This is perhaps what describes my next featured cardinal.
At the imposition of the red biretta during the rite of their creation, cardinals are exhorted by the Holy Father to serve the Church, "even to the point of shedding blood ."
But it wasn't this cardinal who bled...but me (not literally of course).
How, you may ask?
Despite painstakingly sending him letter after letter to ask for some sort of memorabilia, His Eminence NEVER responded.
Perhaps there was a logical explanation to this...I thought to myself. There has to be. There always is.
Finally, when the cardinal granted me his autograph...I had already lost 7 full years of my sanity thinking what I could have written or done wrong. (I exaggerate.)
Yes, 7 years.
And it had to merit a face-to-face encounter with His Eminence to make it happen.
I could only think of two reasons why he could not accede to my request: (1) this cardinal was already tucked away in much-deserved retirement after long years of service and grueling work for the Church and did not anymore have the benefit of having a personal secretary or an office staff to assist him; and (2) he lived far, far away...in Rome.
Yes, I gave His Eminence the benefit of the doubt.
And no, I did not have to go all the way to Rome to claim my prize.
As if by Divine Providence, I met the cardinal here...holed up in a convent in the Diocese of Novaliches.
Having been the prefect of a major Vatican department, His Eminence had the true bearing of a Prince of the Church and a member of the Pope's temporal government.. when I finally met him on 20 April 2007.
His Eminence had an air about him: he was very proper, very scholastic and very dignified.
But he also exuded warmth and humility, despite living and working among the snooty bureaucrats of the Roman Curia for at least 20 years.
This is because this cardinal...is FILIPINO.
Without further ado, I introduce to you the Bishop Emeritus of Lucena, the Archbishop Emeritus of Nueva Segovia and the Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Clergy, His Eminence Jose Tomas Cardinal Sanchez. (APPLAUSE)
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| Taken on 20 April 2007 |
The purpose of that fateful meeting on 20 April 2007, was not simply to ask for Cardinal Sanchez's autograph, but to interview His Eminence for a television report and magazine article that I was set to produce about him, the 5th Filipino to be elevated to the Sacred College of Cardinals.
Sadly, not many Filipinos know him and only came to know of him because of his death very recently on 9 March 2012.
The reason for the obscurity and estrangement is perhaps because he lived away from home for at least 20 years.
I am especially proud to say that I am one of the very few Filipino journalists to have made "mini-biographies" about His Eminence to make him known... to his very own people.
Much of what transpired during that interview is written in a magazine article I wrote and a TV report which aired back in April 2007.
But I recently posted a note about that encounter on my Facebook account the morning that he died.
But I still need to share how I finally got his autograph.
As we were discussing Church issues over a snack of pastries and bottled iced tea (yes, sweet stuff I would dare not eat if I were his age), I digressed and looked for an opportunity to tell him that I was his stalker, a crazed fan.
Mustering enough courage, I said, "Eminence, I wrote you many times before but you NEVER responded."
"Is that so?" came his reply.
So I dared to ask him, "Can I please have my picture taken with you and get your autograph?"
He willingly obliged.
It's a good thing I came really prepared. Not wanting to have him sign on a plain sheet of paper from my reporter's notebook, I brought out my copy of John Paul II and His Cardinals, one of the resources that helped me build my collection.
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| The Elusive Autograph |
I turned it to the page where his picture was.
His face suddenly lit up and he said, "That's me!"
He skimmed through the other pictures of his batchmate-cardinals who were named along with him in the consistory of June 1991.
And then...he finally affixed his signature.
And so it happened....
Indeed, good things come to those who wait....patiently.
P.S. Pardon the sarcasm
Eternal rest grant unto Jose Tomas Sanchez, O Lord. And let your perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.
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