This week in Christian history: missionary society founded, Oscar Romero assassinated, Samuel Seabury consecrated
Oscar Romero assassinated – March 24, 1980
This week marks the anniversary of when Archbishop Oscar Romero, a prominent religious figure in El Salvador, was assassinated while officiating mass at a hospital chapel.
Made an archbishop in 1977, Romero had become an outspoken voice on behalf of the poor and critical of the state-sponsored repression that was taking place in his country at the time.
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While Romero was giving his homily at the evening service, an unknown individual drove up to the chapel, walked to the doorway and shot the archbishop in the heart.
Reportedly, shortly before he was killed, Romero had stated that “Those who surrender to the service of the poor through love of Christ, will live like the grain of wheat that dies.”
In October 2018, Pope Francis officially canonized Romero as a saint, saying that the martyred archbishop "left the security of the world, even his own safety, in order to give his life according to the gospel — close to the poor and to his people."
