San Romero de las Americas

On March 24, 1980, Oscar Romero, the Catholic archbishop of San Salvador, was assassinated by a right-wing death squad as he celebrated a commemorative mass for the mother of one of his people. Romero's offense? He condemned violence done to the poor in an oligarchic society on the verge of civil war. The political instigators of his murder remained unpunished and even went on to capture the Salvadoran government.

The oppressed people of Central America venerated the fallen archbishop as a saint in their hearts; Pope Francis officially canonized Romero in 2018.

A single shot felled Romero as he delivered his homily (thanks to the Jesuit magazine America for this bit of text.)

This holy Mass, the Eucharist, is itself an act of faith. With Christian faith we know that at this moment the wheaten host is changed into the body of the Lord who offered himself for the world's redemption and in that chalice the wine is transformed into the blood that was the price of salvation. May this body immolated and this blood sacrificed for humans nourish us also, so that we may give our body and our blood to suffering and to pain—like Christ, not for self, but to impart notions of justice and peace to our people.

¡Oscar Romero presente!