AMERICA/EL SALVADOR - Three North American nuns and lay missionary killed 40 years ago in view of Missionary Martyrs Day

Thursday, 18 March 2021 martyrs nuns laity local churches social situation politics poverty

EL SALVADOR

2022-06-07
The Bishops in solidarity with the Church of Nicaragua, "concerned about the social and political situation"

2022-01-27
Massacre of Jesuits: Film reconstructs what happened in 1989 and what is still happening today

2022-01-24
The four martyrs beatified: "May their heroic example arouse in everyone the desire to be courageous agents of fraternity and peace"

2022-01-22
CLAR on the new martyrs: "The commitment and defense of the poorest were their death sentence"

2022-01-22
Beatification of the four martyrs, the diocesan Postulator: "Our vocation is to follow the Lord"

2022-01-17
On January 22, the beatification of four martyrs: witnesses of an outgoing Church, which announces the Kingdom of God with words and deeds

San Salvador (Agenzia Fides) - Maryknoll Sisters Ita Ford and Maura Clarke, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, and volunteer Jean Donovan were four missionaries from the United States who were killed on December 2, 1980 in El Salvador in the midst of the civil war, in the climate of violence which had targeted the Church and its representatives. A few months earlier, on March 24, 1980, Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador, who had wanted the two nuns of Maryknoll to work in his diocese, had been killed.
On the 40th anniversary of the death of the four missionaries, Pope Francis recalled them with these words: "they were serving in El Salvador within the context of the civil war. With evangelical dedication, and at great risk, they brought food and medicine to the displaced and helped the poorest families. These women lived their faith with great generosity. They are an example for everyone to become faithful missionary disciples”(General Audience, December 2, 2020).
Sister Ita Ford was born in Brooklyn, New York, on April 23, 1940. Her missionary life, before responding to Archbishop Romero's invitation to go to San Salvador, took place in Chile, where she provided assistance to the needy forced to live amidst great difficulties, privations and persecutions due to the regime. Sister Maura Clarke was born on January 13, 1931 in Queens, New York. Before arriving in El Salvador, she spent a good part of her missionary life in Nicaragua, always alongside the most disadvantaged. The two Maryknoll missionaries, who arrived in El Salvador a few months apart from each other, always worked side by side, until their death.
Sister Dorothy Kazel of the Ursulines, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on June 30, 1939. After teaching for a few years in Cleveland, she went on a mission to Arizona. In 1974, after having completed her studies, she decided to join the missionary group of the Diocese that worked in El Salvador. Here she dedicated herself to the formation of catechists, to programs of preparation for the sacraments and also to the distribution of food and to assisting the victims of the civil war, providing them with food and medicine.
Jean Donovan, a lay missionary of the Maryknoll's family, the youngest of the four, was born on April 10, 1953 in Westport, Connecticut, and after a periodo f training, arrived in El Salvador in July 1979, at a time of great tension. She became Coordinator of the diocesan Caritas and worked alongside Sister Dorothy in the distribution of food to the displaced and the poor, as well as in family education and assistance programs. Every Sunday, she participated in the Mass celebrated by Archbishop Romero in the cathedral, for whom she had great esteem.
The story of their murder was told by a Canadian missionary, Gregory Chisholm, who happened to be at the scene. On November 27, 1980, eight months after the martyrdom of Archbishop Romero, five senior leaders of the Revolutionary Democratic Front were kidnapped and killed in El Salvador. A delegation from the Ecumenical Church, made up of Canadians and Americans, went to El Salvador to participate in the funeral. Among these there was Father Chisholm, who arrived in the afternoon of December 2 at the airport of the capital. There he met Sister Dorothy and Jean Donovan, who were awaiting the return from Managua of Sister Ita and Sister Maura. On the road from the airport to the city, the minibus of the ecumenical delegation was stopped by the national security forces. Shortly afterwards, in the same place, the security forces also stopped the vehicle with the four missionaries on board, who were beaten, raped and killed. Their bodies were then discovered with a bullet in the head, buried in a pit. A few years later, four former members of the National Guard were sentenced for their assassination, one of them asking for forgiveness.
The Archbishop of Trujillo and President of the Latin American Bishops' Council (CELAM), His Exc. Bishop Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of their martyrdom, in a message addressed to all the Bishops' Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean, wrote: "We wish to unite with the Salvadoran people by highlighting the important service that the martyred missionary nuns carried out for the poorest, marginalized and vulnerable people, with total and selfless dedication to defend the lives of the victims of the armed conflict which brought so much suffering and mourning to families of the beloved village of Saint Arnulfo Romero, especially refugees and displaced persons ... we want to remember the great legacy of an ardent Christian commitment that these missionaries left, in particular for the younger generations, by offering their lives". (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 18/3/2021)