Monsignor Valente Daigdigan: Lipa's Holy Seminary Formator and Spiritual Director

Since 2016, there has been a move coming from some religious circles in the Archdiocese of Lipa to gather information on the life of a diocesan priest, a seasoned seminary formator and spiritual director, a holy and humble servant of the Lord.  They are documenting as many a stories of people about his life and ministry to introduce him to the faithful, to promote priestly vocation, to inspire present and future priests, and may be, for the possibility of opening the cause for  beatification of this holy man of God from Batangas.

The man is Msgr. Valente "Val" Daigdigan.  “Kuya Val” to his fellow priests and to the so many seminarians who had been under his shepherding at the St. Francis de Sales Regional Major Seminary.   

Who is Msgr. Val?  And what made him so dear and remarkable in the eyes of the faithful of the Archdiocese of Lipa and the countless priests, seminarians, religious sisters and lay persons that had been under his pastoral care either as their formator and spiritual director or simply, as a diocesan priest celebrating mass and administering the other sacraments?

I came to know Msgr. Val when I was still in elementary (that was in the mid to late 1980's).  I would accompany my mother to Lipa Carmel to attend mass every Sunday.  As a young boy, I was curious about the priest presiding over the celebration of the Eucharist.  The priest looked pitiful and it seems he has some speech defect, his speech almost mumbling, and sometimes very difficult to understand, and his face, somehow deformed, especially a portion of the right jaw extending to almost the entire chin.  But what moved me was the priest's devotion to the Eucharist that despite his condition, and the difficulty, he nevertheless presided over the highest form of Christian worship - the Eucharist with the greatest fervor and reverence.

My late aunt, who was a former Carmelite nun told me that Msgr. Val was her spiritual director at Lipa Carmel. After she left Carmel due to health reasons, Msgr. Val would visit her in their house at B. Morada, near poblacion, to continue giving her spiritual direction and he would also bring presents for my eldest brother, who was still the only child of my parents then. Such visits would continue on until my aunt moved to Lucena to teach in a Catholic school there.  

One time, during one of her visits in Lipa, I accompanied my aunt to see Msgr. Val at the Major Seminary.  Unfortunately, he was not in the seminary that time.  It was a missed opportunity to meet a priest, celebrated for his holiness and humility, up close and personal. The next thing I heard from my aunt about Msgr. Val was that she was going to Balayan to attend Msgr. Val's funeral.  That was in 1993. They were good friends and exchanged many letters dealing with spiritual things.  Unfortunately, those letters were now lost and my aunt has also died in 2024.

But my aunt would tell me that Msgr. Val was such a humble and holy priest and that he has suffered so much because of the rare kind of cancer that he battled with.  It was what caused the deformity in the face of the good monsignor giving him much difficulty in speaking.  The cancer has so spread that it has eaten a significant portion of his chin.

Msgr. Valente Calzado Daigdigan was born on May 21, 1942 in Balayan, Batangas.  He was the youngest in a brood of six children.  His parents were Innocencio Daigdigan and Rafaela Calzado.  Although poor, he was raised in a prayerful and God-fearing family environment.  His baptismal name Valente proved to be prophetic of the kind of ministry and life he would thread especially in the later years of his priesthood.   The name Valente derives from the Latin valens, meaning brave, valiant, or courageous.  Such was Msgr. Val's courage and bravery that he silently embraced sickness with much patience and looked at his suffering more of a sacrifice because it was borne and endured with great love.   More so, his sickness solidified his faith and strengthened his resolve to serve God more through the people he accompanied and ministered to.  

It was on December 21, 1968 that Msgr. Val received the gift of priestly ordination.  His priestly ministry was focused on seminary formation as rector and spiritual director of the Major Seminary, and on pastoral accompaniment of the faithful in the nearby barrios of Inosluban, Marawoy and Bugtong na Pulo.  He lived a mission-driven life as a priest and believed that every one of us has a calling.   For him, we are here in this world not just by chance or accident, but with a purpose.  We have to know where God is calling and leading us, and rely on personal discernment to discover what He wills for us.  

He is remembered by the people he served as a holy, compassionate and kind priest.  He also loves the poor and exhibited a preferential option for them.  To his former formands, as their seminary rector and spiritual director, his regular knocks on the seminarians’ rooms to invite them for a colloquium showed his commitment in assisting them at opening and examining their hearts to further clarify their vocation. 

Bishop Reynaldo Evangelista of Imus Diocese who had been under his watch when the former was still a seminarian, considers him as a gift to the Archdiocese of Lipa.  He was kind, prayerful, dedicated, compassionate to the poor, very zealous in confession - all marks of a holy priest. He pointed out that in that particular period in the history of the local church of Lipa where Msgr. Val lived, there was this holy priest who served in the formation of future presbyters of Lipa and other nearby dioceses.  Although he was not able to build churches and schools, his lasting contribution in the formation of future shepherds more than compensates for these physical structures. He was in deed a blessing to Lipa.

As a priest, he embraced the paschal mystery and lived a life like that of Christ - Taken, Blessed, Broken and Shared. He embraced his priestly ministry of forming and accompanying future priests with much passion and dedication, and later, the crucible of suffering, through the sickness he endured, showing people how it is to be a true servant in whatever circumstances one finds himself - Even in the most difficult, painful and uncomfortable situations. His priesthood is an experience of the cross - of suffering, then dying and finally rising again in glory. 

 “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.  But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” (John 12:24).  The grain of wheat has in deed fallen, and it has borne much fruit as can be gleaned from the life and ministry of Msgr. Val.

The saintly monsignor, humble priest formator and spiritual director passed on to eternal life on June 10, 1993.  He was 51 years old and 24 years in the priesthood.  He was laid to rest in the Catholic Cemetery of Balayan, his hometown.

On May 20, 2023, the mortal remains of Msgr. Val was exhumed from its resting place in Balayan and was transferred to the Chapel of the Living and Shrine of the Holy Souls at the St. Francis de Sales Regional Seminary Compound in Lipa City where the departed clergy members of the Archdiocese of Lipa are interred.

"I am Tired" is a poem that Msgr.Val wrote which He also prayed every night before retiring. It is for those who, burdened with life’s troubles, find refuge in the Lord. 

I am tired 

Tired to face life

Tired to see the beauty in ugliness

Tired to smile when hurt

Tired to see blessings in sufferings

Tired to laugh with tearful eyes

Tired to sing a song of love

when my heart is heavy and full of wounds

Tired to see your face in the haggard faces

of lonely people

Tired to hear your voice in the moans of the oppressed,

the rejected, the hungry.

Tired to give a word of encouragement

Tired to try again....

Lord, I am tired even of my tiredness

Tired even to rest

Tired even to open my heart

I want to drift, in a restful caressing current

But you who say to me, "Come to me all

who have labored and are burdened

and I will refresh you.

*Information and photographs in this article were culled from the “Monsignor Valente Daigdigan y Calzado” FB page.  The FB page seeks to introduce the life and witness of the saintly priest.  Stories, letters and testimonies pertaining to Msgr. Val can be shared through the said fb page or email at info.msgrvaldaigdigan@gmail.com