Tuesday January 6, 2009 PM
Visiting the home and place of assassination of Archbishop Romero was an incredibly moving experience. We went to the small community that consisted of a hospital/hospice care center, a chapel and a few other small buildings. We stopped first at the Divina Providencia Chapel where Romero was assassinated, and met with a Sister Teresa Cuellar, a Nun who shared with us about his life and also about the assassination of Oscar Romero. He was killed in 1980 by a single assassins bullet fired from a car through the open door of the church while he was celebrating Communion. It was amazing to listen to this little Nun as she described the relationship that Romero had with the Sisters who lived in this compound. Unfortunately, there is only one Nun left alive at the convent who actually knew Romero.
We were taken behind the altar to a very small room (the Sacristy) where the sisters provided a place for Romero to live. It was hard to believe that a Bishop, let alone and Archbishop, would live in such a humble surrounding. His quarters consisted of one small room with a small bathroom attached.
We then walked down the hill about one block to a small cement block house that the Sisters had built for Monsignor Romero. Sister Cuellar explained that the Sisters thought that someone of his position deserved something a little bit bigger than where he had been staying. The Nun described that when the time came to present him with the keys to his new home, they decided that the best approach would be to ask the hospice patients to give them to him. Afterwards, he called the nuns over and told them that he thought that they were very sneaky because they knew that there would be no way that he could ever turn the hospice patients down. (These Nuns knew him very well and they knew exactly what they were doing:)
He was such a humble and caring man. His new house was a little larger, with three rooms and a bathroom. It has now been turned into a museum with mementos of his life and pictures that were taken right after the assassination and during his funeral. One of the most remarkable artifacts was the white robe that he was wearing at the time of the assassination stained with his blood. They also had his 1972 Toyota Corona sitting in the driveway right where he had left it. Everything seemed just as it was when he left for the chapel that morning. One other story, told by the Nun, was that even though he had this new place to live, whenever he felt lonely or afraid, they would find him back up in his room behind the Altar, he always considered that his home.
The time spent hearing about the assassination was very difficult and we were glad to hear that our next stop would be a little less emotionally draining. (or at least I thought) Our next stop was at an Artisan Market place. That was truly an awesome place and a great experience. This was one place that Karen would have loved. The only problem was that we only had 45 minutes which wasn’t enough time. My understanding was that this would probably be our only opportunity to go shopping, so I wanted to take full advantage. I didn’t do any haggling with the people, I did well to just find out what the price was, but I did find out that if I said, “let me think about it.” They would always immediately lower the price. I emailed Terri and told her that I had good news and bad news. The bad news was that I spent most of my money, and it was only the 3rd day. The good news was that I had lots of presents for everyone!
For dinner we went to a traditional El Salvadorian restaurant which was a great experience. We then went back home, talked for an hour or so and then went to bed early. I might mention that this has been a totally vegetarian day, but everything has been great! Tomorrow we go to the University of Central America the sight of the assassination of 6 Jesuit priests, a housekeeper of the University and her daughter. It sounds like another emotionally draining day.
Visiting the home and place of assassination of Archbishop Romero was an incredibly moving experience. We went to the small community that consisted of a hospital/hospice care center, a chapel and a few other small buildings. We stopped first at the Divina Providencia Chapel where Romero was assassinated, and met with a Sister Teresa Cuellar, a Nun who shared with us about his life and also about the assassination of Oscar Romero. He was killed in 1980 by a single assassins bullet fired from a car through the open door of the church while he was celebrating Communion. It was amazing to listen to this little Nun as she described the relationship that Romero had with the Sisters who lived in this compound. Unfortunately, there is only one Nun left alive at the convent who actually knew Romero.
We were taken behind the altar to a very small room (the Sacristy) where the sisters provided a place for Romero to live. It was hard to believe that a Bishop, let alone and Archbishop, would live in such a humble surrounding. His quarters consisted of one small room with a small bathroom attached.
We then walked down the hill about one block to a small cement block house that the Sisters had built for Monsignor Romero. Sister Cuellar explained that the Sisters thought that someone of his position deserved something a little bit bigger than where he had been staying. The Nun described that when the time came to present him with the keys to his new home, they decided that the best approach would be to ask the hospice patients to give them to him. Afterwards, he called the nuns over and told them that he thought that they were very sneaky because they knew that there would be no way that he could ever turn the hospice patients down. (These Nuns knew him very well and they knew exactly what they were doing:)
He was such a humble and caring man. His new house was a little larger, with three rooms and a bathroom. It has now been turned into a museum with mementos of his life and pictures that were taken right after the assassination and during his funeral. One of the most remarkable artifacts was the white robe that he was wearing at the time of the assassination stained with his blood. They also had his 1972 Toyota Corona sitting in the driveway right where he had left it. Everything seemed just as it was when he left for the chapel that morning. One other story, told by the Nun, was that even though he had this new place to live, whenever he felt lonely or afraid, they would find him back up in his room behind the Altar, he always considered that his home.
The time spent hearing about the assassination was very difficult and we were glad to hear that our next stop would be a little less emotionally draining. (or at least I thought) Our next stop was at an Artisan Market place. That was truly an awesome place and a great experience. This was one place that Karen would have loved. The only problem was that we only had 45 minutes which wasn’t enough time. My understanding was that this would probably be our only opportunity to go shopping, so I wanted to take full advantage. I didn’t do any haggling with the people, I did well to just find out what the price was, but I did find out that if I said, “let me think about it.” They would always immediately lower the price. I emailed Terri and told her that I had good news and bad news. The bad news was that I spent most of my money, and it was only the 3rd day. The good news was that I had lots of presents for everyone!
For dinner we went to a traditional El Salvadorian restaurant which was a great experience. We then went back home, talked for an hour or so and then went to bed early. I might mention that this has been a totally vegetarian day, but everything has been great! Tomorrow we go to the University of Central America the sight of the assassination of 6 Jesuit priests, a housekeeper of the University and her daughter. It sounds like another emotionally draining day.
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