-Eric
FORT LAUDERDALE
Beloved priest dies in house fire
A house fire claimed the life of a man who devoted himself to the priesthood, the arts, education and his community.
BY HANNAH SAMPSON
hsampson@herald.com
The Rev. Jorge Sardiñas called St. Anthony Chapel on the St. Thomas University campus his ''Michelangelo moment'' after he designed all of the artwork inside the sanctuary.
On Wednesday, the same chapel housed mourners grieving the death of Sardiñas, an artist, priest and professor who tried to battle a fire in his Fort Lauderdale home with a garden hose, only to succumb to smoke and soot inhalation.
Sardiñas, 53, was an art professor at St. Thomas University and a priest at Our Lady of the Lakes Catholic Church in Miami Lakes. He leaves behind a grieving community of relatives, parishioners, students and colleagues.
''We'll never understand why he had to be taken so soon,'' said Jorge Arrizurieta, one of Sardiñas' cousins.
Fire investigators believe the blaze started at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday due to ''improper discarding of smoking material'' because cigar butts and ashes were found in the room where the fire started, said Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue Battalion Chief Chris Weir.
Sardiñas might have fallen asleep with a smoldering cigar near the bed and woke up to find that a fire had started, Weir said. He ran outside for the hose and went back into the house, where he kept much of his artwork.
But his attempts to douse the flames were futile.
SHUTTERS FUELED HEAT
The house still had its aluminum hurricane shutters up, which caused the heat and smoke inside the house to grow like an oven, fire officials said.
When firefighters entered, they found Sardiñas near the bedroom with the hose running. He had burns on his chest, face and part of his back. His small dog was found dead in another bedroom.
The Broward Medical Examiner's Office ruled Sardiñas' death accidental.
News of Sardiñas' death shocked parishioners at Our Lady of the Lakes. Emily Borras, 25, who has attended the church since she was in elementary school, couldn't believe her favorite priest was gone.
''He will be greatly missed, and his absence will be felt throughout the church,'' she said.
''I always liked to say he had the soul of an artist and the heart of a priest,'' the Rev. James Murphy, a fellow priest at Our Lady of the Lakes, told WFOR-CBS 4. ``And he combined those . . . very, very well.''
Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas released a statement expressing the sorrow that his family, community and parish felt at the loss of Sardiñas.
''He was a blessed man of God and, after hearing his sermon, we always went home feeling wiser and better and, in a special way, touched by God,'' he said.
The community at St. Thomas University, too, was reeling at the loss.
`HARD TO IMAGINE'
''We will greatly miss this kind, gentle, and generous colleague and friend,'' the university's president, the Rev. Monsignor Franklyn M. Casale, said in a statement. ``It is hard to imagine St. Thomas without him.''
Said Arrizurieta: ``We will mourn the loss of a great priest and a great artist and a great inspiration to a lot of us. More importantly, just a good person.''
Sardiñas' survivors include cousins Sarah Saborido, Luis Arrizurieta, Sylvia Roepke, all of South Florida; his brother, Alfredo Sardiñas of the Dominican Republic; and many cousins, nieces and nephews.
Herald staff writer Lisett Fernandez contributed to this report.
Here is an interview and memorial video to him from the Archdiocese of Miami, in regards to his church he designed, and built.
http://www.miamiarch.org/video/media/in ... adband.wmv
Awful, just awful. 
sad, may he rest in peace