In 1927, the 19-year-old Santos and Leopoldo A. Arcaira, 24—both outstanding students of San Carlos Seminary—were the first recipients of the scholarships at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy.

On October 25, 1931, two months shy of his 23rd birthday, Rufino J. Santos was ordained a priest at the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome.

Refusing to collaborate with the Japanese Army, Santos was sentenced to death but was plucked out by the Combined American and Filipino liberation forces on the night of his execution.

He was a member of the conservative-wing of the Council known as the Coetus Internationalis Patrum, and greatly contributed in the drafting of documents about the Blessed Virgin Mary in the field of Mariology.

Santos established the church-run Radio Veritas and built important structures including the Our Lady of Guadalupe Minor Seminary in Makati; the Pius XII Catholic Center in Paco, Manila; and Villa San Miguel, the archbishop's palace in Mandaluyong.

[7] Santos, the first Filipino cardinal, became the 29th Archbishop of Manila in a post-war scenario that saw a nation plagued with the following: a high dependency on the upper class in the country's social, economic and political growth; a growing inequality in the distribution of wealth; a critical unfairness in labor, land and tenancy—all catalysts to the resurgence of the communist movement.

Then I expect the more fortunate of the faithful in the Archdiocese to contribute their help in the amount of 1 peso a month for the same purpose, in order that we may budget some two hundred to two hundred fifty thousand pesos a year for buying food, clothing and medicines for distribution among our poor brethren, and the education of their children.This plan took shape soon after when the cardinal appointed an eleven-man administrative board on October 1, 1953.

Nonetheless, it was medical assistance, crisis intervention and emergency relief that had the greatest impact, reaching thousands of the sick and indigent.

The rites also included the exhibit of Cardinal Santos memorabilia, loaned by the Archdiocese of Manila and the Kapampangan Museum at Clark.

[4] The bronze statue will sit atop a 7 ft (2.1 m) concrete pedestal outside the Rufino J. Cardinal Santos Convention Hall adjacent to the parish church.