Luis Aponte Martínez (August 4, 1922 – April 10, 2012) was a Puerto Rican Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of San Juan from 1965 to 1999. He is the only Puerto Rican to have been named a

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. He participated as an elector in the two

conclave A conclave is a gathering of the College of Cardinals convened to appoint the pope of the Catholic Church. Catholics consider the pope to be the apostolic successor of Saint Peter and the earthly head of the Catholic Church. Concerns around ...

s of 1978, which elected Popes John Paul I and

John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

Early life and education

Aponte Martínez was born in the town of Lajas, Puerto Rico, the son of Santiago Evangelista Aponte and Rosa María Martínez. Aponte came from a large family, the eighth of 18 children. He served as an altar boy for many years in his hometown. Aponte studied in the Seminary of San Ildefonso in San Juan; from there he went to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, where he studied at Saint John's Seminary. He also attended

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

and earned his doctorate from the seminary at Saint Leo University in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Priesthood and episcopacy

Aponte was ordained a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

of the Diocese of Ponce in San German, Puerto Rico, on April 10, 1950, by

James Edward McManus James Edward McManus (October 10, 1900 – July 6, 1976) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. A Redemptorist, he served as Bishop of Ponce in Puerto Rico (1947–1963) and as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York ...

, the Bishop of Ponce. Between 1950 and 1955, he served as a

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

in various towns in the diocese. In 1955 he served as secretary to the bishop, as well as superintendent of Catholic schools for the diocese. In 1957, he once again served as a pastor and also served as

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

in the Puerto Rico National Guard, until his appointment in 1957 as

chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

of the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico in Ponce. On October 12, 1960, Aponte Martinez became only the second native-born Puerto Rican in nearly 150 years (after Juan Alejo de Arizmendi) to be consecrated as a bishop, being appointed

auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

in the Diocese of Ponce by

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII (born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death on 3 June 1963. He is the most recent pope to take ...

, assigned as the

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Lares. On April 16, 1963, Aponte Martinez was appointed

coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

of Ponce by Pope John, to which office he succeeded on November 18, 1963, and was installed on the following February 22. On November 4, 1964, he was appointed by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

as the Archbishop of San Juan.

Cardinal

On March 5, 1973,

made Aponte Martínez the first-ever Puerto Rican

, specifically the cardinal-priest of Santa Maria della Provvidenza a Monteverde. He held the position of president of the board of directors of the

Catholic University of Puerto Rico The Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Puerto Rico) is a private Roman Catholic university with its main campus in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It provides courses leading to Bachelor's, Master's and Doct ...

. He was president of the Puerto Rican Episcopal Conference and also of the Latin American Episcopal Conference (CELAM). In 1984, Aponte helped coordinate and was among the many dignitaries who greeted

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

, upon his visit to Puerto Rico. Cardinal Aponte was actively involved in some of the church's major acquisitions in Puerto Rico. Among these were a television and radio station and a weekly publication called ''El Visitante'' (''The Visitor''). This served to spread the church's point of view all over the island. Cardinal Aponte retired as Archbishop of San Juan in May 1999, after almost 30 years as archbishop. He participated in the preparation for the Papal Conclave of 2005, but was unable to vote, since he was 82 at the time of the conclave, past the canonical age of 80 for electors. In 2006, he published his memoirs, ''Unde hoc mihi''.

Death

Aponte died on April 10, 2012, at the Hospital Español de Auxilio Mutuo in San Juan after a long illness. He was 89. Puerto Rican Governor Luis Fortuno declared five days of official mourning for the cardinal, who died on the 62nd anniversary of his priestly ordination. His body was taken to churches in Lajas, San German, Ponce and Santurce, to allow local Catholics to pay their respects, and a Mass of the Resurrection took place on April 16 in the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista in Old San Juan. Cardinal Carlos Amigo Vallejo, retired archbishop of

Seville, Spain Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

, presided, with the Puerto Rican bishops and Archbishop Josef Wesolowski, papal

nuncio An apostolic nuncio (; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international organization. A nuncio is ...

to the Dominican Republic and

apostolic delegate An apostolic nuncio (; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international organization. A nuncio is ...

to Puerto Rico, concelebrating.

References

External links