Bishop Cirilo B. Flores of San Diego died Sept. 6 of complications from prostate cancer. He was 66.

On Sept. 4, Bishop Flores had been transferred from the cancer center of the University of Southern California to Nazareth House in San Diego for hospice care.

The bishop’s prostate cancer was disclosed Aug. 25 by the diocese. Bishop Flores had been ailing since mid-April, when he suffered a stroke four days before Easter.

Bishop Flores was one of the growing number of “late vocations” – men who had established careers in other fields before hearing the call to priesthood. He had spent one year in a seminary after graduating from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, spent a brief time teaching, then went to law school and spent 10 years as a lawyer before reconsidering a priestly vocation.

He re-entered the seminary in 1986 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1991 for the Diocese of Orange, where he served as vicar for charities and as a member of the diocesan finance council, the bishop’s Council of Priests, the Priests Personnel Board and the editorial council of the Orange County Catholic diocesan newspaper.