Oscar Romero and the Communion of the Saints: A Biography
Unprecedentedly violent, the twentieth century abounded in Christian martyrs, none more memorable than Oscar Romero (1917–80), Catholic archbishop of the capital of El Salvador, killed by a still unidentified gunman while celebrating a memorial mass in the chapel of his chosen residence as archbishop, a cancer hospice. In this copiously illustrated tracing of his life, Wright eventually points out the parallels Salvadoran Catholics have found between Romero and Jesus, principally that the final ministry of each lasted three years and that each proclaimed the truth of the faith unto death. Despite his own humble origins, Romero had given little intimation that he would be the tireless advocate of the poor and oppressed against the wealthy and powerful that he became. Within weeks of his archiepiscopal ordination, the death-squad assassination of his Jesuit friend Rutilio Grande catalyzed his transformation from seemingly shy, punctilious church bureaucrat into quietly implacable champion of the maltreated poor. Rife with quotations and therefore resembling a documentary-film transcript more than a formal biography, this is a fine commemoration of an exemplary man. --Ray Olson