Pope Francis has recognized the martyrdom of the Servants of God Rutilio Grande García, a Jesuit priest, and his 2 lay companions, who were killed in hatred of the faith in El Salvador on March 12, 1977, Vatican News reports.
Murdered before the start of the Salvadoran civil war, Father Grande, who was a close friend of fellow Salvadoran and martyr, Saint Oscar Romero.
Known for his vigorous defence of poor, Fr Grande died on 12 March, 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, Crux says.
The horror that the assassination of Fr Grande generated led Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador to take up the Jesuit’s mantle as a defender of the poor leading to his own martyrdom three years later.
Prior to beginning his community organising work, Fr Rutilio had studied at the Lumen Vitae Institute in Brussels, where he learned the Cardijn see-judge-act method.
SOURCES
Martyrdom of Grande (Vatican News)
Pope clears way for beatification of Salvadoran Jesuit, companions (Crux)
Padre Rutilio Grande S.J. (Facebook)
Rutilio Grande: The Cardijn priest who ‘converted’ Archbishop Romero (Cardijn Research)
Blessed Oscar Romero and the See Judge Act (Cardijn Research)
