Anniversary of the murder of the Jesuits

November 16 is the 18th anniversary of the cold-blooded murder of six Jesuit priests at the University of Central America, their housekeeper and her daughter, by members of the Salvadoran armed forces.

Here are words about their martyrdom from Father Jon Sobrino, a fellow Jesuit who worked with them in El Salvador during those years:

So what really remains from the martyrdom of these six Jesuits? I believe and hope their spirit remains, that they rise again, like Archbishop Romero, in the Salvadoran people, that they continue to be a light in this dark tunnel, and hope in this country of endless misfortunes. All martyrs rise again in history, each in their own way. Archbishop Romero's is exceptional and unrepeatable, but Rutilio Grande is also present in many peasants, the North American sisters are still alive in Chalatenango and La Libertad, Octavio Ortiz in El Despertar, and the hundreds of martyred peasants in their communities.

The martyred Jesuits too will live on in the Salvadoran people....I hope they remember them as faithful witnesses to the God of life, so that Salvadorans go on seeing God as their defender; that they remember them as Jesuits who tried to undergo a difficult conversion and paid the price for defending faith and justice. This is what I hope these Jesuits leave the Salvadoran people and that in this legacy they go on being alive, an inspiration and encouragement.... I hope too that when peace and justice come to the country, succeeding generations remember that these Jesuits were among those who made it possible.

Jon Sobrino, S.J., Witnesses to the Kingdom: The Martyrs of El Salvador and the Crucified Peoples, p. 95.