BEATIFICATION OF ARCHBISHOP ROMERO,
MAY 23, 2015
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| The Romero family tree: dad Santos (left), grandmother Guadalupe (top), the young family (little Oscar inside red circle). |
It is August
1917. World War I is ravaging Europe. Pope Benedict XV has issued a seven-point
plan, contained in his apostolic exhortation «Dès le Début», published on August 1, seeking peace. These are the
days when the pope is a prisoner in the Vatican. In Fatima, the Blessed Lady
appears to a group of children. The Church is recognizable, but different from
today: Neither John Paul II nor Benedict XVI, nor much less Pope Francis, have even
been born. In El Salvador, Dr. Antonio Adolfo Pérez y Aguilar is the first
Archbishop of San Salvador.
In a small
highland village called Ciudad Barrios, to the east of El Salvador, a child is
born, on August 15 1917. Ciudad Barrios is little more than a small hamlet.
Education at the village school ends at the third grade. There are no paved
roads that reach Ciudad Barrios. To go to the market in San Miguel, the largest
nearby city, the Romero children must walk all night, arriving the following
morning.
The newborn’s
father is Santos Romero (August 13, 1883 - August 14, 1937), son of Julio
Romero and Gertrudis Garcilazo. The mother is Guadalupe de Jesús Galdámez de
Romero (June 2, 1888 - August 2, 1961), whom friends call “Niña Jesús” (the Salvadoran familiar term “niña” is akin to saying “Miss”).
Her parents are José Ángel Galdámez (who died that same year of 1917) and
Guadalupe Portillo de Galdámez.
The child
born of Guadalupe and Santos will take as his middle name, the name of the
saint of the day, Saint Arnulf—following good Catholics customs of the time. His
full name will become well known in due course. Indeed, 98 years after his
birth, Oscar Arnulfo Romero Galdámez is recognized as “the most universal Salvadoran.”
When Pope
Francis wanted to express his wishes for El Salvador to overcome criminal
violence and social problems at the Angelus last Sunday, he said: “I encourage the dear people of El Salvador
to continue united in hope, and I urge everyone to pray that justice and peace
will flourish again in the land of Blessed
Oscar Romero.”
Later the
same week, the president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, visited the Romero’s tomb.
This is normal for a tomb that has been visited by Pope John Paul II, by
President Obama, and many other international leaders as well as countless
Salvadoran peasants.
But it was all
very different when little Oscar was born on the Feast of the Assumption, 98
years ago.
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| President Bachelet. |
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