WASHINGTON (CNS)
— Even as the government of El Salvador announced a nationwide quarantine,
hundreds flocked to a pilgrimage site March 12 to remember a Jesuit priest and
his companions killed 43 years ago and declared martyrs by Pope Francis in
February.
A Mass for
Salvadoran Jesuit Father Rutilio Grande at the site where he was martyred along
with two parishioners March 12, 1977, near his hometown of El Paisnal, was canceled
after the government prohibited gatherings of more than 250 as a precaution to
prevent coronavirus from spreading. Instead, the Archdiocese of San Salvador
asked parishes to celebrate “our martyrs” in their respective localities.
Soon-to-be Blessed Rutilio Grande and companions
March 12, 1977: Martyred Aug. 16, 2016: Local canonization process ceremonially closed Feb. 22, 2020: Martyrdom formally recognized
Fr. Rutilio Grande, SJ July 5, 1928: Born July 30, 1959: Ordained
Manuel Solorzano 1905: Born
Nelson Rutilio Lemus Nov. 10, 1960: Born
The three were
murdered en route to a novena to celebrate the feast of St. Joseph, though the
main target was Fr. Grande, killed because he helped the poor.
In his efforts
to teach the poor to read using the Bible, Fr. Grande also organized them so
they could speak against a rich and powerful minority: the coffee farmers and
landowners, who oppressed them.
On March 12, the
Salvadoran Catholic TV station Television Católica showed hundreds headed to the
church where Fr. Grande is buried, along with elderly parishioner Manuel Solorzano
and teenager Nelson Rutilio Lemus, who died with him.
The Vatican
announced Feb. 22 that Pope Francis has recognized their martyrdom. Papal
recognition of their martyrdom clears the way for their beatification, although
the Vatican has not announced a date or place for the ceremony.
Archbishop José
Luis Escobar Alas of San Salvador began the day celebrating a Mass for the
three in a chapel at the archdiocese. In a statement late March 11, he said
that because of government regulations, groups of 100-150 at a time would be
allowed into the church where the three are buried, for those who wanted to pay
their respects on what some of them have long-considered a type of feast day.
For years, the
crowds of those making the March 12 pilgrimage to El Paisnal have grown. The
municipality is close to where Fr. Grande and a group of Jesuits and other lay
missionaries worked with farmworkers in the 1970s.
Lauding Fr.
Grande, the archbishop said the Jesuit offered his life and gave it freely,
defending the poor because “in them, he found Christ.”
“God has
rewarded him because the name of his executioners isn’t known. They’re hidden,”
he said. “Instead, the name of our martyrs is exalted, and they have been
rewarded … they are taking part in the eternal banquet because God is just.” He
characterized their assassination as a “crime against humanity,” but one of
thousands suffered by many other Salvadorans killed during the country’s civil
conflict that raged in the 1980s.
“Blessed is our
homeland that has received the blood of our martyrs,” he said, adding that only
God can make something good out of something bad.
In a time in
which many live in fear of coronavirus, Archbishop Escobar told those gathered
for Mass to pray for the intercession of the martyrs, for their protection,
because they were offered as examples of how Christians should live but also to
intercede for others in heaven.
“We invoke them
knowing they are with us,” he said.
El Salvador does
not have any confirmed cases of the disease COVID-19, but the Salvadoran
government announced late March 11 that it would not allow foreign nationals —
with the exception of diplomats and residents — to enter for 21 days as a
measure of preventing the virus from spreading among its population.