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Jesuit martyrs on road to sainthood


The Great Amen by Peter Bridgeman depicts Fr Grande with St Oscar Romero

The Great Amen by Peter Bridgeman depicts Fr Grande with St Oscar Romero

Source: Vatican News/ICN

On Saturday, Pope Francis recognized the martyrdom of the Servants of God Rutilio Grande García, a Jesuit priest, and his two lay companions, who were killed in hatred of the faith in El Salvador on March 12, 1977.

Murdered before the start of the Salvadoran civil war, Father Grande, who was a close friend of fellow Salvadoran and martyr, Saint Oscar Romero, became an icon for human rights in rural Latin America.

Known for his vigorous defence of poor, the Jesuit priest, an elderly man named Manuel Solorzano, and a sixteen-year-old boy named Nelson Lemus, were shot by a right-wing death squad as they were travelling in a car outside the village where he was born.

The horror that the assassination of Fr Grande generated led Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador to take up the Jesuit's mantle as a defender of the poor. Three years later, Romero would succumb to the assassins' bullets for his outspoken criticism of the military and work on behalf of El Salvador's oppressed.

The decree on the martyrdom of Fr Grande and his two companions does away with the need for a miracle through their intercession to qualify for beatification, the final step before sainthood, for which a miracle would be required. The beatification date will be declared at a later date.

The news is an extra cause for celebration in Jesuit parishes. At St Ignatius, 27 High Road, Stamford Hill, London N15, Bishop Nicholas Hudson will be visiting on St Oscar Romero's Feast Day, 24 March, and 40th anniversary of his martyrdom, to celebrate Mass, at 6.30pm, with a reception afterwards.

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