25th Anniversary of the Jesuit Martyrs of El Salvador

On November 16, 1989, six Jesuit priests living in El Salvador were killed in the midst of the El Salvadoran Civil War. Despite being aware of the dangerous conditions in which they were living at the time, the Jesuits had remained committed to staying in the area to work toward social justice during a great time of need in El Salvador. Along with the six priests, the Jesuits' cook Elba Ramos and her daughter Celina were also killed that night.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Jesuits' martyrdom. Jesuit groups across the world, including many of our chapter schools, are hosting events to commemorate the day. Here is a list of events taking place at Jesuit schools in the midwest: http://image.jesuits.org/MIDWESTPROV/media/25th-Anniversary_Salvadoran-martyrs_event-listings-by-city.pdf.

Another Jesuit group commemorating the event is The Ignatian Solidarity Network. The group is selling watercolor portraits of each of the martryrs, as well as the sole survivor of the killing, the Jesuits' gardener Obdulio Ramos. The portraits were painted by one of our members, Mary Pimmel-Freeman (Rockhurst '06) (read her spotlight story here) who created the paintings in 2006 as part of her undergraduate thesis project on the martyrdom.

To get a closer look at Mary’s artwork or purchase it, click here: http://ignatiansolidarity.net/martyrs25/.