Saint Óscar Romero

Life story

Oscar Arnulfo Romero was born on 15 August 1917 at Ciudad Barrios in eastern El Salvador. He studied at the seminary at home and then in Rome, and was ordained a priest in 1942. Back in El Salvador he served many years in San Miguel, became auxiliary bishop of San Salvador and then bishop of Santiago de María, and was regarded as a cautious pastor who avoided political entanglements.

In February 1977 he was appointed Archbishop of San Salvador. Only weeks later, Fr Rutilio Grande, a close friend, was assassinated with two lay companions. That event pushed him to speak out publicly about killings, disappearances and repression, in a setting where the army and armed groups were in conflict with civilians.

His Sunday homilies at the cathedral were broadcast on radio and heard across the country. He urged soldiers to stop obeying orders to kill their own countrymen. On 24 March 1980, as he celebrated Mass in the chapel of a cancer hospital in San Salvador, a gunman shot him.

The case was never fully tried. Pope Francis declared him a blessed martyr in 2015 and canonised him on 14 October 2018. The United Nations later chose 24 March as the International Day for the Right to the Truth, in part in his memory. His feast is kept on 24 March, the day of his death. He is buried in the cathedral of San Salvador, a place visited by pilgrims from many countries.

Works and witness

• Ordained a priest in Rome in 1942
• Archbishop of San Salvador from February 1977
• Broadcast homilies on radio condemning killings and repression
• Shot dead while celebrating Mass on 24 March 1980
• Beatified in 2015, canonised in 2018

References

• Martyrologium Romanum
• Dicastery for the Causes of Saints – biographical profile
• Oscar Romero, Homilías (collected homilies)

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.