Feast Day: March 24
Lived (August 15, 1917 – March 24, 1980)
The night before he was murdered while celebrating Mass, Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador said on the radio: “I would like to appeal in a special way to the men of the army, and in particular to the troops of the National Guard, the police, and the garrisons. Brothers, you belong to our own people. You kill your own brother peasants; and in the face of an order to kill that is given by a man, the law of God that says ‘Do not kill!’ should prevail.
“No soldier is obliged to obey an order counter to the law of God. No one has to comply with an immoral law. It is the time now that you recover your conscience and obey its dictates rather than the command of sin. . . . Therefore, in the name of God, and in the name of this long-suffering people, whose laments rise to heaven every day more tumultuous, I beseech you, I beg you, I command you! In the name of God: ‘Cease the repression!’”
Romero had even before then, eloquently upheld the gospel and effectively signed his own death warrant.
When he was appointed archbishop of San Salvador in 1977, Bishop Romero was considered a very “safe” choice. He had served as auxiliary bishop there for four years before his three years as bishop of Santiago de Maria.
Oscar’s father wanted him to be a carpenter—a trade for which he demonstrated some talent. Seminary classes in El Salvador preceded his studies at Rome’s Gregorian University and his ordination in 1942. After earning a doctorate in ascetical theology, he returned home and became a parish priest and later rector of an interdiocesan seminary.
Three weeks after his appointment as archbishop, Romero was shocked by the murder of his good Jesuit Friend, Father Rutilio Grande, a strong defender of the rights of the poor. Five more priests were assassinated in the Archdiocese during his episcopate.
When a military junta seized power in 1979, Archbishop Romero publicly criticized the US government for supporting the junta. Many people accepts his Weekly Sermon as the most trusted news available.
An estimated number of 250,000 people attended his burial in the plaza outsode his Cathedral.
Thousands of visitors started visiting his tomb in the cathedral crypt annually. Pope Francis authorized a decree recognizing Oscar Romero as a martyr for the faith on February 3, 2015. His beatification took place in San Salvador on May 23, 2015. He was canonized on October 14, 2018.
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