Twenty years after six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter were murdered in El Salvador, Holy Cross will reflect on what martyrdom means in a series of events during the fall semester.
More than 70,000 died during El Salvador’s civil war in the 1980s and early 1990s, the vast majority of whom were civilians killed by the Salvadoran government’s armed forces and paramilitary death squads.
The assassination of the six Jesuits, and the two women, who were unwavering in their defense of the poor and oppressed, brought international outrage and condemnation upon the Salvadoran government, ultimately pressuring its leaders to end their country’s civil war.
The murder happened on Nov. 16, 1989, when armed men burst into the Jesuit residence at the University of Central America in San Salvador and shot the six Jesuit priests, along with the community’s cook and her daughter.
Those killed in the attack were:
- Rev. Ignacio Ellacuria, S.J., 59, Spanish-born Salvadoran citizen, rector of the Central American University and widely respected leftist intellectual.
- Rev. Ignacio Martin-Baro, S.J., 50, also a Spanish-born Salvadoran citizen, best known as an analyst of national and regional affairs and as the founder and director of the Public Opinion Institute, a highly regarded polling organization.
- Rev. Segundo Montes, S.J., 56, a Spanish-born sociology professor who did extensive work with Salvadoran refugees in the United States.
- Rev. Amando Lopez, S.J., 53, a Spanish-born philosophy professor and Jesuit priest.
- Rev. Joaquin Lopez y Lopez, S.J., 71, director of a center for humanitarian assistance affiliated with the university, also born in El Salvador.
- Rev. Juan Ramon Moreno, S.J., 56, director of two university-related programs, born in Spain.
- Julia Elba Ramos, 42, a cook.
- Cecilia Ramos, 15, Julia's daughter.
“These assassinations galvanized the Jesuits from around the world and many Jesuits volunteered to go to El Salvador to replace the six who had died,” says Rev. James Hayes, S.J., rector of the Jesuit community and associate chaplain. The brutal event also shows the darkest result of conflicting ideas, anathema to the Jesuit goal of open discussion that leads to understanding. “This is a dramatic reminder that ideas have consequences,” Fr. Hayes comments, adding that by shooting their victims in the head, the perpetrators symbolically eliminated their ideas.
“These six Jesuits died because of their intimate connection between faith and the quest for justice — affirming their commitment to Jesus by facing death at the hands of those who silenced them,” he says. “The series of events this fall will continue to remind us of our special mission and offer us inspiration and vision.”
All events are free and open to the public.
Sunday, Sept. 27
7 p.m., Mary Chapel
Concelebrated Mass marking the 469th anniversary of the founding of the Society of Jesus
Rev. James Corkery, S.J., preacher
Ice cream reception following the Mass. Sponsored by the Jesuit Community and Alpha Sigma Nu, the Jesuit Honor Society
Tuesday, Sept. 29
7:30 p.m., Rehm Library
Student panel, moderated by Associate Chaplain Marybeth Kearns-Barrett ’84, will discuss “What my Jesuit education means to me in light of the deaths of the El Salvador Martyrs”
Thursday, Oct. 1
4:30 p.m., Rehm Library
Rev. Mark A. Ravizza, S.J., professor of philosophy at Casa de la Solidaridad at Santa Clara University, presents “A Response to the Assassinations”
Thursday, Oct. 22
4:30 p.m., Rehm Library
Michael Pasquier, assistant professor of religious studies at Louisiana State University, presents "The Many Meanings of Martyrdom: Jesuit Missionaries and Their Encounter with Native America"
Thursday, Nov. 5 [Postponed]
7:30 p.m., Rehm Library
U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, presents “My experience as a staff person for Congressman Joseph Moakley and the investigation of the Jesuit murders”
Tuesday, Nov. 10
4:30 p.m., Rehm Library
Rev. Paul Locatelli, S.J., assistant to the General for International Higher Education and former president, Santa Clara University, presents “Jesuit Education in Response to the murder of the Six Jesuits and their colleagues.”
Monday, Nov. 16
Rehm Library
Twentieth Anniversary of the Deaths of the Jesuits and their colleagues in El Salvador
4 p.m.
BBC Documentary film, Killing Priests is Good News, tells the story of the lives and deaths of Christian martyrs in El Salvador in the 1980s
7:30 p.m.
Holy Cross Professor Emeritus James B. Nickoloff presents “Twenty Years Later: A Reflection on Holy Cross in Light of the University of Central America Martyrs”
Martyrs Plaza (at entrance of St. Joseph Memorial Chapel)
Following the talk, a candlelight prayer service by the members of the Magis Program and Pax Christi
Monday, Jan. 25
4 p.m., St. Joseph Memorial Chapel
Mass by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap.
Pictured: A medallion with the names of the six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter, who were murdered in El Salvador was installed in front of St. Joseph Chapel in the early 1990s.
