Oscar Romero

"Soldiers, I beg you, please, I order you: do not kill your brothers."
These are the words that on 23 March 1980 Msgr. Oscar Arnulfo Romero spoke from the altar of the cathedral of San Salvador

The next day, March 24, 1980, he was assassinated. It was the first Sunday of spring and he had first gone to the beach with some friends and then had been accompanied to a medical examination in an "anonymous" way. He was a humble man, physically ill, who with long speeches on the radio and during endless homilies, spared no words against corruption and malfeasance, thundering words of lava against the ruling and political class.
He had agreed to take sides in defense of the campesinos, the marginalized peasants. Archbishop Romero was assassinated on the altar during the Eucharistic celebration in the chapel of the Little Hospital of Divine Providence, the place where he had moved to live the last days of his simple life, in the conscious choice of martyrdom.

His killer, a hitman hired by the death squads, waited without haste, then at the end of the homily he pulled over his pick up and fired from the open door.
Romero, who did not fail to denounce the corruption and cruelty of his country's ruling class, was even informed of his death sentence by the sister of his executioner.
To honor his memory, the UN chose the date of March 24, the day of the assassin of the Salvadoran archbishop, to establish the International Day for the right to truth, human rights, and for the dignity of victims (International Day for the right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights and for the Dignity of Victims).

A year after the start of the war in Ukraine, this memory should make us reflect: are we now resigned to getting used to violence?
The chapel of the Hospitalito di San Salvador is tucked away at the back, in a flower garden of bougainvillea and wildflowers; it is a sober construction, typical of 70s architecture.
I find it to resemble a modest mountain chalet. It is a place imbued with mysticism, faith and devotion. A place that speaks for those who want to hear, and for those who still believe in the architecture of the memory of good men who - certainly - cannot be sacrificed for nothing. “Monsenor” this is clear, he did not die in vain.

Luca Periotto
NP aprile 2023