Saint Óscar Romero
Archbishop and Martyr
- Feast Day
- March 24
- Life
- 1917–1980
- Canonized
- 2018
- Born
- Ciudad Barrios, El Salvador
Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez was born on 15 August 1917 in Ciudad Barrios, El Salvador. Ordained a priest in Rome in 1942, he served for decades as a hard-working and, by temperament, cautious churchman. When he was appointed Archbishop of San Salvador in 1977, few expected him to challenge the social order.
The murder of his friend the Jesuit priest Rutilio Grande, soon after Romero took office, marked a turning point. As El Salvador descended into repression and civil war, Romero became the outspoken voice of the poor and the persecuted, denouncing killings, torture, and disappearances in his Sunday homilies, which were broadcast across the country. The day before his death he publicly appealed to the nation's soldiers to stop carrying out the regime's killings.
On 24 March 1980 Archbishop Romero was shot dead as he celebrated Mass in a hospital chapel in San Salvador. His funeral drew enormous crowds, and his witness became a sign of hope for the persecuted Church throughout Latin America.
Pope Francis declared him a martyr in February 2015; he was beatified on 23 May 2015 and canonised on 14 October 2018, together with Pope Paul VI. His feast is kept on 24 March.
Saint Óscar Romero is honoured as a martyr and as a model of pastoral courage — a bishop who laid down his life in defence of the poor and the defenceless. He is widely invoked by those who work for justice, by the persecuted, and by the people of El Salvador and the Americas. His often-quoted words, that if he were killed he would 'rise again in the Salvadoran people,' have made him an enduring symbol of hope.
Patronages
El Salvador · the poor · persecuted Christians · human rights · the Americas
From Saint Óscar Romero
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