William Brasseur

Brasseur was born on January 12, 1903, in Marke, Belgium in the Diocese of Bruges.{{cite web |title=Bishop William Brasseur, C.I.C.M. |url=https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bbrasseur.html |website=Catholic-Hierarchy.org |access-date=April 6, 2025}} He joined the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM) and was ordained a priest on August 18, 1929.{{cite news |title=Murillo: The great missionary of the Cordillera |url=https://www.sunstar.com.ph/baguio/opinion/murillo-the-great-missionary-of-the-cordillera |work=SunStar Baguio |access-date=April 6, 2025}} In 1931, he was assigned to the Philippines as part of the CICM missionary thrust to evangelize the remote mountain areas in Northern Luzon.{{cite web |title=Missionaries of the Immaculate Heart of Mary CICM mark 100th anniversary, memory and new vitality for the missionary charisma|url=https://www.fides.org/en/news/8752-ASIA_PHILIPPINES_Missionaries_of_the_Immaculate_Heart_of_Mary_CICM_mark_100th_anniversary_memory_and_new_vitality_for_the_missionary_charisma |website=Fides News Agency |date=January 17, 2007 |access-date=April 6, 2025}} He was reassigned to Belgium for three years from 1935 until 1938 to teach at the University of Louvain's CICM School of Theology. He then returned to the Philippines and was assigned to Kabayan, Benguet. He later served as Parish Priest in Baguio Cathedral and Provincial Superior of CICM.

On June 10, 1948, Pope Pius XII appointed Brasseur as the first Apostolic Vicar of the Mountain Province (Montañosa),{{cite web |title=Apostolic Vicariate of Baguio |url=https://www.ucanews.com/directory/dioceses/philippines-baguio/393 |website=UCA News |access-date=April 6, 2025}}

which included present-day Benguet, Mountain Province, Ifugao, and Kalinga.{{cite web |title=Apostolic Vicariate of Baguio |url=https://www.ucanews.com/directory/dioceses/philippines-baguio/393 |website=UCA News |access-date=April 6, 2025}} He was consecrated Titular Bishop of Agathonice on August 24, 1948, by then Arcbishop of Manila, Michael J. O'Doherty assisted by Bishop Santiago Sancho and Bishop Constant Jurgens of Tuguegarao.

After serving as apostolic vicar for 33 years, Brasseur resigned in 1981. He then served as the chaplain of the Notre Dame de Chartres Hospital in Baguio until his death on February 3, 1993, at the age of 90.

During World War II, Brasseur supported Filipino guerrillas resisting Japanese occupation. Later, he actively opposed the Marcos dictatorship during martial law.

He was affectionately called "Apo Monsignor", a title of respect among locals. He was fluent in Ilocano, Ibaloi, and Kankanaey, and was granted honorary Filipino citizenship in 1961.

In 1952, he worked with the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd to establish the Mountain Maid Training and Development Foundation, the maker of the famous Ube Jam and other souvenir products of Baguio.{{cite news |last=Uy |first=Veronica |title=Before there was social enterprise, there was Mountain Maid |url=https://business.inquirer.net/28683/before-there-was-social-enterprise-there-was-mountain-maid |work=Philippine Daily Inquirer |date=October 23, 2011 |access-date=April 6, 2025}}{{cite news |title=A person is of more value than a whole world|url=https://www.pressreader.com/philippines/business-world/20170615/282527248420866 |work=BusinessWorld |date=June 15, 2017 |access-date=April 6, 2025}}{{cite web |title=Mountain Maid Training Center – Good Shepherd Baguio |url=http://www.goodshepherdsisters.org.ph/mountain-maid-training-center-good-shepherd-baguio-67 |website=Good Shepherd Sisters Philippines |access-date=April 6, 2025}}

Bishop Brasseur is credited with laying the foundations of the Catholic Church in the Cordillera region, especially among indigenous Igorot communities. From 1948 to 1981, he ordained 29 native priests and consecrated one bishop. He also established 59 schools, 2 seminaries, 44 mission stations, 8 rural hospitals, and 20 dispensaries across the Mountain Province. In 1992 or one year before his death, the Apostolic Vicariate of Montañosa was divided into three jurisdictions: Baguio, Bontok-Lagawe, and Tabuk.

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{{s-ttl | title = Vicar Apostolic of Mountain Province (Montañosa) | years = 1948–1993 }}

{{s-aft | after = Emiliano Kulhi Madangeng}}

{{s-bef | before = Pasquale Pagnucci}}

{{s-ttl | title = Titular Bishop of Agathonice | years = 1948–1993 }}

{{s-aft | after = Sede vacante}}

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• [https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bbrasseur.html Bishop William Brasseur at Catholic-Hierarchy]

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Category:1903 births

Category:1993 deaths

Category:Belgian Roman Catholic missionaries

Category:20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the Philippines

Category:Belgian Roman Catholic bishops

Category:Bishops appointed by Pope Pius XII

Category:Roman Catholic missionaries in the Philippines