On October 14, 2018, Pope Francis proclaims two great Christians of our time as Saints in St. Peter’s Square (Rome), namely, Pope Paul VI, Pope of Vatican II and the post-conciliar years (1963-1978), and the bishop from El Salvador Oscar Arnulfo Romero, martyr.

Oscar was born in Ciudad Barrios on August 15, 1917, and died in San Salvador on March 24, 1980. He is well-known for his strenuous public defense of the poor and human rights, and his solidarity with the victims of violence existing back then in his country. Due to this, he was killed by a military sniper during the celebration of the Mass in the chapel of the Divina Providencia hospital in the capital city. He is buried in the cathedral. In America, the simple folk began immediately to call him as “Saint Romero of America”.

As a curiosity, not only the Catholic Church as from now, but also the Anglican Communion has included him in his saints’ list since long time ago. He is one of the ten martyrs of the 20th century represented on the great western gate of the Anglican Abbey of Westminster in London. His statue is flanked by two other Protestant martyrs: on his left the American Martin Luther King, defender of the rights of African-Americans, and on his right the German Dietrich Bonhöffer, killed by the Nazis during the Second World War. Even the British Parliament proposed him as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

In 1930, at the age of 13, Oscar entered the minor seminary of the town of San Miguel, governed by the Claretian missionaries in that time. Later, in 1937, he entered the Seminary of San José de la Montaña of San Salvador. He also studied later in Rome, where he was a student of Monsignor Giovanni Battista Montini, future Paul VI, and now his canonization companion.

A year before his martyrdom, on his return from a trip to Rome, in 1979, he visited Vic, where he wrote: “I have had the good fortune to visit the tomb of Father Antonio María Claret, founder of the Claretians. There is a very rich reliquary and a magnificent temple in which the highlighted center is his corpse adorned with a silver mask and episcopal ornaments. And, above all, the places that have witnessed the creation of this Heart of Mary religious Institute have been reconstructed in their original form. A photo, in the background, gives us his height: 1’50 m. -small height was the figure of Father Claret- and his companions of foundation, names that I knew from my first years of seminary, since I began to train for the priesthood in this Congregation, which had been settled then in San Miguel by Monsignor Dueñas. I have recalled these memories with the Fathers, who have greatly thanked me for the visit and I have greatly appreciated their welcome, always cordial “(Diary, May 10, 1979).

 

 

Saint Romero of America, and now of the whole world, pray for us!