Ulises Aurelio Casiano Vargas was a Puerto Rican bishop emeritus of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mayagüez, in Mayagüez. Casiano was born at the Palmarejo ward in the nearby town of Lajas, which is also the birthplace of the first native Puerto Rican Roman Catholic cardinal, Luis Aponte Martínez. He attended the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico in nearby Ponce, from which he graduated with a bachelor's degree in Education in 1955. He then became a schoolteacher and school administrator, with a reputation for efficiency. He then joined the University's Regina Cleri Seminar, and continued Theology studies at Our Lady of Angels seminar in New York. Casiano was eventually ordered as a priest on May 30, 1967. He later obtained a Juris Doctor degree in Canonical Law from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Monsignor Casiano was named first bishop for the newly created Diocese of the Mayaguez by Pope Paul VI on March 3, 1976, and was consecrated by Cardinal Aponte Martínez on April 30, 1976. A former choirmaster while studying at the Regina Cleri seminar, Casiano has promoted the development of the musical ministries associated with the Mayagüez diocese. For instance, every Good Friday, at the reading of the Seven Words of Jesus on The Cross at Mayagüez's cathedral, the sermon features a musical piece, in seven parts, written by local music professor José Antonio Gaudier in 1873, and played by the diocese's philharmonic orchestra. Monsignor Casiano has earned two nicknames among mayagüezanos. His stamina, charisma and tenacity earned him the name The Obispator, a portmanteau of the Spanish word for bishop, obispo, and The Terminator. As he has successfully achieved the construction or remodeling of various diocese landmarks he has also been nicknamed "Ulises Trump". Bishop Casiano retired on July 6, 2011. Pope Benedict XVI named Alvaro Corrada del Rio as his successor. Ulises Aurelio Casiano Vargas died on Sunday August 5, 2018 at Hospital de la Concepción de San Germán, Puerto Rico at age 84. He was buried at Our Lady of the Candelaria Cathedral in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.
