Cirilo B. Flores

BIOGRAPHY OF THE MOST REVEREND CIRILO FLORES, D.D., J.D.

The Most Reverend Bishop Cirilo Flores.Bishop Flores Dual Coat of Arms.
Ordained: June 8, 1991
Appointed Auxiliary Bishop Orange, California: January 5, 2009
Consecrated and installed: March 19, 2009
Appointed Coadjutor Bishop of San Diego: January 4, 2012
Succeeded as Fifth Bishop of San Diego: September 18th, 2013
Died: September 6, 2014

Bishop Cirilo Flores was born in Corona, California, on June 20, 1948, the third child of Cirilo and Armida Flores (deceased). He has three brothers and two sisters, all residents of California. He attended local schools, graduating from St. Edward Parish School, Corona, and Notre Dame High School, Riverside.

He received a Bachelor's degree from Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles and the Juris Doctor law degree from Stanford University School of Law. He practiced law in Riverside and Los Angeles counties for ten years before he entered St. John's Seminary in Camarillo in 1986.

He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Orange on June 8, 1991 by Bishop Norman McFarland. He served as parochial vicar at St. Barbara Parish (Santa Ana), St. Joachim (Costa Mesa), Our Lady of Mount Carmel, (Newport Beach, administrator), and Our Lady of Guadalupe (La Habra). In 2000 he was appointed pastor of St. Anne Parish in Santa Ana. In September of 2008 he was appointed Pastor of St. Norbert Parish, Orange.

Bishop Flores was appointed Titular Bishop of Quiza and Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Orange by Pope Benedict XVI on January 5, 2009. He was ordained to the episcopacy on March 19, 2009. Bishop Tod Brown appointed him to serve as Vicar for Charities for the Diocese.

On January 4, 2012 it was announced that Pope Benedict had appointed Bishop Flores to serve as Coadjutor Bishop of the Diocese of San Diego, to succeed Bishop Robert Brom upon his retirement. On September 18, 2013, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Bishop Brom as the Bishop of San Diego. At the same time Bishop Flores became the fifth Bishop of San Diego and pastoral governance of the diocese was transferred to him.

Bishop Flores has served on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Subcommittee on Latin America and on the USCCB Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs.

For the California Conference of Catholic Bishops he is the Chairman of the Committee on Religious Liberty and is the Episcopal liaison for RECOPS, the Region Eleven Council of Priest Senates.



Explanation of the Dual Coat of Arms

The coat of arms above is a combination of the diocesan coat of arms, on the left side of the shield, with the bishop's personal coat of arms on the right. Together they symbolize the spiritual union of the bishop with his spouse, the local Church.


Diocesan Coat of Arms
The diocesan coat of arms uses symbols which describe San Diego (St. Didacus in Latin), the diocesan patron saint.

Diego was born to poor Spanish parents shortly before the year 1400. His love for poverty never left him. As a Franciscan brother he was a selfless servant of the poor and was known to heal the sick with the Sign of the Cross, the centerpiece of the diocesan coat of arms. The Spanish stew pot in the upper left corner indicates Diego's boundless charity and tireless efforts to feed the hungry. San Diego had special devotion to the Lord in his Passion, symbolized by the three nails in the other corners of the crest.

Diego died on Nov. 12, 1463, at the Franciscan monastery in Alcalá, Spain, pressing a crucifix to his heart and repeating the words of the Good Friday chant: "Dulce lignum, dulce ferrum, dulce pondus sustinet" (Precious the wood, precious the nails, precious the weight they bear.)


Bishop's Coat of Arms
Bishop Flores' personal coat of arms is composed of a blue field on which is placed an open book, a Bible, which is resting upon a crozier. These two symbols are placed together to signify the role of a pastor, who is to shepherd his flock under the guidance of the Holy Word of God. For Bishop Flores, this was his ministry in the Diocese of Orange where he was a parish priest for eighteen years, a ministry that was transformed to a larger flock when he became Auxiliary Bishop of Orange and then was appointed to San Diego. The Bible and the staff are placed below a golden crown, which along with the blue background, honors the Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom the bishop is especially devoted. The crown also 'plays on' the name of the town where Bishop Flores was born — Corona. The Bible and staff are above three roses, again in honor of our Lady and the Martyrs of Mexico. The roses again 'play on' the Bishop's name --- Flores — which means 'flowers'.


For his motto Bishop Flores selected the phrase "For the Greater Glory of God." These words express that for a Christian, and especially for a cleric in God's Holy Church, all that is done is to be done for the greater glory of God. This phrase is also the motto which St. lgnatius of Loyola chose for the Society of Jesus, the religious order he founded, and the religious order by whom Bishop Flores was educated at Loyola University of Los Angeles (now Loyola Marymount University).

* reprinted from: http://www.diocese-sdiego.org/en-us/diocese/bishops/bishopflores.aspx *