page_title: Óscar Romero
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Óscar Romero / Early life
caption_attribution_description: English: On May 24, 1941, a young Oscar Romero, studying for the priesthood in Rome, prayed to the Sacred Heart of Jesus to, "Burn off the slag and make me an iron, red hot with your love." (J. Delgado, "Romero, Un joven aspirante a la santidad" (Romero, a young aspirant to saintliness), ORIENTACIÓN, Vol. LV Nº 5463, March 25, 2007.) Español: Óscar Arnulfo Romero en 1941.
context_page_description: Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez was a prelate of the Catholic Church in El Salvador who served as the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador. He spoke out against poverty, social injustice, assassinations, and torture amid a growing war between left-wing and right-wing forces. In 1980, Romero was assassinated while celebrating Mass in the chapel of the Hospital of Divine Providence. Though no one was ever convicted for the crime, investigations by the UN-created Truth Commission for El Salvador concluded that the extreme right-wing politician, founder of ARENA and death squad leader Roberto D'Aubuisson had given the order.
  During Romero's beatification, Pope Francis stated, "His ministry was distinguished by his particular attention to the most poor and marginalized." Hailed as a hero by supporters of liberation theology inspired by his work, Romero, according to his biographer, "was not interested in liberation theology" but faithfully adhered to Catholic teachings on liberation and a preferential option for the poor, desiring a social revolution based on interior reform. Up to the end of his life, his spiritual life drew much from the spirituality of Opus Dei.
context_section_description: Romero was born on 15 August 1917 to Santos Romero and Guadalupe de Jesús Galdámez in Ciudad Barrios in the San Miguel department of El Salvador. On 11 May 1919, at the age of one, Óscar was baptized into the Catholic Church by Fr. Cecilio Morales. He had five brothers and two sisters: Gustavo, Zaída, Rómulo, Mamerto, Arnoldo, and Gaspar, and Aminta (who died shortly after birth).
  Romero entered the local public school, which offered only grades one through three. When finished with public school, Romero was privately tutored by a teacher, Anita Iglesias, until the age of thirteen. During this time Romero's father, Santos, trained him in carpentry. Romero showed exceptional proficiency as an apprentice. Santos wanted to offer his son the skill of a trade, because in El Salvador studies seldom led to employment. However, the boy broached the idea of studying for the priesthood, which did not surprise those who knew him.
caption: Romero in 1941
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