Óscar Romero
1917-1980 20th century Feast day: March 24
A voice that prays aloud on behalf of those who have been silenced.
Who was Óscar Romero?
Archbishop of San Salvador, long thought cautious, transformed by the murder of his friend Father Rutilio Grande in 1977. Every Sunday his broadcast homilies named the disappeared and defended the poor (one of the last spaces of truth in a country at war). Shot at the altar on 24 March 1980, while celebrating Mass. Canonized in 2018.
In their own words
The glory of God is the living poor.
In the name of God, and in the name of this suffering people whose cries rise to heaven more loudly each day, I implore you, I beg you, I order you: stop the repression.
We have never preached violence, except the violence of love, which left Christ nailed to a cross.
If they kill me, I shall rise again in the Salvadoran people.