Day 3: Romero Lives

Name: Kasie
Occupation: Student
Destination of Day 3 in El Salvador: Divina Providencia Chapel

The Chapel is located in a quiet part of the city, and it seems like behind the entrance gates, it continues to be a calm and peaceful place. Along with the Chapel and museum of Romero, there is also a cancer hospital that regularly sees patients.

This is a picture of a "shrine" that was located outside of Romero's home.
Romero's heart has been buried underneath the rocks. 

For the first part of the presentation at the Chapel, we listened to Sister Mercedes talk a little bit about Romero and how he lived. We were able to see the place that he lived; it´s evident that he lived in modesty. When we look at bishops´homes, they usually look grandiose and spacious. However, Romero´s home only had three rooms. Each room still contained the books, furniture, and wall hangings that Romero had in his home, and it contained a lot of added pictures and documents. The garments he was wearing the day he was shot were also available to see. His car was still in the ¨garage¨ too. His home has been well preserved for onlookers, so it´s evident that he was, and still is, a significant part of Salvadoran History.

We then headed to the chapel and sat in the pews while Sister Mercedes talked a bit more about the day that Romero was killed. She told us what really happened, as there have been many lies and myths about the event. We also listened to a cassette of the homile he was giving that day.

Sister Mercedes Standing in the place
Romero stood when he was shot

We learned that Archbishop Romero was such an integral part of the fight for human rights during the civil war and we had heard that his significance remained in the culture today. Though we had heard this, I think we realized this when we visited the chapel.

View of the chapel from the outside. This is where the assassin
was located when he shot Romero from his truck

It was a nice way to start our day, and I think we were all grateful for the experience!