Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero (1917 – 1980) was killed by a right wing death squad during the Salvadoran civil war, shortly after appealing to the soldiers of the Salvadoran army, in the name of God, to stop killing their brothers and sisters. He is considered by many to have died for his faith, and was canonized as a Catholic saint in October of 2018 by Pope Francis.
Articles:
Who was Oscar Romero? Read about how Romero became convinced to take up the cause of poor Salvadorans in this short biography.
¡Romero vive! In his March 2009 Margin Notes column, Kevin Clarke reflects on the meaning of the Salvadoran election 29 years after the death of Romero.
Romero Revisited: El Salvador 30 years later See El Salvador in 1985 and 2009 through the lens of Tom Hocker’s camera.
Do you hear the cry of the poor? “The greatest works of liberation theology are not written, they’re lived in people such as Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador,” says Michael Lee, a theology professor at Fordham University. Learn more about liberation theology in this interview with Lee, as well as in 5 Questions.
Reading List
from University of Notre Dame archives:
Archbishop Oscar Romero: A Shepherd’s Diary.
Translated by Irene B. Hodgson; fwd. by Thomas E. Quigley. London: CAFOD, 1993.
The Violence of Love: The Pastoral Wisdom of Archbishop Oscar Romero.
Compiled and translated by James R. Brockman, S.J.; fwd. by Henri J. M. Nouwen (San Francisco & Toronto: Harper & Row, 1988; reprinted Farmington, PA: Plough Pub., 1998)
The Church Is All of You: Thoughts of Archbishop Oscar A. Romero.
Compiled and translated by James R. Brockman, S.J. (Minneapolis: Winston Press, 1984)
Voice of the Voiceless (The Four Pastoral Letters and Other Statements).
Ed. by R. Cardenal, I. Martin-Baró, and J. Sobrino; trans. by Michael J. Walsh (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1985)
Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero: Prophet to the Americas.
Margaret Swedish, (Washington, DC: Religious Task Force on Central America, 1995)
Romero, a Life.
James R. Brockman, (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1989)
Archbishop Romero: Memories and Reflections.
Jon Sobrino, (Maryknoll NY: Orbis, 1990)
Oscar Romero: Reflections on His Life and Writings.
Marie Dennis, Renny Golden, Scott Wright. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2000
La voz de los sin voz: La palabra viva de Monseñor Romero.
Ed. by Jon Sobrino, Ignacio Martin-Baró, and Rodolfo Cardenal (San Salvador: UCA Editiores, 1980)
From Power to Communion: Toward a New Way of Being Church Based on the Latin American Experience.
Ed. by Robert S. Pelton, C.S.C. (Notre Dame & London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1994)
Martyrs: Contemporary Writers on Modern Lives of Faith.
Ed. by Susan Bergman (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1998)
Freedom Made Flesh: The Mission of Christ and His Church.
Ignacio Ellucuria, trans. by John Drury (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1976)
Jesus Christ the Liberator: A Historical-Theological Reading of Jesus of Nazareth.
Jon Sobrino (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1993)
Revolution in El Salvador: Origins and Evolution.
Tommie Sue Montgomery (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1982)
The Principle of Mercy: Taking the Crucified People from the Cross.
Jon Sobrino (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1994)
Martyrdom and the Politics of Religion: Progressive Catholicism in El Salvador’s Civil War.
Anna L. Peterson (Binghampton, NY: SUNY Press, 1997)
The Religious Roots of Rebellion: Christians in Central American Revolutions.
Phillip Berryman (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1984)
Stubborn Hope: Religion, Politics and Revolution in Central America.
Phillip Berryman (Maryknoll NY: Orbis, 1995)
Gospel and Mission: Spirituality and the Poor.
Juan Ramón Moreno (Manilla: Cardinal Bea Institute, Ateneo de Manilla University, 1995)
A Retreat With Oscar Romero and Dorothy Day: Walking With the Poor.
Marie Dennis (Cincinatti: St. Anthony Messenger Press, 1997)
Companions of Jesus: The Jesuit Martyrs of El Salvador.
Jon Sobrino and Ignacio Ellucuria. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1990)
The Harvest of Justice: The Church of El Salvador Ten Years After Romero.
Daniel Santiago (NY: Paulist Press, 1993)
The Protection Racket State: Elite Politics, Military Extortion, and Civil War in El Salvador.
William Stanley (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996)
Cry of the People: United States Involvement in the Rise of Fascism, Torture, and Murder and the Persecution of the Catholic Church in Latin America.
Penny Lernoux (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1980)
Fascism’s Return: Scandal, Revision, and Ideology Since 1980.
Ed. by Richard J. Golson (Lincoln, NE and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1998)
War Against the Poor: Low Intensity Conflict and Christian Faith.
Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1989)
Faith of a People: The Life of a Basic Christian Community in El Salvador, 1970-1980.
Pablo Galdámez (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1986)
Death and Life in Morazán: A Priest’s Testimony from a War Zone in El Salvador.
Maria López Vigil (Washington: EPICA, 1989)