Octavio Cisneros

The third of four children, Octavio Cisneros was born in Las Villas, a province of Cuba, to Roberto Cisneros and Olga Lezcano. He and his family moved to Havana shortly after his birth. He studied under the Piarist Fathers as a child and, while a high school student in October 1961, came to the United States as a political refugee as part of Operation Peter Pan. Relocated to Marquette, Michigan, he attended St. Paul High School in Negaunee.

Cisneros then studied at St. Lawrence Minor Seminary in Mount Calvary, Wisconsin, from where he obtained an Associate of Arts degree, and at Niagara University, earning a Bachelor's degree. He studied theology at DeSales School of Theology in Washington, D.C. and at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, New York, earning a master's in divinity degree.

Cisneros was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Francis Mugavero on May 29, 1971. For the first eight years of his priesthood, he served as parochial vicar at St. Michael's Church in Sunset Park. In 1979, he was named diocesan coordinator of the Hispanic Apostolate and eight years later was appointed pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Corona.

His subsequent appointments were as an Episcopal Vicar in the Brooklyn East Vicariate and as rector of the Cathedral Seminary in Douglaston. He was raised to the rank of Honorary Prelate of His Holiness by Pope John Paul II in 1988. In 2004, he was named Secretary for Priestly Formation in the diocesan chancery.

On June 6, 2006, Cisneros was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Brooklyn and Titular Bishop of Eanach Dúin by Pope Benedict XVI. He received his episcopal consecration on the following August 22 from Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, with Bishops Thomas Daily and Ignatius Catanello serving as co-consecrators.

He serves as vice-postulator (or promoter) of the Cause for Canonization (Sainthood) of the Venerable Servant of God Félix Varela, a 19th-century bridge-building Cuban priest who worked for closer bonds among Cubans and between Cuba and the U.S. and their citizenries.

Cisneros serves as Pastor of the Parish of the Holy Child Jesus, in Richmond Hill, New York.

On October 30, 2020, Pope Francis accepted Cisneros’ resignation due to age. He will continue to serve as Pastor of the Holy Child Jesus, as well as vicar of Hispanic Concerns for the diocese.[1]

• Diocese of Brooklyn