1. Rufino Jiao Santos was the 29th Archbishop of Manila from February 10,1953, until his death on September 3,1973, and was the first Filipino elevated to the rank of cardinal.
21 Facts About Rufino Santos
1. 2.
Nino, Guagua, Pampanga, Santos was the fourth of seven children of Gaudencio Santos, an overseer of farmland near Mount Arayat, and Rosalia Jiao y Romero.
3.
Rufino Santos, nicknamed "Pinong", grew up in a house located 30 meters from what is the Immaculate Conception Parish.
4.
Rufino Santos was active in church activities as an acolyte, and was later a choir member of the Manila Cathedral School.
5.
Rufino Santos entered San Carlos Seminary on July 25,1921, and earned a baccalaureate in canon law in 1929 and a doctorate in sacred theology in July 1931 at the Pontificia Universita Gregoriana.
6.
Rufino Santos was granted a papal dispensation to be ordained below the canonical age of 24.
7.
Rufino Santos then served as an assistant parish priest in Imus, Cavite and as a parish priest in Marilao, Bulacan.
8.
On December 21,1950, Rufino Santos was appointed as the Archdiocese of Manila Military Ordinary.
9.
In 1953, Rufino Santos was appointed Archbishop of Manila on February 10 and was installed on March 25 of the same year.
10.
Rufino Santos was the first native Filipino to become a cardinal.
11.
Rufino Santos paved the way for the founding of Catholic Charities and the reconstruction of St Paul Hospital, which was established by the Maryknoll Sisters but was damaged by American bombardment during the Second World War.
12.
Rufino Santos re-instituted the Philippine Trust Company and the Catholic Travel Office.
13.
Rufino Santos was a member of the conservative-wing of the Council known as the Coetus Internationalis Patrum, and greatly contributed in the drafting of documents about the Blessed Virgin Mary in the field of Mariology.
14.
Rufino Santos hosted the visit of Pope Paul VI to the Philippines to attend the Asian Bishops' Meeting.
15.
Rufino Santos served as Archbishop of Manila from 1953 to 1973.
16.
Rufino Santos established the church-run Radio Veritas and built important structures including the Our Lady of Guadalupe Minor Seminary in Makati; the Pius XII Catholic Center in Paco, Manila; and Villa San Miguel, the archbishop's palace in Mandaluyong.
17.
Cardinal Rufino Santos founded the Pontificio Collegio Filippino, a college for diocesan priests from the Philippines studying at pontifical universities in Rome, Italy which was formally established as an institution with pontifical rights by Pope John XXIII on June 29,1961, through the papal bull Sancta Mater Ecclesia.
18.
Rosales said that Rufino Santos was a diabetic and that he suffered from a malignant brain tumor.
19.
Rufino Santos died in Manila on September 3,1973, eight days after his 65th birthday.
20.
Rufino Santos was "reviled" for his "conservatism on social issues and business acumen" [1].
21.
The rites included the exhibit of Cardinal Rufino Santos memorabilia, loaned by the Archdiocese of Manila and the Kapampangan Museum at Clark.