Rutilio Grande

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Rutilio Grande

Rutilio Grande García SJ (born July 5, 1928 in El Paisnal , † March 12, 1977 ibid) was a Jesuit priest from El Salvador , a representative of the theology of liberation and a friend of Bishop Óscar Romero . He was murdered along with two other people in 1977.

Life

Grande was recruited for the priesthood by the later Archbishop Luis Chávez y González. He studied at the San José de la Montaña seminary . In 1959 he was ordained a priest. After spending time abroad, Grande returned to El Salvador in 1965 and became head of social work at the San Salvador seminary. In June 1970 he served as master of ceremonies at the inauguration of his friend Oscar Romero as auxiliary bishop of San Salvador .

On September 24, 1972, Grande became pastor of Aguilares , where he had spent his childhood and youth. There he took part in the establishment of a base community ( Comunidad Eclesial de Base , CEB), which included the training of catechists , Delegados de la Palabra . He worked hard to improve the living conditions of agricultural workers and small farmers. Since the land reform in 1889 and the forced expropriation in connection with the Matanza , the evictions for the Embalse Cerón Grande dam project on the Río Lempa, the latifundists saw any form of organization of the landless as a threat to their social power. The repression of the government, which was held in saddle by electoral fraud, against priests in the rural communities did not prevent Grande from denouncing the situation and from being politically active. Grande was threatened with death anonymously several times.

assassination

On January 28, 1977, the Colombian priest Mario Bernal Londoño and a parishioner were kidnapped in front of the church in Apopa . Both escaped one after the other unharmed. Then he was expelled from El Salvador by the migration authorities. On February 13, 1977, Grande preached a sermon on this:

“Dear brothers and friends, I am aware that very soon the Bible and the Gospel will no longer be able to cross borders. We only get the book covers, since all pages are subversive - against the sinner, as he understands it. If Jesus crossed the border near Chalatenango, they would not let him in. They accuse God ... of agitation, the Jewish foreigner, who confuses the people with exotic foreign ideas, ideas against democracy, that's against the minority. Ideas against God because it is a clan of Cains . Brethren, there is no doubt that they will crucify again. And they announced it. "

- Rutilio Grande, February 13, 1977

On March 12, 1977, Grande was with his sexton Manuel Solorzano and the 16-year-old Nelson Rutilio Lemus in a VW bucket truck on the way to evening mass in his community in Aguilares near El Paisnal. In a sugar cane field , they were shot from an ambush with machine gun salvos. The Great Landowners Organization (FARO) took responsibility for the bloody act.

When Óscar Romero found out about the murder, he had himself taken to El Paisnal and held the wake with the farmers, he listened to their stories and sufferings and prayed with them. The next morning, after a conference with priests and counselors, Romero announced that he would stay away from all state records until the murder was investigated. The following Sunday Romero canceled all masses in the Archdiocese of San Salvador in protest against the murder of Rutilio Grande and his companions and instead offered a mass in the Cathedral of San Salvador . More than 150 priests also canceled their masses, while more than 100,000 people visited the cathedral and heard Romero's sermon, in which he pleaded for an end to violence. Romero asked the government under Carlos Humberto Romero to investigate the murder, but this was not done.

meaning

Rutilio Grande became a symbol of the turn of the Catholic Church of El Salvador towards the world of the poor. The memorial ceremonies were "an expression of rebellion not only against the terrible act, but also protest because of all the victims of the violence that has rocked El Salvador for years."

The violent death of his fellow priest and friend also showed Oscar Romero in particular the actual power structures in the country and how far the interests and methods of those in power went. "After those in power had dared to kill a priest, everything was possible in the country." The murder of Rutilio Grande was the decisive impetus for him to consistently take sides with the oppressed.

beatification

Archbishop José Luis Escobar Alas of San Salvador announced on March 4, 2014 the opening of the process for the beatification of Rutilio Grande. On August 16, 2016, the diocesan part of the procedure was completed; the files were sent to Rome. On February 21, 2020, Pope Francis recognized the murder of Rutilio Grande and his companions Manuel Solórzano and Nelson Rutilio Lemus as martyrdom , thus clearing the way for the beatification of the three.

literature

  • Thomas M. Kelly (ed. And transl.): Rutilio Grande, SJ: Homilies and Writings , Verlag Michael Glazier, 2015, ISBN 978-0814687734 (English)
  • Thomas M. Kelly: When the Gospel Grows Feet: Rutilio Grande, SJ, and the Church of El Salvador: An Ecclesiology in Context , Verlag Michael Glazier, 2013, ISBN 978-0814680773 (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rutilio Grande, SJ ( Memento of the original from February 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.share-elsalvador.org archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Share Foundation website. Retrieved December 28, 2010.
  2. ↑ Miguel Cavada Diez: Rutilio Grande visto por Oscar Romero In: Carta a las Iglesias , Volume XXII, No. 491–492, 1. – 28. February 2002.
  3. ↑ Penny Lernoux: The Cry of the People. Penguin Books, New York 1982.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h Paul Gerhard Schoenborn : Alphabets of the Succession. Martyr of the political Christ. Peter Hammer Verlag, Wuppertal 1996. ISBN 3-87294-737-0 , pp. 121-124
  5. ↑ Reportaje en la Situación de los Derechos Humanos en El Salvador, Capítulo II: El Derecho de la Vida , November 17, 1978. Website of the CIDH . Retrieved December 28, 2010.
  6. ↑ Reportaje del OEA. 1978.
  7. ↑ A Century of Jesuit Martyrs . In: Company Online! A Magazine of the US Jesuits , March 11, 2000. Retrieved December 28, 2010.
  8. ↑ a b Haydee Rodriguez: Óscar Romero ( Memento of the original from August 27, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.catholicireland.net archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . CatholicIreland.net website. Retrieved December 28, 2010.
  9. ↑ Paul Jeffrey: After 25 years' St. Romero of the World 'still inspires . In: National Catholic Reporter , April 15, 2005.
  10. ↑ Jon Sobrino : My memories of Bishop Romero in: Giancarlo Collet, Justin Rechsteiner (ed.): To forget means to betray - memories of Oscar A. Romero on the 10th anniversary of his death. Peter Hammer Verlag, Wuppertal 1990, ISBN 978-3872944276 , pp. 31-88, there p. 33
  11. ^ Paul Gerhard Schoenborn : Alphabets of the Succession. Martyr of the political Christ. Peter Hammer Verlag, Wuppertal 1996. ISBN 3-87294-737-0 , p. 131
  12. ↑ Jesuitas de Centroamérica: La santidad de Rutilio Grande . March 4, 2014, accessed March 22, 2020.
  13. ↑ Arzobispado de San Salvador: Concluye Fase Diocesana del proceso de canonización del padre Rutilio Grande, SJ August 22, 2016, accessed on March 22, 2020.
  14. ^ General Curia of the Society of Jesus: El P. Rutilio Grande, SJ, y sus compañeros, mártires y futuros Beatos , February 21, 2020, accessed on March 22, 2020.
personal data
SURNAME Grande, Rutilio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Grande García, Rutilio SJ (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Catholic clergyman and martyr
DATE OF BIRTH July 5, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH El Paisnal
DATE OF DEATH March 12, 1977
Place of death El Paisnal