Today we remember the life, work, and martyrdom of Blessed Rutilio Grande, SJ of El Salvador. By his beatification, we are reminded that a life of faith includes working for justice. Blessed Rutilio’s work of community faith-based organizing becomes for all of us a model of holiness and action.

Read his famous “Apopa Sermon” where he imagines Christ’s ministry in the context of El Salvador’s violence and repression in the 1970s, and what it means to be Church in that context.

Blessed Rutilio Grande: ¡Presente! Pray for us!

“It is dangerous to be Christian in our midst! It is dangerous to be truly Catholic! It is practically illegal to be an authentic Christian here, in our country! Because out of necessity the world around us is rooted on an established disorder, in front of which the mere proclamation of the Gospel becomes subversive.” – Rutilio Grande, SJ on Feb. 13th 1977.

“A Life of Faith and Courage” by Anthony Ferrari, University of Santa Clara Ignatian Center for Education.

https://www.scu.edu/ic/media–publications/articles/article-stories/a-life-of-faith-and-courage.html

Primary Translator: Irene Bubula-Phillips
Additional Translators: Olga Pavisich-Ryan, Carlos Duran S.J., and Jake Schneider
Additional Contributor: Ana María Pineda R.S.M.
Editor: Anthony Ferrari