Luis Aponte Martínez

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; 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.