The martyred Bishop of El Salvador, Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero will be canonized on October 14 in Rome.

On April 5, 1942, Archbishop Romero celebrated his First Mass in the crypt of our Basilica in Rome, now transformed into a place with the display of Poliscenic Nativity and Crucifixion miniatures. We read in the Bulletin of the Claretian Missionaries of the time:

Oscar Arnulfo Romero was born in a humble family in El Salvador on August 15, 1917. From a young age he expressed the desire to be a priest, and entered the diocesan minor seminary of San Miguel which was run by the Claretian Missionaries, then passed to the Jesuits. He was chosen to complete his studies in Rome, and it was there where in 1942 he was ordained a priest at the age of 25 years. He continued his theological studies in Rome until he returned to El Salvador because of the Second World War.

He was ordained bishop on June 21, 1970, and served as the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador. On March 24, 1980, he was murdered around 6:25 pm while celebrating the Eucharist in the Chapel of the Hospital of Divine Providence.

REMEMBRANCE IN ROME

Monsignor Romero kept his whole life in close contact with the Claretian Missionaries and with the Basilica of the Heart of Mary in Rome.

In his Diary he wrote on May 3, 1979 in Rome, ten months before his martyrdom:

“Finally, I dined at the General House of the Claretian Fathers, having shared the main table with Father General, who tomorrow will leave for Germany for the celebration of his predecessor, who is now more than eighty years old. With them, I remembered the days of my minor seminary and also my first Mass, which I celebrated precisely in the temple annexed to this center of Claretian authority, the Temple of the Heart of Mary. And when I asked for an autograph in their guestbook, I wrote: “Today I went back to my origins: I did my minor seminary in San Miguel (El Salvador) with the dear Claretian Fathers and celebrated my first Mass here on April 5, 1942 . Thanks and blessings. 3-V-79. Oscar Arnulfo Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador “.

In the archives of the house this autograph is kept together with his photograph.

The reason for his visit to Rome was to attend the beatification of Fr. Francisco Coll. On May 1, 1979, he wrote in his Diary:

“In the afternoon I went to concelebrate at the beautiful Basilica of the Heart of Mary where the Claretian Fathers invited the Dominicans to signify their old friendship with the newly Beatified Fr. Coll. The Father General of the Dominicans and the Father General of the Claretians joined the main celebrant who was Cardinal Tarancón. The concelebration was splendid, about 60 bishops and priests, and the large temple was completely filled with religious and pilgrims. The Father General of the Claretians preached about the similarities between these two saints, Saint Anthony Mary Claret and Father Francisco Coll”.

It was on this occasion that the Claretians invited him to dinner on May 3. He wrote in his Diary on May 2:

“I was invited by the Claretian Fathers to go to dinner tomorrow at the Church of the Heart of Mary with the Father General of the Claretians. I will do so with feelings of gratitude for the Claretian communities that work in our Archdiocese. “

VIC MEMORIES

And he continues in his Diary on May 10 with his visit to Vic, as he had made the trip to Rome given by the Dominicans of the Annunciation for the Beatification of Father Coll:

“Afterwards, I had the good fortune to visit the tomb of Father Antonio Maria Claret, founder of the Claretians. There is a very rich reliquary and a magnificent temple where the center is the corpse adorned with a silver mask and Episcopal adornments. And, above all, they have reconstructed the places that witnessed the creation of this cordimarian religious Institute in its original form. In the background, there is a portrait of the figure of Father Claret, about 1.50, small in height, and the other companions of the foundation; names that I knew from my first years of seminary, since I began my priestly formation with this congregation that was then taken by Monsignor Dueñas to San Miguel. I narrated these memories to the Fathers, who thanked me very much for the visit and I thanked them very much for their welcome, always cordial “.

The chronicle of our House briefly notes:

“The Bishop of El Salvador, accompanied by Priests and Dominican Nuns of Father Coll has visited our Saint and the Museum “

OTHER MEMORIES

In these very familiar events, Romero himself indicates the root of that affection for the Congregation. Expelled from Mexico during the persecution of Calles, several of our people came to El Salvador hired by the Bishop of San Miguel to take charge of the diocesan seminary. For ten years, from 1927 to 1937, they fulfilled their delicate mission with real competence and to the satisfaction of all. The chronicle says that they left when their contract ended, although in another part it indicates that they were called by the Superiors to assign them to other Organisms that are in need and to whom it was impossible to send personnel from Spain after the enormous bloody suffering of the 271 martyrs of the religious persecution of 1936.

Mons. Romero, many years later, in 1962, wrote for the newspaper Chaparrastique, San Miguel, how were his first seven years of seminary with our brothers:

“They were, under the mantle of the Heart of Mary, the Claretian Fathers and the seminarians, a family whose spirit was that of the same founder, Saint Anthony Mary Claret. That famous manual of the seminarian that was taught, El Colegial, was not only read in by pages, but lived in that environment of dignified, humble and helpful priests, in their active system of education”.

Statuette Of Fr. Claret Given By Mons. Óscar Romero To Fr. Lino Hernando.

It’s a pity that the chronicler of the House of Palencia, in a note written much later than the moment, already 1995, did not write down dates or other details that would have been very interesting. It says:

“The visit of Bishop Most Reverend Romero to Fr. Lino Hernando, whom he valued so much, since he was his formator in the Major Seminary in Central America, to the point that while Fr. Lino was in Cuba, Monsignor Romero called him to Central America to render him a tribute with all his formands. When he came here to visit him, he left as a souvenir a statuette of Fr. Claret, which he kept with great affection and today is displayed in front of us in the TV room as a perpetual memory of both Monsignor Romero, a martyr in defense of the poor, and Fr. Lino who worked much and well in the Antilles and Central America. Besides, this was his last residence before he retired and lived his last already sick years in Colmenar Viejo.

Of the statuette referred to (now in the Claretian Museum of Colmenar Viejo), notes the the it had in Palencia:

“Statuette of Fr. Claret given by Mons. Óscar Romero to Fr. Lino Hernando.”

Moreover, we find in his Diary, already very close to his martyrdom, on September 19, 1979, a reference to the Claretian missionaries:

“I went to lunch with the Claretian seminarians in Santa Tecla, a nice group of nine boys and a priest who attends them, with whom we shared moments of my many memories with the spirit of the Claretians, who fed my first minor seminary in San Miguel. It was very interesting the dialogue on table and after dinner and, they were, I think, were very satisfied, as well as they gave me a lot of encouragement too.”

Each year the Salvadoran community present in Rome, with its Ambassador, Consul and authorities, celebrate in the Basilica of the Heart of Mary the Independence Day on the second Sunday of September. Every year, the historic figure of Saint Oscar Arnulfo Romero is remembered together with the said celebration.