Roman Catholic Cardinal. The second Puerto Rican Bishop and the first Cardinal, he shall be remembered as the longtime Archbishop of San Juan. Raised in the coastal village of his birth, he was involved in his Church from early childhood, serving as an altar boy for many years. After study at the Seminary of San Juan he completed his education at the St. John Seminary in Boston and was ordained a Priest in the Diocese of Ponce on April 10, 1950. Over the next decade Aponte Martinez was a curate, school administrator, parish priest, and Chaplain of the Puerto Rico National Guard before being consecrated Bishop and named Auxillary of Ponce on October 12, 1960. Later the Coadjutor he became Bishop of Ponce on November 18, 1963 then on November 4th of the year following he was installed as the 57th Archbishop of San Juan. Over the next 35 years he led a Diocese of roughly a million Catholics, along the way seeing a sustained period of membership growth and expansion of Church property. Created Cardinal by Pope Paul VI on March 5, 1973, he served as President of the Board of Directors of the Catholic University of Puerto Rico and of the Puerto Rican Episcopal Conference. The Cardinal voted in both Papal Conclaves of 1978 and was generally both liked and respected despite occasional criticism of his conservative theological and political stances. He remained in San Juan following his 1999 age-mandated retirement and at his death from chronic heart disease was still the only Cardinal from Puerto Rico.∼Obituary The Catholic New York 4-19-2012

Cardinal Aponte,89, Headed San Juan Archdiocese for 34 years.

Cardinal Luis Aponte Martinez, the second Puerto Rican to be ordained a bishop and the only Puerto Rican Cardinal, died April 10, at Hospital Espanol Auxilo Mutuo in San Juan after a long illness. He was 89.
The head of the San Juan Archdiocese for 34 years, he retired in 1999. Cardinal aponte participated in the 1978 conclaves that elected Pope John Pau I and Blessed John Paul II.
Puerto Rican Gov. Luis Fortuno declared five days of official mourning for the cardinal, who died on the 62nd anniversary of his priestly ordination. "His wide priestly and pastoral work leaves a rich spiritual legacy, not only for the Catholic faithful, but also for all men of good will," the govenor said in a statement.
Pope Benedict XVI expressed his condolences to the cardinal's family and the people of Puerto Rico in a telegram sent to San Juan Archbishop Roberto Gonzales Nieves. The Vatican released the text of the message April 11. The pope said he was "profoundly saddened" by the death of the cardinal, who endured his illness "with great serenity".
The pope said the late cardinal had "participated in the Second Vatican Council, implementing its provisions" in the Archdiocese of San Juan and giving "witness to his great love for God and the Church, as well as his great dedication to the cause of the Gospel."
After the cardinals body ws taken to Churches in Lajas, San German Ponce and Santurce to permit local Catholics to pay their respects, his Funreal Mass was offered April 16 in the Catherdral of Old San Juan.
Cardinal Aponte's death leaves the College of Cardinals with 210 members, 123 of whom are under the age of 80.
Born in Lajas Puerto Rico, the eight of 18 children, he studied at the minor seminary in Old San Juan, then at St. John's Seminary in Boston and St. Leo College in Florida, where earned a doctorate in law.
He was ordained to the priesthood in 1950, and was involved in parish ministry until he became secretary to the bishop of Ponce in 1955. He also served as vice chancellor, diocesan superintenedent of Catholic schools and chaplin of the Puerton Rican National Guard.
Pope John XXIII named him as auxilary bishop of the Diocese of Ponce in 1960. He was ordained a bishop later that year by Cardinal Francis J. Spellman of New York.
Promoted to archbishop of San Juan in 1964, he ws installed in January 1965. Pope Paul VI named him a cardinal in 1973.
As a bishop, he attended the first, third and fourth sessions of the Second Vatican Council. Following the council he created the Episcopal Conference of Pureto Rico in 1965, serving as its president until 1982.
In the 1993 interview with Catholic News Service, he had seen the Puerto Rican church grow through the years, both in number of parishes and vocations and in the knowledge what it means to be Catholic.
"Undoubtly, Catholics todayhave a much better understanding of their Catholicism," Cardinal Aponte said. And that's where he saw the futrue of the Hispanic Church.
"If we convice every lay man and women of their participation in the new evangelization," he said, "our future can only be bright."