The
Vatican announced Feb. 22 that Pope Francis has recognized the martyrdom of a
fellow Jesuit, Salvadoran Father Rutilio Grande, and two companions who were
murdered en route to a novena in 1977 in El Salvador.
Soon-to-be Blessed Rutilio Grande
July 5, 1928: Born July 30, 1959: Ordained March 12, 1977: Martyred Aug. 16, 2016: Local canonization process ceremonially closed Feb. 22, 2018: Martyrdom formally recognized
Papal
recognition of their martyrdom clears the way for their beatification, although
the Vatican did not announce a date for the ceremony.
“The
announcement of the beatification of Fr. Rutilio Grande has been expected for
many years,” said Mercy Sister Ana María Piñeda, a relative of the slain priest,
in an email to Catholic News Service. “Today the news is received with jubilee
and joy. That a man of such humble origins be recognized for his surrender to
God, his love for the poor and his efforts to achieve justice, is an example.”
Fr.
Grande died March 12, 1977, near his hometown of El Paisnal in rural El
Salvador after being shot a dozen times or more along with elderly parishioner
Manuel Solorzano and teenager Nelson Rutilio Lemus, who were accompanying him
to a novena for the feast of St. Joseph. Their bodies were found lifeless in an
overturned Jeep the priest was driving.
Though
born in the Salvadoran countryside, Fr. Grande was educated as a member of the
Society of Jesus, mostly in Spain and Belgium and other parts of Latin America,
but later returned to work among his native country’s poor and rural masses.
The mission teams he organized taught peasants to read using the Bible, but
also helped rural workers to organize so they could speak against a rich and
powerful minority that paid them meager salaries and confront the social
maladies that befell them because they were poor.
With a
team of Jesuit missionaries and lay pastoral agents, Fr. Grande, who was the
pastor of a church in the neighboring town of Aguilares, evangelized a wide
rural area in El Salvador from 1972 until his assassination by death squads. As
was the case with the assassination of St. Oscar Romero and tens of thousands
of other Salvadorans, no one was ever charged with his death or that of his
parishioners.
“His
death in the company of Manuel and the young Nelson Rutilio demonstrates his
solidarity with the most needy of his beloved country,” said Sr. Ana María, a
theologian and professor at Santa Clara University in California, who wrote the
book “Romero and Grande: Companions on the Journey.”
The book
explores the life of Fr. Grande and his close friend, the archbishop of San
Salvador, who would later become St. Romero, canonized in 2018. St. Romero
would die a similar death three years later, martyred as he celebrated Mass.
Some say that when Fr. Grande died, St. Romero took up the mantle in speaking
for the poor, and others — including Pope Francis, believe that the murder of
Father Grande led to a moment of conversion for the conservative archbishop — who
later became popularly known as the voice of the poor.
Others
believe St. Romero already was on a path of conversion because he had seen
oppression as an auxiliary bishop in a different rural area where he served.
The
official recognition of martyrdom means Fr. Grande and his companions will be
beatified without a miracle being attributed to them, though Pope Francis has,
in the past, been quoted as saying that Fr. Grande’s first miracle was St.
Romero.
Beatification
is a step before sainthood; in order for Fr. Grande and his companions to be
canonized, a miracle would have to be attributed to their intercession.
“For me,
the beatification of Rutilio means that the persecuted Latin American and
Salvadoran Church is being recognized,” Salvadoran Bishop Oswaldo Escobar Aguilar
of Chalatenango, El Salvador, told CNS in an audio interview via WhatsApp. “His
commitment to Medellin, his commitment to the poor, especially the peasants who
were being badly mistreated in the Aguilares region, where he worked, led him
to become a Jesus in that land.”
A 1968
conference in Medellin, Colombia, adapted the teachings of the Second Vatican
Council toward the needs of the Latin American Church, emphasizing pastoral
care for the poor majorities of the region. Father Grande, along with many others,
followed that direction with his work among the peasants and that sometimes led
him to publicly speak out against their oppression.
“The
beatification is a great joy for everyone, for peasants, for the oppressed, for
those who experienced violence,” said Bishop Escobar, who serves in a largely
rural area, one that also saw the killing of many Catholic peasants and clergy.
“As I like to say, when they canonized Romero, Romero did not go to heaven
alone. Behind Romero, many martyrs followed: all the murdered and persecuted
(Salvadorans). It’s the same with Rutilio. He is being beatified with two
peasants, two laypeople, a symbol of many who were martyred.”
Despite
many falsehoods spread about the Jesuit priest, including that he was a
subversive and took up arms, the truth survived, and he is being recognized for
his commitment as a pastor to his people, the bishop said.
For
others, the beatification is more personal, as well as spiritual. Ana Grande,
the Jesuit’s niece and an executive at a nonprofit in California, said she was
overcome with joy at the news and hoped that through the intercession of
soon-to-be Blessed Grande and St. Romero, El Salvador, which still suffers from
great violence, corruption, poverty and other social ailments, would heal, and
the people’s hope and faith would be renewed.
“For
years we have prayed that the beatification of our uncle, Fr. Grande, come at a
time to encourage our Salvadoran community, to keep lifting their voices,” she
said to CNS via Twitter. “I can only imagine the feast Romero and Rutilio will
have as they join the communion of saints.”