Edgar Hernando Tirado Mazo

Edgar Hernando Tirado Mazo, M.X.Y. (born 22 February 1939) is a Colombian Roman Catholic prelate who served as Vicar Apostolic of Tierradentro from 2003 to 2015. He is a member of the Yarumal Missionaries (M.X.Y.). He was also Superior General of the Yarumal Missionaries from 1996 to 2002.^[1]

Early life and priesthood

Tirado Mazo was born in Medellín, Antioquia, on 22 February 1939. He attended the minor and major seminaries of the Institute of Foreign Missions of Yarumal, and completed the final two years of his theological studies at the Major Seminary of Bogotá. He subsequently became a member of the Institute of Foreign Missions of Yarumal and was ordained a priest on 29 November 1970.^[2]

Following his ordination, Tirado served as a missionary and parish priest in Venezuela from 1971 to 1978. From 1979 he held several positions in the Yarumal missionary institute, including director of the year of spirituality, member of its general council, and rector of the Major Seminary of Missions in Medellín. He was parish priest of Emaús in Medellín from 1989 to 1990, before serving in the Diocese of Potosí in Bolivia, where he was spiritual director of the diocesan seminary, diocesan consultor, and parish priest in Vitichi and surrounding areas.^[3]

In 1996, he was elected Superior General of the Yarumal Missionaries, a position he held until 2002. He subsequently returned to parish ministry in Vitichi, Bolivia. "Monseñor Edgar Hernando Tirado Mazo, MXY". Conferencia Episcopal de Colombia. Retrieved 23 August 2026.^[2]

Episcopate

On 19 December 2003, Pope John Paul II appointed Tirado Mazo Vicar Apostolic of Tierradentro in Colombia and assigned him the titular see of Zaba. At the time of his appointment, he was parish priest of San Juan Bautista in Vitichi and had previously served as Superior General of the Yarumal Missionaries.^[3]

He received his episcopal consecration on 31 March 2004. The principal consecrator was Beniamino Stella, then titular Archbishop of Midila; the co-consecrators were Alberto Giraldo Jaramillo, Archbishop of Medellín, and Heriberto Correa Yepes, M.X.Y., titular Bishop of Casae Nigrae. "Bishop Edgar Hernando Tirado Mazo, M.X.Y." Catholic-Hierarchy.org. Retrieved 23 August 2026.^[1]

As vicar apostolic, Tirado Mazo was involved in missionary and pastoral work in Tierradentro and in wider initiatives concerning indigenous communities. In 2010, the Pontifical Mission Societies reported on a meeting involving Tirado Mazo, then president of the Missions Commission of the Colombian Bishops' Conference, and indigenous priests and lay leaders. The discussions addressed evangelization, the preservation of ancestral cultures, and the promotion of a pluralist society open to intercultural dialogue. ^[4]

Retirement

On 5 June 2015, Pope Francis accepted Tirado Mazo's resignation from the pastoral government of the Apostolic Vicariate of Tierradentro in accordance with canon 401 §1 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law. He was succeeded by Óscar Augusto Múnera Ochoa.^[5]