Blessed Carlos Manuel Cecilio Rodríguez Santiago, also known as "Blessed Charlie", was a Catholic catechist and liturgist who Pope John Paul II beatified on April 29, 2001. He is the first Puerto Rican and the first Caribbean-born layperson in history to be beatified. He was a layman who taught the faith by publishing liturgical and Christian Culture periodicals that helped Catholics rediscover the essence of the Eucharist. Before his death of cancer, he endured “the dark night of the soul” yet he never gave up on Jesus Christ.
