Priory of St. Romero is named after Oscar Romero and that it would serve Latin America.

 

There is much to know about Romero, but first off he is the only native saint of Central America and the Caribbean. When he was appointed archbishop of San Salvador in 1977, Bishop Romero was considered a very “safe” choice. He had served as auxiliary bishop there for four years before his three years as bishop of Santiago de Maria. He traveled great distances along narrow and dangerous roads to say Mass and offer villagers the sacraments in remote parts of El Salvador.

 

He arranged medical care for people who lacked the resources to get it themselves, especially the elderly. When he learned that migrant coffee harvesters often did not have places to sleep and were spending nights on the ground in the public square, Romero housed them in church buildings.

 

He was assassinated in 1980 and on February 3, 2015, Pope Francis authorized a decree recognizing Oscar Romero as a martyr for the faith. His beatification took place in San Salvador on May 23, 2015, and he was canonized on October 14, 2018 and made a saint. Romero’s funeral was celebrated in the plaza outside the cathedral and drew an estimated 250,000 mourners. His tomb in the cathedral crypt soon drew thousands of visitors each year.