Many people in various branches of Christianity are aware of the prophetic voice of Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was canonized along with Pope Paul VI in 2018 in recognition of his giving his life for the faith and the people of El Salvador. Far fewer know much about one of the men who inspired him, and who is himself on the way to sainthood now.
On March 12, 1977, Romero’s friend and spiritual confidante Father Rutilio Grande was ambushed in a car while giving a ride between villages to three small children. He was shot 12 times through the front and rear of his Volkswagen Safari. Two other companions also died, though the children survived the attack.
Deeply inspired by the Second Vatican Council, and especially its text Gaudium et Spes, Father Grande had sought to defend the dignity of the poor in El Salvador against the oppressive forces of the government. He was aware of the likely ultimate price of these decisions, famously saying “It’s a dangerous thing to be a Christian in this world.”
It was the murder of Father Grande that spurred Archbishop Romero to overcome his hesitancy to be more outspoken about the Salvadorian government’s abuses toward the most vulnerable in the country. He took photographs of his friend Rutilio’s shattered body to Pope Paul VI, who encouraged him to take up the charge to guide his people though their struggles, no matter the cost.
In 2017, Pope Francis visited the basilica of San Bartolomeo all’Isola, a small church on the island in the middle of the Tiber River, which commemorates the contemporary martyrs, those giving their life for the faith in the 20th and 21st centuries. There he talked about figures just like Father Grande:
“A martyr can be thought of as a hero, but the fundamental thing about a martyr is that he or she was ‘graced’: it is the grace of God, not courage, that makes us martyrs. Today, in the same way one could ask: ‘What does the church need today?’ Martyrs, witnesses, namely, everyday saints. Because the church is led forward by saints. Saints: without them, the church can no longer go forth. The church needs everyday saints, those of ordinary life carried out with coherence; but she also needs those who have the courage to accept the grace to be witnesses to the end, unto death. All those are the living blood of the church.”
Pope Francis has now set Father Grande on the path to recognized sainthood himself, recognizing the martyrdom as the first step on the way to beatification. The pope has commented that a public miracle would not necessarily be needed in the case, because Romero was Father Grande’s miracle.
Father Grande is an excellent example of the pope’s constant call to foster a culture of direct encounter, as his time in the midst of his people forever altered his public and personal life. In that unvarnished experience where two (or more) really meet without mediation, it is clear that a person can find a path toward solidarity and fundamental communion. And even death cannot break the bonds of such a relationship.
Originally from Collingswood, Michael M. Canaris, Ph.D., teaches at Loyola University, Chicago.
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