A mural of Oscar Romero and Rutilio Grande, SJ, in El Paisnal, El Salvador

Rutilio was assassinated on March 12^th 1977 together with his sacristan, Manuel Solorzano and young assistant Nelson Lemus. They were shot by a death squad as they drove from Aguilares to celebrate Mass in the village of El Paisnal. The killings occurred less than three weeks after Oscar Romero was named Archbishop of San Salvador. As a Jesuit priest Rutilio had served, ten years earlier, on the staff of the seminary in San Salvador where Oscar Romero came to live - and they became friends.  

Rutilio took charge of the rural parish of Aguilares in 1972. It was at the epicentre of growing tension and social conflict where landless peasants worked as exploited day labourers on the vast sugar cane plantations of wealthy landowners.  Rutilio with a team of young Jesuits promoted programmes of conscientisation in the manner of Paulo Freire and established  a remarkable network of basic Christian communities following the directives from the Medellin Conference of Latin American Bishops.

Rutilio preached and spoke with passion and clarity about the injustices suffered by the rural population and he stood with them as they organised to seek land reform and social development. The landowners came to see Rutilio’s pastoral programmes as a great threat to their interests.

Rutilio Grande was MC at the episcopal ordination of Oscar Romero

Fr Rutilio Grande’s martyrdom marked the beginning of a campaign of persecution of the Church in El Salvador. His killing was a huge shock, but especially to Rutilio’s friend Archbishop Romero. Romero determined to follow the same path taking the side of the poor and exploited that Rutilio had pioneered - and it put Romero on the road to his own Calvary three years later. The Cause for the beatification of Rutilio and his two companions moved rapidly forward with the archdiocese working hand-in-hand with the Society of Jesus, leading to the beatification on 22 January 2022.

On 22 February 2020, Pope Francis declared that Rutilio Grande, along with his two companions Manuel Solorzano and Nelson Lemus, were martyred in hatred of the faith. On 22 January 2022, they were officially declared 'Blesseds' at a ceremony in San Salvador, where Cardinal Rosa Chávez was the main celebrant. You can read his homily from the beatification here.