Roman Catholic Cardinal. A native of the Barrio of Sto. Niño, Guagua, Rufino Jiao Santos was the youngest male of the seven children of Gaudencio Santos and Rosalia Jiao. With his father employed as an overseer for a farm near Arayat, he had his family move to Intramuros, Manila, after the death of his wife, hoping to find better livelihood prospects. There, at the Manila Cathedral parochial school, eight year old Rufino was enrolled in first grade, becoming soon one of the brightest students of the school. Rendering often his services as an altar boy during mass at the cathedral, after finishing the fourth grade with honors, he was accepted at the San Carlos Seminary on June 15, 1921. In 1927, he was furthermore accepted at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, obtaining his baccalaureate in canon law and a doctorate in sacred theology. Ordained priest on October 25, 1931 at the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, following his return to the Philippines, he was named assistant priest of Imus, Cavite and then parish priest of Marilao, Bulacan. Later, he was transferred to the see of Manila where he became vice-chancellor in 1932 and successively superintendent of instruction and financial secretary in 1939. Arrested and jailed at Fort Santiago, where he was beaten and tortured by Japanese soldiers during the Second World War, he was eventually moved to Bilibid where he was rescued by Americans a year later, on the eve of his execution. Barely had he recuperated when he was named by Archbishop Michael O'Doherty as vicar general of Manila. Two years later, he was elected auxiliary to the latter metropolitan see, receiving his episcopal consecration with the titular see of Barca from the named Archbishop O'Doherty. Appointed the first military vicar of the Ordinariate of the Philippines on December 10, 1951, upon the death of Archbishop Gabriel Reyes in 1953, the first Filipino to hold the archbishopric of Manila, Pope Pius XII named Msgr. Santos as his successor. In his new role, he quietly worked towards building a local Church sensitive to the needs of the masses, organizing welfare projects such as the Catholic charities. Launching the Religious Crusade of the Purity Crusade for Mary Immaculate, he built the Seminary of Our Lady of Guadalupe and restored Manila's Cathedral to its old grandeur. Pope John XXIII created him cardinal in the consistory of March 28, 1960, becoming thus the first Filipino to be elevated to the Sacred College of Cardinals. His first message to a proud Filipino nation included a prayer and a wish: "Honor and glory to the Lord. Blessed be the great Lady of the Philippines, the Immaculate Virgin. May God bless my country!" During his episcopate in Manila, Pope Paul VI made his historic visit to the Philippines in 1970. Suffering a stroke on June 29, 1973 while reciting the Rosary at Villa San Miguel, he never recovered from his condition, eventually passing away peacefully at San Juan de Dios Hospital on the following September 3. He was interred seven days later in the crypt of Manila's Cathedral.