“He always maintained a great love for Cuba and especially the Province of Matanzas,” Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami said in a June 11 statement.
The late auxiliary bishop was expelled from Cuba in 1961 along with 132 other priests.
After ministering in Chile for a number of years, Bishop Roman arrived in Miami in 1966, where he founded what later became the national shrine for Cuba’s patroness, Our Lady of Charity.
For seven years he oversaw its construction, encouraging exiled Cubans to donate to the project.
The shrine drew the affection of thousands of Latin Americans who live in south Florida.
Bishop Roman remained active at the shrine, even after retiring from serving as its rector in 2003.
Bishop Roman remained active at the shrine, even after retiring from serving as its rector in 2003.
He also served on the U.S. bishops’ conference committees for Hispanic Affairs and Migration and Tourism.
Although Bishop Roman was never able to return to his homeland, his posthumous gift to the diocese where he was baptized and ordained a priest, shows how he “continues to support the Church in Cuba,” Archbishop Wenski said.
ABC News named him their “Person of the Week” when he helped end a 1986 Cuban detainee prison riot in Atlanta, Ga. and Oakdale, La. without any bloodshed.
When the press began calling him a hero, Bishop Roman simply corrected them saying, “A bishop, a priest, is a servant, not a hero.”