See Ponce Successor Rubén González Medina Consecration 25 April 2002 | Installed 11 June 2003 Ordination 9 April 1961 | |
Born March 2, 1936 (age 81)
Logroño, La Rioja, Spain ( 1936-03-02 ) Previous post Coadjutor Bishop of Ponce (2002-2003) Predecessor Ricardo Antonio Suriñach Carreras Province Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Juan de Puerto Rico | ||
Félix Lázaro Martínez, Sch.P., (born March 2, 1936) is a Spanish-born prelate who served as the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ponce. Lázaro was ordained to serve as the Coadjutor Bishop of Ponce on 25 April 2002, and was elevated to bishop of the diocese on 11 June 2003. He retired on December 22, 2015 and was succeeded by Rubén González Medina, the Bishop of Caguas.
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Life
Lázaro was born in Logroño, La Rioja, Spain, on 2 March 1936. He entered the Piarist Fathers, who are dedicated to education, for which he was ordained a Catholic priest on 9 April 1961. In the summer of 1970 he was sent to serve in Puerto Rico to teach at the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico. He later became Dean of the College of the Arts and Humanities of the university.
Pope John Paul II appointed Lázaro the coadjutor bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ponce on 20 March 2002, for which he was ordained a bishop by the Bishop of Ponce, Ricardo Antonio Suriñach Carreras. Upon the retirement of Suriñach on 11 June of the following year, he automatically succeeded as bishop of the diocese.
Honors
On 12 December 2013, Lázaro Martínez was honored with a ceremony and added to the list of illustrious Ponce citizens at the Park of the Illustrious Ponce Citizens in Ponce's Tricentennial Park.