PUERTO RICO'S LAY SAINT

 

BL. CARLOS MANUEL CECILIO RODRIGUEZ SANTIAGO  is the first Puerto Rican, the first Caribbean-born layperson to be beatified.

He was born in 1963,  the second of five brothers and sisters. Two of his sisters married, while another became a Carmelite nun. His brother, José (Pepe) Rodriguez became a Benedictine monk and the first Puerto Rican to become abbot of his monastery. 

(Abbot Jose Rodriguez was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, on March 19, 1922, was professed on July 11, 1959, was ordained to the priesthood on June 1, 1963, and was elected first abbot of San Antonio Abad on July 12, 1984.)

 After graduating the Catholic elementary school, Bl. Carlos began to attend José Gautier Benítez High School. His desire to become a priest was undermined by ill health.  At that point, he began to develop ulcerative colitis. After two years at the local public high school, he transferred to the Academy of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in San Juan. His medical problems, however, caused him to leave before graduation. He returned to the family home and continued his high school studies as best he could while working as a clerk, finally receiving his diploma in May 1939.

While Bl. Carlos was working as an office clerk in various towns of the region, he dedicated his resources to promote a greater knowledge of the Catholic faith by promoting a greater understanding of the Catholic liturgy. Using articles on liturgical subjects he had translated and edited, he began publishing ”Liturgy and Christian Culture”, to which he dedicated innumerable hours. He  organized discussion groups in towns across the entire island and worked with Catholic social organizations to disseminate his ideas. He also taught catechism to high school students whose study aids he supplied out of his pocket,  and he was a Knight of Columbus.

In 1946,  Bl. Carlos enrolled at the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras  to pursue higher studies, where his brother José and sister Haydée were already UPR faculty members. As his disciples grew in number, he moved into nearby Catholic University Center and organized another Liturgy Circle (later called the Círculo de Cultura Cristiana). Despite excellent grades and his love for studies, however, illness prevented him from completing his second year.

 Nonetheless, he was a voracious reader and, with only a year's study, was able to master both the piano and the church organ. In 1948, he assembled along with Father McGlone, the parroquial chorus "Te Deum Laudamus".

 He zealously promoted a renewal of the Catholic liturgy among bishops, clergy, and laypeople. He professed extreme devotion to the liturgy and worked to repair the loss of liturgical customs that had been abandoned over generations. He advocated for active participation of the laity in prayer, the use of the vernacular, and the observance of his much loved Paschal Vigil in its proper nighttime setting, after centuries of having this service celebrated on the morning of Holy Saturday.

One of his favorite sayings about this feast was Vivimos para esa noche (We live for that night). This is now the motto on his tomb, which is located in the Cathedral of Caguas.

Bl. Carlos  was diagnosed with rectal cancer following an operation in 1963 and died on July 13, 1963, at the age of 44.  His feast is celebrated July 13. In these days when there is so much talk of reform of the Liturgy, he is a good one to pray to.