Saint Oscar Romero was sixty years old when he was appointed archbishop of San Salvador in 1977; he was assassinated three years later.
Oscar Romero[i] was murdered by the state because he refused to give up his ministerial work on behalf of the poor, he refused to stop caring for the disenfranchised people of his country; he was killed for speaking out against the abuses they suffered at the hands of the ruling class, he spoke against the systemic poverty and virtual slavery which the people endured-without-recourse to the law or the hope for justice of any kind. The people in his flock were routinely imprisoned without cause, forced into labor, tortured and killed if they resisted while enduring the imposition of the state into their religious life; they were denied the right to worship and receive the sacraments, which to the people of El Salvador were the most powerful symbols of hope and perseverance.
The ruling class had sought to crush any inclination for resistance a person might harbor in their heart, to eliminate it completely, to cut their hearts out if need be…St. Romero stood against these abuses and for that he was martyred.
Prior to the events that led to his death Romero was considered to be a simple, scholarly and aesthetic man whose appointment to the archbishopric would pose no threat to the regime in power; they thought he would be an un-controversial figure, easy to control…they were wrong.
As soon as he was ordained the archbishop he used his position of trust and authority, all the emblems of his office, to speak against the abuses of power he witnessed, reviling the crimes committed by the regime against the people every single day. In his sermons and his other writings, and on his radio program he spoke out against them…these are his words:
In less than three
years, more than fifty priests have been attacked, threatened, calumniated. Six
are already martyrs—they were murdered. Some have been tortured and others
expelled [from the country]. Nuns have also been persecuted [raped and
tortured]. The archdiocesan radio station and educational institutions that are
Catholic or of a Christian inspiration have been attacked, threatened,
intimidated, even bombed. Several parish communities have been raided. If all
this has happened to persons who are the most evident representatives of the
Church, you can guess what has happened to ordinary Christians, to the
campesinos, catechists, lay ministers, and to the ecclesial base communities.
There have been threats, arrests, tortures, murders, numbering in the hundreds
and thousands.... But it is important to note why [the Church] has been
persecuted. Not any and every priest has been persecuted, not any and every
institution has been attacked. That part of the Church has been attacked and
persecuted that put itself on the side of the people and went to the people's
defense. Here again we find the same key to understanding the persecution of
the church: the poor.[ii] [iii]
Saint Romero bore witness to these atrocities, opposing them with the humility of God’s servant…serving God by serving the people as a living representative of divine providence, and because of this he was murdered; he was not slain for extolling ideological purity, he was not killed for upholding doctrine…he was martyred while at prayer keeping solidarity with people.
