section_path: Early life and studies
section_name: Early life and studies
paragraph_text: Early life and studies
  
  Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle was born on June 21, 1957, in Manila, the eldest child of devout Catholic parents, Manuel Topacio Tagle, an ethnic Tagalog and his Chinese Filipino wife, Milagros Gokim, who previously worked for Equitable PCI Bank. Tagle's paternal grandfather, Florencio, came from Imus, Cavite; the Tagle family were from the Spanish, lowland Christian aristocracy known as the Principalía, which were the elite prior to the 1896 Philippine Revolution. The Tagle surname is originally Spanish, from the northern region of Cantabria). Florencio was injured by a bomb explosion during the Second World War; Tagle's grandmother made a living by running a local diner.
  
  After completing elementary and high school at Saint Andrew's School in Parañaque, Rizal in 1973, Tagle was influenced by priest friends to enter the Jesuit San José Seminary, which sent him to the Jesuit Ateneo de Manila University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in pre-divinity from the Ateneo in 1977 and then a Master of Arts in theology at the same university's Loyola School of Theology. Tagle earned his Doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Catholic University of America from 1987 to 1991. He wrote his dissertation under the direction of Joseph A. Komonchak on "Episcopal Collegiality in the Teaching and Practice of Paul VI". Tagle also attended doctrinal courses at the Institute of Pope Paul VI University. In Komonchak's estimation, Tagle was "one of the best students I had in over 40 years of teaching" and "could have become the best theologian in the Philippines, or even in all of Asia" had he not been appointed bishop. Tagle has received honorary degrees from Catholic Theological Union and La Salle University. Tagle is a native Tagalog speaker and is fluent in English and Italian. He is also proficient in reading Spanish, French, Korean, Chinese, and Latin.
  
  Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle was born on June 21, 1957, in Manila, the eldest child of devout Catholic parents, Manuel Topacio Tagle, an ethnic Tagalog and his Chinese Filipino wife, Milagros Gokim, who previously worked for Equitable PCI Bank. Tagle's paternal grandfather, Florencio, came from Imus, Cavite; the Tagle family were from the Spanish, lowland Christian aristocracy known as the Principalía, which were the elite prior to the 1896 Philippine Revolution. The Tagle surname is originally Spanish, from the northern region of Cantabria). Florencio was injured by a bomb explosion during the Second World War; Tagle's grandmother made a living by running a local diner.
  
  After completing elementary and high school at Saint Andrew's School in Parañaque, Rizal in 1973, Tagle was influenced by priest friends to enter the Jesuit San José Seminary, which sent him to the Jesuit Ateneo de Manila University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in pre-divinity from the Ateneo in 1977 and then a Master of Arts in theology at the same university's Loyola School of Theology. Tagle earned his Doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Catholic University of America from 1987 to 1991. He wrote his dissertation under the direction of Joseph A. Komonchak on "Episcopal Collegiality in the Teaching and Practice of Paul VI". Tagle also attended doctrinal courses at the Institute of Pope Paul VI University. In Komonchak's estimation, Tagle was "one of the best students I had in over 40 years of teaching" and "could have become the best theologian in the Philippines, or even in all of Asia" had he not been appointed bishop. Tagle has received honorary degrees from Catholic Theological Union and La Salle University. Tagle is a native Tagalog speaker and is fluent in English and Italian. He is also proficient in reading Spanish, French, Korean, Chinese, and Latin.