The Commemoration of Archbishop Oscar Romero, Martyr,  and the Martyrs of El Salvador

Dear Friends,

Let us pray:

Almighty God, who didst call thy servant Oscar Romero to be a voice for the voiceless poor, and to give his life as a seed of freedom and a sign of hope: Grant that we, inspired by his sacrifice and the example of the martyrs of El Salvador, may without fear or favor witness to thy Word who abideth, thy Word who is Life, even Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Spirit, be praise and glory now and forever. Amen.

Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (August 15, 1917 – March 24, 1980), commonly known as Monseñor Romero, was a priest of the Roman Catholic Church in El Salvador. He later became prelate archbishop of San Salvador.

As an archbishop, he witnessed numerous violations of human rights and began a ministry speaking out on behalf of the poor and victims of the country’s civil war. His brand of political activism was denounced by the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church and the government of El Salvador. In 1980, he was assassinated by gunshot while consecrating the Eucharist during mass. His death finally provoked international outcry for human rights reform in El Salvador.

In 1997, a cause for beatification and canonization into sainthood was opened for Romero, and Pope John Paul II bestowed upon him the title of Servant of God. Pope Francis canonized Romero as a saint on 14 October 2018. He is considered the unofficial patron saint of the Americas and El Salvador and is often referred to as “San Romero” in El Salvador. Outside of Catholicism, Romero is honored by other religious denominations of Christendom, including the Church of England through its Common Worship. He is one of the ten 20th-century martyrs from across the world who are depicted in statues above the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey, London.  (Hagiography by James Kieffer)

Also commemorated on this day are three Maryknoll nuns and a woman lay missionary killed by a Salvadoran army death squad on 2 Dec, 1980 and, additionally, six Jesuits, their housekeeper, and her daughter, who were also murdered by the Salvadoran army on 16 Nov. 1989.

Often we remember martyrs of the Church from the past, either those in the Roman persecutions of the first millennia or from missionary work in the past two centuries. Archbishop Romero and the martyrs of El Salvador, ministers to the farmworkers, are our recent history;  I remember the news reports in the eighties of these events, when they were labeled leftist sympathizers as if to justify their murders. Grace Cathedral, in 2010, had a remembrance service for Archbishop Romero. In seminary I attended the annual memorial Mass at the Jesuit School in Berkeley, where they remembered their own, not only brother priests but also the personal friendships broken by war. Moving and wrenching, I wept with them in their loss.  May this senseless violence cease.

We pray for reforms to uplift the poor, the marginalized, and the forgotten, and we pray for those who serve with Jesus for the least of us. May we remember today the martyrs, that their deaths not be in vain.

Father Eric