Michael Lee provides a helpful analysis of the theological substance of Oscar Romero's Christian faith. His first chapter traces Romero's theological journey from his neoscholastic theological formation, his gradual appropriation of ecclesial vision of the Second Vatican Council, and his initial unease with the emergence of grassroots theological reflection in the context of Salvadoran base Christian communities. Lee discusses the dissemination throughout rural El Salvador of the ecclesial approach taught at the Latin American Pastoral Institute (IPLA) in Quito, Ecuador, and the see-judge-act methodology of pastoral reflection promoted at the 1968 CELAM conference in Medellín, Colombia. Salvadoran priest José Inocencio (Chencho) Alas was a forerunner in organizing evicted farmworkers and Rutilio Grande, SJ, established base Christian communities for evangelization, mutual support, encouragement, and collective resistance to injustice. Base communities sent catechists and delegates of the Word for training in “centers of rural formation” and “farmworker universities.” These centers stimulated consciousness-raising, critical reflection on praxis, and a collaborative vision of theology that emerges from the poor. Lee shows Romero's initial suspicion of socially engaged theology and the Jesuits that supported them. Although always charitably concerned about the well-being of the poor, Romero sharply separated his pastoral and spiritual responsibility for the care of souls from the duty of the state to promote the temporal good of its citizens.
Lee clearly explains Romero's transition from cautious churchman to “revolutionary saint.” He rightly shows that Romero's transformation was a slow process rather than, as is often assumed, a “road to Damascus” moment as he grieved at the corpse of his assassinated friend, Rutilio Grande. As bishop of Santiago de María, Romero encountered the plight of the rural poor in a new way. A horrific massacre in the village of Tres Calles on June 21, 1975, shocked him into a new awareness of the ferocity of military repression. His experience as bishop prepared him to recognize, in the murder of Grande, an invitation to side with the victims and to use his office as archbishop publicly to defend their rights at all costs. Lee shows that Romero's preferential option for the poor involved a simultaneous deepening of his faith in Christ and broadening particularizing his love for the poor.
Revolutionary Saint unpacks the implications of Romero's remarkable transformation from reserved, timid priest influenced by Opus Dei to prophetic martyr and the patron saint of liberation theology. Chapter 3 shows the mature Romero understood that faith has inescapably political implications regarding social justice and the common good but ought not be identified with partisan politics. Chapter 4 describes Romero as martyr of solidarity murdered by enemies who despised the faith that motivated his commitment. Lee connects Romero's martyrdom to that of a number of other priests killed out of the same hatred. Chapter 5 provides an account of the case for Romero's canonization and the version of liberation theology with which he is rightly associated—one rooted in solidarity with the poor, resistance to social sin, and fidelity to the church.
Lee's Revolutionary Saint is fair-minded, historically informed, and intellectually balanced. It offers an excellent overview of the archbishop's life and work that is accessible to college and adult education courses.
