Oscar Arnulfo Romero

Romero: Salvadoran martyr

By Dixy Guzmán

When thinking about Oscar Arnulfo Romero a big example of courage and great legacy for Salvadoran people might come to mind.

Ciudad Barrios us the place in which Oscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez was born.

 On august 17^th 1971 his mother Guadalupe de Jesus Galdámez gave birth to her second child. Santos Romero was Oscar’s father.

Oscar Romero grew up along with his seven siblings and his parents. He always likes attending mass at the church located in ciudad Barrios, and by the age of 13 he entered a seminary in San Miguel.

Romero became a priest by studying at the Gregorian University in Rome in 1942, when he was 25 years old, and 35 years later he became an archbishop in San Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador.

During the civil war in El Salvador, he defended the Salvadoran human rights by denouncing murders, tortures and social injustice in general, and due to those acts, Catholic Church’s members started being persecuted.

As time passed by, government members realized that the only way to stop Romero from interfering in their crimes was killing him.

Romero’s last mass was celebrated a tragic day of March 24^th, 1980. He was murdered while celebrating mass at a hospital chapel called “La Divina Providencia”.

Monsignor Romero’s is now considered as a martyr due the great legacy he left to Salvadoran people, and he is also known around the world for his determination.