know Archbishop Vehr of Denver wasn’t there since he was in his early 70s, but he sent Bishop Maloney (the auxiliary Bishop at the time) as his representative. I only know that because he was from my home town.
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Good question. Perhaps at some point the webmaster there had access to some type of attendance sheet. :hmmm:
 
Joe_5859 said:
I have the 3 volume set of the Vatican Council II Daybooks. I checked the index of each volume for “Surban” and did not find any results. That doesn’t necessarily mean he wasn’t there as the Daybooks only hold so much info. It would have been a good source had he been mentioned, though. :o
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Joe, where did you get that 3 volume set?

As for Bishop Surban, in all of my extensive reading about Vatican II, I have never come across his name.
 
KnightOfSPUD said:
I’m doing a biography for the pioneer Bishop of my Diocese, the Most Rev. Epifanio Surban, D.D.

I want to know if he participated in Vatican II and what were his contributions.

All I have is this.

Could the Vatican release that sort of information? My diocese is a bit hazy on documents and history, so I could only do so much with what we have.

Please don’t criticize me, I just want to know if it could be done and if it could, how?
Click to expand...
Yes…in fact, Bishop Surban was there at the Council.

You should contact the Pontificio Collegio Filippino as I think that is where he stayed. It is not far from the Vatican, just down the Via Aurelia.

pcfroma.org/

Ask the archivist if she can help you track down his interventions at the Council (they likely have copies on hand) and about any other records they might have related to him.

Another thought…It is also possible that one of the periti is still alive and might have something to share from those days about your bishop and the Council or at least could give you advice. The rector very well may be able to tell you who was the Council peritus working with Bishop Surban…the rector was first sent to Rome by Cardinal Sin.

You might find this of use, too:
davaocatholicherald.com/2013/07/a-brief-history-of-the-mission-society-of-the-philippines/
 
Don_Ruggero said:
Yes…in fact, Bishop Surban was there at the Council.

You should contact the Pontificio Collegio Filippino as I think that is where he stayed. It is not far from the Vatican, just down the Via Aurelia.

pcfroma.org/

Ask the archivist if she can help you track down his interventions at the Council (they likely have copies on hand) and about any other records they might have related to him.

Another thought…It is also possible that one of the periti is still alive and might have something to share from those days about your bishop and the Council or at least could give you advice. The rector very well may be able to tell you who was the Council peritus working with Bishop Surban…the rector was first sent to Rome by Cardinal Sin.

You might find this of use, too:
davaocatholicherald.com/2013/07/a-brief-history-of-the-mission-society-of-the-philippines/
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I’ll consider the contacting of the College.

Unfortunately, the last Filipino Council Father died last November 2012
cbcpnews.com/cbcpnews/?p=8264

I’ve already contacted the Mission Society. Thanks!
JimG said:
There’s always Wikipedia, but I don’t think Vatican II is mentioned in the article.
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Actually, I’m the one who edited that page on Wikipedia. There’s only so much I could write about Bishop Surban so I decided not to make a page for him…
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yet:D
 
Lormar said:
Joe, where did you get that 3 volume set?
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It was passed on to me by a friend, who got a box of books from a priest, who had inherited a bunch of books from a monsignor who had passed away. :o

I had used a set at the library a lot when I took a class on Vatican II. So I consider myself very blessed to have them in my own library.
 
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