The official addition of \u00d3scar Arnulfo Romero y Gald\u00e1mez (1917-1980) to the roll of Basilian patron saints may be recent, dating back only to the 2018 General Chapter. But our Congregation\u2019s devotion to St. \u00d3scar Romero and imitation of his example of nonviolent social justice goes back much farther in our Basilian history. My first teaching appointment as a Basilian was to Cali, Colombia. There, I quickly discerned the due reverence our confr\u00e8res and the people among whom we serve have for Romero.<\/p>\n
\u00d3scar Romero is a saint and martyr of the Church of San Salvador; of the people of El Salvador. Just days before his death while pronouncing the words of institution of the Eucharist at Mass, Archbishop Romero had been interviewed by the Mexican magazine Excelsior. He said:<\/p>\n
“I need to say that as a Christian I do not believe in death without resurrection. If they kill me, I will rise again in the people of El Salvador\u2026 May my death, if it is accepted by God, be for the liberation of my people, as a witness of hope in what is to come. You can tell them that if they succeed in killing me, I pardon and bless those who do it. A bishop may die, but the Church of God, which is in the people, will never die.<\/em><\/p>\n Archbishop Romero was a master of the use of radio and other media of social communication; his homilies were widely broadcast in El Salvador. To his last homily and with the witness of his life, St. \u00d3scar Romero stood for the dignity of the poorest of the Salvadoran people. He stood for nonviolence. He did not align neatly with any partisan political ideology.<\/p>\n Romero, an auxiliary bishop of San Salvador, had been appointed Archbishop of that see on February 3, 1977. He was viewed as a safe candidate as Archbishop of San Salvador, who would not inflame the tenuous sociopolitical situation in El Salvador or divide the Salvadoran Church, especially on issues of land and economic reforms to benefit the country\u2019s poorest. The assassination of Romero\u2019s friend and advocate for social justice, the recently-beatified Fr. Rutilio Grande, SJ, on March 12, 1977, reportedly strengthened Romero\u2019s voice for the social justice for which Fr. Grande advocated and also gave his life. But Romero\u2019s commitment to the spirituality of the interior life, coupled with his outward commitment to the dignity of the poorest and nonviolence, long preceded Bl. Rutilio Grande\u2019s death.<\/p>\n In his last Sunday homily, March 23, 1980, St. \u00d3scar Romero pleaded with all sides to lay down their arms:<\/p>\n “You are killing your own brother and sister campesinos, and against any order a person may give to kill, God\u2019s law must prevail: \u2018You shall not kill (Ex 20:13)\u2019! No soldier is obliged to obey an order against the law of God.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The next day, \u00d3scar Romero was killed by the very people he implored to uphold God\u2019s law. He is a saint and martyr of the local Church of San Salvador; of El Salvador. Yet he is a saint and martyr of the universal Church; a teacher and witness to us as Basilians of the goodness, discipline, and knowledge that manifest as a preferential commitment to the least of our sisters and brothers, and a choice for the intrinsic dignity of human life over any form of violence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The official addition of \u00d3scar Arnulfo Romero y Gald\u00e1mez (1917-1980) to the roll of Basilian patron saints may be recent, dating back only to the 2018 General Chapter. But our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":282,"featured_media":11235,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,96],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n