Francisco Reus-Froylan

Who is Francisco Reus-Froylan?

The late Right Reverend Francisco Reus-Froylan retired as the fifth Diocesan Bishop of the Diocese of Puerto Rico of the Episcopal Church of the United States in 1989, two years after consecrating his eventual successor as Bishop Coadjutor. He died on November 19, 2008, at the age of 89 after a bout with pneumonia. His remains will be buried at the Episcopal cemetery at Barrio Limón in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

He was the last appointed bishop in Puerto Rico and the first native Puerto Rican to hold the post. Consecrated by Missouri Episcopal Bishop Arthur C. Lichtenberger, Bishops Charles F. Boynton and A. Ervine Swift, the third and fourth Diocesan Bishops of Puerto Rico, he served as Diocesan Bishop from 1964 to 1989. During his 25 year rule, he presided over the process that led to the Diocese's separation from ECUSA in the late 1970s. His successor, the Right Rev. David Andres Alvarez subsequently presided over the process to reunite the "Iglesia Episcopal Puertorriqueña" that Bishop Reus had created, as a diocese of the U.S. national church.

Reus was the son of an Episcopal priest and succeeded Bishops James H. Van Buren, Charles B. Colmore, Boynton and Swift as Bishop of Puerto Rico.