Biography

Rafael Cordero y Molina was born October 24, 1790, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was the youngest of three children and his father worked in the tobacco fields, doing his best to carve out a meager living for them. At the time, in Puerto Rico, black families like his were banned from enrolling their children into local schools. Cordero’s parents did their best to homeschool their children. At an early age, Cordero developed a love for reading. His passion for literature blossomed into a passion for education in general, and Cordero set his mind to becoming a teacher.
 
Along with instilling a love for education into their children, Cordero’s parents also worked to teach them about God and their beloved Catholic faith. Cordero embraced Catholicism and was Confirmed at age 14. At age 20 he began working with his father in the local tobacco fields and hatched a plan to make a seriously positive change in his community that combined his love for education and his faith — start a free school for children like him who were excluded from traditional education in his community.
 
Cordero began his school inside of his home and worked with children in between his regular shifts in the tobacco fields. He accepted students of any race and any socio-economic background. His school rapidly grew in popularity due to the needs of so many who were being excluded from the education system in Puerto Rico. Even as the school grew, he committed to keeping it free for everyone, continuing his work in the tobacco fields to pay for operational costs.
 
Cordero ran his free school for the next 58 years! He taught youth how to read and write, mathematics, history, calligraphy, Catholic doctrine, and more. He became famous throughout Puerto Rico and would give any award money he won to the school, continuing to provide education for free.
 
Before his death, he sensed that his life would be coming to an end and prayed with his students, giving them his blessing. He passed away in 1868 at the age of 78 and more than 2,000 people attended his funeral. In 2013 Pope Francis declared that Rafael Cordero y Molina lived a life of “heroic virtue” and was worthy of the title Venerable. There are many schools that bear his name in the USA and Puerto Rico as well as a national teaching award given out yearly in Puerto Rico called the Rafael Cordero National Medal. Today, he is still fondly remembered as the Father of Public Education in Puerto Rico and the schoolhouse he used has become part of the National Registry of Historical Places of the United States.

Prayer

Our Lord and God, You instilled in your Servant, Rafael Cordero y Molina, a Puerto Rican layman, an ardent zeal for the integral education of children and a luminous charity toward the poor and helpless. Help me to also respond with the generosity of service to those in need in around me. I ask of You, if it is Your will, that You grant me (my intercession) so that Your servant Rafael is elevated to sainthood.
Amen.