Friday, March 9, 2012

Jose Cardinal Sanchez, 91


MANILA, Philippines (Updated 3 p.m.) –Jose Cardinal Sanchez, archbishop emeritus of Nueva Segovia, who died early Friday morning, will lie in state until 5 a.m. on Saturday, March 10 at the Dominican Daughters of the Immaculate Mother Chapel at 872 St. Joseph St., on Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City.

After 5am Saturday, his remains will be moved to the Cathedral-Shrine of the Good Shepherd, on Regalado Avenue, Fairview Park until his funeral on Monday, March 12, in a tomb at the crypt below the Sanctuary of the cathedral.

There will be a funeral mass at 10 am before interment, at which His Eminence Ricardo Cardinal Vidal will preside and deliver the homily.

Besides the regular masses in the Good Shepherd Cathedral on Sundays and weekdays, there will be funeral masses at 9am and 8:30pm.

The office of the bishop of Novaliches, Rev. Antonio R. Tobias, DD, asked those attending the wake to omit flowers, and instead support the favorite concerns of Cardinal Sanchez: vocations to the priesthood and/or consecrated (religious) life.

Sanchez passed away at 4:30 a.m. Friday, March 9, 2011. He was 91.

Sanchez would have turned 92 on March 17.

First Filipino to serve in various capacities in Holy See

He was the first Filipino to have served in different capacities in the Holy See, and is one of the six Filipino cardinals since the papacy of John XXIII. He was subsequently appointed prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy as well as president of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See.

Sanchez was born in Pandan, Catanduanes on March 17, 1920 and ordained priest in Naga City on May 12, 1946, his profile on the website of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said.

From assistant pastor of San Raphael Parish, Legazpi City, he rose to vicar general of the diocese of Legazpi, then auxiliary bishop of Caceres to bishop of Lucena and archbishop of Nueva Segovia.

He was appointed Secretary to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and later Prefect of Congregation for the Clergy on July 1, 1991.

Archbishop Tagle, Malacanang on Sanchez

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle expressed condolences with the family, friends, and collaborators of "our beloved Jose Cardinal Sanchez."

"We thank God for him whose life became a gift of service to the Church and society," Tagle said in an announcement hours after his death. "We trust that the Lord would grant him the reward promised to faithful servants. Let us pray for his eternal repose."

For its part, the Aquino administration has joined Catholics in mourning Sanchez's death. “The loss of Cardinal Sanchez will be deeply felt by the Catholic Church the world over,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said.

source: interaksyon.com