The priest Rutilio Gran, who was assassinated in 1977 along with the catechists Manuel Solórzano and Nelson Lemus who accompanied him, will be beatified in January 2022; like the Italian Fra Cosme Spessotto, martyred in 1980
The Salvadoran Catholic Church was pleased that Pope Francis gave permission for Saturday, January 22, 2022, to be the date of the beatification of Father Rutilio Gran and his fellow martyrs, Manuel Solórzano and Nelson Rutilio Lemus; as well as that of the Italian father Cosme Espessotto Zamuner.
At noon the bells of the different churches of country, among them the Asuncio’n of Mexicans, where they have like co-patron to San Oscar Arnulfo Rosemary, rang loudly during several minutes, agreeing with the news.
Father Rutilio, Manuel and Nelson were assassinated the 12 of March of 1977 in Paisnal, municipality located to the north of San Salvador; while Espessoto in 1980, in San Juan Nonualco, La Pau.
A statement issued yesterday at the Episcopal Conference of El Salvador (CEDES) noted that the pontiff has delegated to the Salvadoran cardinal, Monsignor Gregorio Rosa Chávez, for his name to preside over the beatification ceremony, in San Salvador.
IMAGES: This was the day of the attack on Father Rutilio Gran during an ambush
The cardinal said yesterday afternoon, during a conference, that preparations for the ceremony will begin in coordination with the Vatican: there will be a bull that the pope signs and that will be read that day.
He clarified that although the religious belonged to different dioceses the two will be beatified in the same event, which is a sign of unity within the church.
On how they receive the decision issued by the hierarch, the Auxiliary Bishop of San Salvador also noted: “With deep joy and deep hope and also with a sense of responsibility, because the martyrs always challenge us to be more consistent with our faith, to not to be mediocre Christians and that means a permanent conversion in all of us. “
According to the CEDES, when concretizing this ceremony the way is smoothed so that the four martyrs go up to the maximum altars of the catholic church, thus being added to San Oscar Arnulfo Rosemary, that was canonized by the Pope in October of 2018.
“Yes, canonization is going to be requested. This will come in the following years. We are on this path, very happy and very grateful to the Lord and to the Holy Father,” said Monsignor.
The beginnings of Father Gran
The information posted by the Archdiocese on social media shows that Father Rutilio Gran was born on July 5, 1928, in the same town where he was killed; he entered the Sant Josep de la Muntanya Seminary in 1941.
Gran joined the Society of Jesus on September 5, 1945 and was ordained a priest on July 30, 1959, in Oña, Spain.
24 of September of 1972 was named director of the Parish the Gentleman of the Mercies in Aguilares, from where the day of its murder had left in its vehicle in the direction of the Paisnal. The priest found Manuel and Nelson accompanying him on the car when he was ambushed.
“We thank God and Pope Francis for this immense gift, the elevation to the altars of these four martyrs of our country, Rutilio, Nelson, Manuel and Cosme. We invite everyone to prepare in the least way, to to live with fruit this great event “, quotes the communiqué of the CEDES, dated the 27 of August and subscribed so much by Monsignor José Luis Escobar Ales, president of the CEDES, as by Monsignor William Ernesto Iraheta Rivera, secretary of the same instance.
The beatification process had already received the approval of Pope Francis since 2020, when he authorized the Congregation for the Cause of Saints to enact the necessary decrees that gave way to the fact that both the priest Rutilio Gran and the his two fellow martyrs become beats next year.
Theologian Rodolfo Cardenal, quoted by Vatican News, the Holy See’s official medium, states that “the future beat Rutilio Gran is always a benchmark in the fight for justice and human rights in El Salvador,” and adds that “Rutilio is very associated with Monsignor Romero and are key references for the Salvadoran church “.
A video posted months ago by Vatican News reviews that Father Rutilio Gran was raised by his grandmother, who taught him to pray before he got up and went to sleep. This is how they prayed the Holy Rosary together.
The vocation to the priesthood began within the framework of an encounter that had in its parish with the Archbishop Monsignor Luis Chávez and González, although it had difficulties fulfilled his assignment to enter the central seminary, where the priests of the Society of Jesus were in charge of the formation of the seminarians.
In the cardinal’s memoirs: “Rutilio was a man with a great capacity for communication, with a great love of the peasantry; to train the peasants to be people who lived in such a way that their faith also transformed the history of the country, a fairer, more fraternal, more supportive country, his most important homilies are available and he was a great friend of Monsignor Romero, which stands out a lot. the side of the other, Rutilio and Romero “.
According to various publications, the Jesuit religious was of the idea that seminarians should do pastoral work in the parish, so that they could see reality and create in them social sensitivity, as well as human.
Residents of the Paisnal remember him with great affection for the closeness he had with everyone, some even feel as if his murder was recent.
In the case of the Franciscan father Cosme Spessotto, it is known that he was born on January 28, 1923, in Mansué, Italy. He served as rector of the church of San Juan Nonualco, from October 8, 1953 until his death. martyred death in 1980.
The cardinal detailed that the Italian religious was also killed by elements of the armed forces after celebrating Mass in his parish, in the framework of these times of great violence.
SEE: Cosme Spessotto, the Italian martyred in El Salvador
Cardinal Gregorio Rosa commented that Spessotto left a letter in which he spoke of the premonition of murder and even forgave its perpetrators.
On the martyrs who will be beatified alongside Gran the production of Vatican News resumes that Manuel Solórzano was originally from Suchitoto, he was married to Eleuteria Guillem de Solórzano, with whom he fathered 10 children.
Solórzano worked in buying and selling cattle and in 1977, when he was 72 years old and Father Rutilio began the evangelizing mission in the parish of Aguilares, he joined in seeing the Christian dynamism that the church took .
Nelson Rutilio is known to have been born at Paisnal on November 10, 1960. He was the eldest of twelve children of Jesus Lemus and Maria Evelia Chávez. His father, Jesus, was a great friend of Father Rutilio from childhood.