July 13 Marks The Feast Day Of A Dynamic, Enthusiastic Catholic Layman From The Caribbean
Sunday - Jul 14, 2024
July 13 marks the feast day of a dynamic, enthusiastic Catholic layman from the Caribbean who was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2001. Known as “Charlie” — abbreviated to just “Chali” in his most intimate circle — from childhood Carlos Manuel “Charlie” Rodríguez exuded a gift and zeal for communicating the tremendous value and vitality of the Catholic faith.
“He lived according to the maxim ‘the zeal of your house has eaten me up,’” recalled renowned Puerto Rican endocrinologist Dr. Francisco Aguiló, who was among the young people indelibly impacted by Charlie’s apostolate at the University of Puerto Rico’s (UPR) main campus in Río Piedras in the 1950s and early 1960s. “That’s the way he always insisted the Christian should feel for his Church, understood as the mystical body of Christ, as well as for the Liturgy, the life of the Church,” added Aguiló in his 1994 book “A Puerto Rican Saint?” (“¿Un santo puertorriqueño?”).
Aguiló, along with his wife, UPR chemistry professor Carmen Delia “Delí” Santana, were both instrumental in spearheading the effort that led to Charlie’s canonization cause. In his book, Aguiló chronicles Charlie’s short but fruitful life, including the “calvary” and “dark night of the soul” he suffered before dying in “odor of sanctity” of cancer in 1963 at age 44.
The chronic colitis that plagued Charlie throughout most of his life and impeded the completion of his studies at UPR did not impede him from either attaining remarkable intellectual heights or, more importantly, sharing his engaging experience and knowledge of the faith with others. He was known to be a voracious reader. By making the most of his innate capacity and extraordinary memory, he became a self-taught Catholic intellectual in his own right. His thought was deeply influenced by the writings of such saints and luminaries as St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross, St. Charles de Foucauld, Cardinal John Henry Newman, G.K. Chesterton, and St. Edith Stein.
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