Luis Aponte Martínez

His Eminence Luis Aponte Martínez
Cardinal, Archbishop Emeritus of San Juan
Archdiocese	San Juan
Installed	January 15, 1965
Term ended	March 26, 1999
Predecessor	James Peter Davis
Successor	Roberto González Nieves
Other post(s)	Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria Madre della Provvidenza a Monte
Orders
Ordination	April 10, 1950 by James Edward McManus
Consecration	October 12, 1960 by Francis Spellman
Created cardinal	March 5, 1973 by Paul VI
Rank	Cardinal-Priest
Personal details
Born	(1922-08-04)August 4, 1922 Lajas, Puerto Rico
Died	April 10, 2012(2012-04-10) (aged 89) San Juan, Puerto Rico
Buried	Cathedral of San Juan Bautista, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Previous post(s)	Bishop of Ponce (1963‍–‍1964)
Motto	In virtute Dei
Coat of arms

Ordination history of Luis Aponte Martínez
History Priestly ordination Ordained by James Edward McManus CSsR (Ponce) Date April 10, 1950 Episcopal consecration Consecrated by Francis Cardinal Spellman (New York) Date October 12, 1960 Cardinalate Elevated by Pope Paul VI Date March 5, 1973
Episcopal succession Bishops consecrated by Luis Aponte Martínez as principal consecrator Miguel Rodriguez Rodriguez March 23, 1974 Ulises Aurelio Casiano Vargas April 30, 1976 Héctor Manuel Rivera Pérez August 17, 1979 Enrique Manuel Hernández Rivera August 17, 1979 Hermín Negrón Santana September 7, 1981 Ruben Antonio González Medina February 4, 2001

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 of the Catholic Church. He participated as an elector in the two conclaves of 1978, which elected Popes John Paul I and John Paul II.

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, Massachusetts, where he studied at Saint John's Seminary. He also attended Boston College and earned his doctorate from the seminary at Saint Leo University in Florida.

Priesthood and episcopacy

Aponte was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Ponce in San German, Puerto Rico, on April 10, 1950, by James Edward McManus, the Bishop of Ponce. Between 1950 and 1955, he served as a pastor 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 in the Puerto Rico National Guard, until his appointment in 1957 as chancellor 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 in the Diocese of Ponce by Pope John XXIII, assigned as the titular bishop of Lares. On April 16, 1963, Aponte Martinez was appointed coadjutor bishop 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 as the Archbishop of San Juan.

Cardinal

Styles of Luis Aponte Martínez
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	San Juan (Emeritus)

On March 5, 1973, Pope Paul VI made Aponte Martínez the first-ever Puerto Rican cardinal, 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. 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, 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, presided, with the Puerto Rican bishops and Archbishop Josef Wesolowski, papal nuncio to the Dominican Republic and apostolic delegate to Puerto Rico, concelebrating.

See also

• List of Puerto Ricans
• Historical list of the Catholic bishops of Puerto Rico

External links

• Biography at Holy Roman Cardinals website
• Cheney, David M. "Archdiocese of San Juan de Puerto Rico". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. Retrieved June 14, 2018. (for Chronology of Bishops) ^{[self-published]}
• Chow, Gabriel. "Metropolitan Archdiocese of San Juan de Puerto Rico". GCatholic.org. Retrieved June 14, 2018. (for Chronology of Bishops) ^{[self-published]}
• Cardenal Luis Aponte Martínez y Santa Isabel. Santa Isabel PR. 20 March 2008. Accessed 19 July 2019.