BEATIFICATION OF ARCHBISHOP ROMERO,
MAY 23, 2015
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| John Paul II and the Archbishop of Canterbury pray at the altar where St. Thomas Becket was martyred; during the May 1982 ceremony, they also lit a candle for Oscar Romero. |
Venerating the relics of Blessed Oscar Romero and the English saints, Thomas More and John
Fisher, at the L.A. Cathedral was occasion to reflect on the lessons of the
English martyrs, particularly as it relates to the political dimension of
martyrdom.
Martyrdom, we
must say, is historically related to politics.
There is, as it were, a political dimension to martyrdom. Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez acknowledged
this during his homily at the Cathedral ceremony, when he said that, “Following Jesus means that we are going to
come in conflict with the authorities in society, just as Jesus did and just as
the saints and martyrs did.”
The English
saints like St. Thomas More, follow that pattern. Before More, though, another English martyr
had run afoul of earthly authority, and that was St. Thomas Becket, the last
archbishop killed at the altar before Blessed Romero. There are many parallels between Becket and
Romero. Becket originally enjoyed
the support of the powerful, having been favored by the King, who expected
Becket, a personal friend, to do his bidding.
Becket instead became a staunch defender of Church interests in a
conflict between Church and state.
Becket was urged by the Pope of his day to compromise with the King and
he sought to do so, but refused to compromise his principles. In the end, Becket was killed at the altar by
four of the King’s knights after the King, in frustration, had blurted out, “Who
will rid me of this turbulent priest?”
These
parallels between Becket and Romero are obvious, and so are the political
overtones to much of Becket’s story.
King Henry did not lash out against Becket primarily because he hated
the Christian faith. The King was
frustrated that Becket was thwarting his political plans. The King and the Archbishop had an ongoing
turf war. Becket was excommunicating
officials who took the King’s side—he was a thorn on the King’s side. Nevertheless, Becket was canonized within 3
years of his assassination. The speed is
attributed to Becket’s popularity among the commoners, and to the horrified
reaction of Christian Europe to a murder at the altar. In fact, Pope Alexander III made King Henry
II submit himself to humiliating public acts of contrition, including wearing a
hair shirt and having to make a pilgrimage to Becket’s tomb to be forgiven.
The
similarities between Becket and Romero continue after their deaths. When Henry VII broke away from the Catholic
Church in the 1500s, he had Becket’s shrine destroyed and his bones
scattered. This event recalls the action
of the Salvadoran military, when, during the massacre of the Jesuit staff of
San Salvador’s Jesuit university in 1989, they shot up and desecrated the
photograph of Romero on the wall—a symbolic second killing of the martyr. Those acts are a testament to the power of
the martyrs, who continue to speak after they are dead, and continue to bother
and vex their persecutors.
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