Catholic World News News Feature

Thousands Of Puerto Ricans Receive Blessed Charlie In His Home Town May 29, 2001

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, May 29, 01 (CWNews.com) - A multitude of Puerto Rican gathered in the city of Caguas to receive the remains of the first Puerto Rican to reach the altars, Blessed Carlos Manuel "Charlie" Rodriguez, on Sunday.

The remains of Charlie Rodriguez, the second Latin American layman to be proclaimed blessed by Pope John Paul II, were in the town of Humacao, but on Sunday they were transported in procession to Caguas.

The 7-hour long procession ended at the Sola Morales Stadium in Cahuas, where the local Bishop Ruben Gonzalez Medina, received him. Cardinal Luis Aponte, retired archbishop of San Juan and his successor, Roberto Gonzalez, celebrated a Mass attended by more than 10,000 people.

During the homily, Charlie's brother, Father Jose Rodriguez, a Benedictine friar, said that his brother helped to "make clear the true idea of holiness." "Since we never had before a proclaimed saint in Puerto Rico, we used to think that saints were rare people sent from heaven."

"But today, by bringing the remains of Charlie, a layman, to the Church of the Blessed Name of Jesus where he used to pray, we are proclaiming that he was not a superman but a man rooted in a land, a family, and a country," Father Jose added.

Governor Sila Calderon, who also attended the Mass, said that Charlie, "as a Puerto Rican layman, summarizes what all of us, as Christians, are called to make real in our daily life."

Carlos Manuel Rodriguez was proclaimed blessed on April 29 this year by Pope John Paul II. Although Charlie died in 1963, his process of beatification started only 11 years ago, thus becoming the fastest process among those proclaimed blessed or saint by the current Pontiff.