Oscar Romero

By: Dan Baxter

Oscar Romero was born on August 15, 1917 in the small town of Ciudad Barrios in El Salvador. In his childhood his family was far better off than most of Salvadorians although by most standards they would still be considered poor. The family had no running water and the children slept on the floor. Romero received an education through the age of twelve when due to financial limitations he was forced to become an apprentice carpenter. He entered the seminary at the age of thirteen and was ordained in the year 1942 in Rome. Romero then became a priest until 1970 when he became auxiliary bishop to Archbishop Luis Chávez y Gonzalez in San Salvador. Romero questioned many of his superior’s reforms as Romero was still a fairly conservative supporter of traditional values. He left the archbishop in 1974 when he went to become bishop of Santiago de Maria. The wealth of El Salvador at the time was almost entirely controlled by the so called “fourteen families” while the vast majority of the country remained in terrible poverty. Romero however remained a sort of bookworm never truly opposing the cruel government. He would on occasion point out human rights violations only to be ignored by the country’s leaders. It then came time for Archbishop Chávez to resign as he had reached retirement age. The country’s leaders were overjoyed at the choice of Romero to replace him who in comparison was a staunch conservative. Archbishop Romero underwent a tragic experience which led to his conversion. On March 12, 1977 Romero’s close friend Fr. Rutilio Grande was shot and killed on the way to Mass. In response, Romero closed all Churches throughout San Salvador that Sunday except for San Salvador Cathedral where Romero spoke out against Grande’s murder. Romero notified the government that the representatives of the archdiocese would cease to be seen with the leaders at ceremonies. Romero also personally wrote a note to President Carter in America pleading with him to cancel America’s financial aid to El Salvador’s government but his appeal went unanswered. Only one other bishop in El Salvador did not abandon Romero as the death threats against him increased in severity. Romero was a voice for the poor of his country as he begged for an end to their oppression. On March 23, 1980, Romero essentially sealed his death sentence when in his sermon he directly addressed the military of the country which had been abusing the poor for so long. He said to them:

“Brothers, you are from the same people; you kill your fellow peasants…No soldier is obliged to obey an order that is contrary to the will of God…In the name of God, in the name of this suffering people, I ask you—I implore you—I command you in the name of God: stop the repression!”

The following night while preparing the altar for the Eucharist, Romero was shot and killed by a paid assassin who escaped in the commotion and was never found. At Romero’s funeral the hundreds of thousands in attendance suffered bombs in which at least 40 were killed. After visiting the martyr’s grave in 1983, Pope John Paul II appointed the single bishop in El Salvador who had not abandoned Romero to succeed him thus giving his support to all Romero had stood for. Romero’s death plunged El Salvador into a civil war which lasted twelve years. As he told a reported before his assassination, “You can tell the people that if they succeed in killing me, that I forgive and bless those who do it. Hopefully, they will realize they are wasting their time. A bishop will die, but the church of God, which is the people, will never perish.”

For this reason I believe Oscar Romero was a true man of faith. Despite constant threats against his own life and the terrible things going on around him, he kept doing what he believed was right. Romero was forced to suffer through the deaths of many of his close friends, including Father Grande, as well as watch the horrifying torture and murder of many other priests. Romero was by no means a foolish man because he knew he was going to be killed for what he was doing. When asked about the resurrection he would respond, “I do not believe in death without resurrection. If they kill me, I will be resurrected in the Salvadorian people.” In other words, Romero was acknowledging that there were more important things than simply his life. Despite the fact that he knew he was going to be killed, he openly opposed those who he knew wanted to kill him because he believed it was right. This is true faith in the sense that Romero stuck to his morality so strongly and defended it so vigorously that he was essentially murdered. It is also Faith however because he completely trusted in God. He knew he was going to die but he trusted that it was what God wanted and that it was the right thing. He believed that what he was doing was truly the best thing for the church in El Salvador. Oscar Romero therefore emerges not only as a model of faith in El Salvador but an excellent example of both faith and Faith which we can look to in today’s world.

Sources used:

“Archbishop Oscar Romero: A Bishop for the New Millennium.” Accessed: November 4, 2007. <http://kellogg.nd.edu/romero/Biography.htm>.

Golden, Renny. “Oscar Romero: Bishop of the Poor.” Accessed: November 4, 2007. <http://salt.claretianpubs.org/romero/romero.html>.

“Oscar Romero.” Accessed: November 4, 2007. <http://www.victorshepherd.on.ca/Heritage/Oscar%20Romero.htm>.

For more information also go to:

http://www.silk.net/RelEd/romero.htm

For an excellent movie showing the life of Oscar Romero:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098219/