The small Central American nation of El Salvador, one of the most socially divided and violent countries in the western hemisphere, has produced a remarkable generation of Catholic martyrs. Foremost among them stands St. Óscar Romero, the archbishop of San Salvador, shot while celebrating mass on March 24, 1980. Also well-known in the United States are four US women missionaries who were raped and murdered on December 2, 1980, and six Jesuit priests, a seminary cook, and her daughter, assassinated at the University of Central America by Salvadoran soldiers on November 16, 1989.

Perhaps less well-known here, but deeply revered in his home country, is the Salvadoran Jesuit priest and pastor of the city of Aguilares, Fr. Rutilio Grande, SJ. He was ambushed and killed on March 12, 1977, just weeks after Monseñor Romero became archbishop of San Salvador. He was journeying with an elderly man, Manuel Solórzano, and a teenage boy, Nelson Rutilio Lemus, to celebrate a Novena in the nearby town of El Paisnal, where he had been born. Fr. Grande's murder at the hands of local police authorities inaugurated a new and savage stage in the horrific political repression that has haunted El Salvador since the 1930s. His story and that of his companions forms an important contribution to any contemporary theology of martyrdom, not least because the impact of their deaths on Monseñor Romero.

With the beatification of Fr. Grande and his companions on February 22, 2022, and the expectation they will soon be canonized saints, the appearance in English of this excellent translation of a monumental biography of Grande should be of interest to readers in this country, including teachers interested in faith doing justice, liberation theology, and pastoral theology, and scholars of recent Latin American and Catholic Church history and theology.

Carefully researched and filled with rich detail about Grande's life and education, his struggles with mental illness and depression, the challenges he faced as a seminary professor, and above all, the remarkable success of his pastoral ministry amid the turbulence in Aguilares, this is by far the most comprehensive work on Grande yet to appear in English. It stands alone not only because Cardenal knew Grande personally and knows El Salvador very well, but because he had access to Jesuit sources, Grande's own papers, and his own extensive interviews with people who knew Grande.

Curiously, however, this book's strengths also track its major drawbacks. Cardenal assumes a strong working knowledge of El Salvador, the Catholic Church, and the Jesuit order in the period after the Second Vatican Council. Without this background, long sections of the book might bewilder some readers. Moreover, precisely because of Cardenal's own missionary work in El Salvador and his personal acquaintance with many of the key figures in this story, the book suffers in places from too much detail (the overly long description of Grande's pastoral plan, for example, or the extended description of the complex relationship between the parish and the Catholic farmworker union in Aguilares). Indeed, Cardenal works so hard to give a balanced account of the context within which Grande labored that Grande himself sometimes slips out of focus. Finally, although written by an immensely talented and well-trained scholar, the book lacks some of the standard apparatuses that US academics rely on, including a primary and secondary bibliography, a table of abbreviations, and a list of sources.

Its drawbacks notwithstanding, I found this to be a moving and informative narrative of Grande's otherwise hidden life, a life lived with simplicity, sincerity, courage, and holiness. Cardenal's book will be the standard reference and an indispensable resource for current and future readers and writers interested in Grande. I recommend this book for scholars, students, and general readers alike for two reasons. First, encountering Rutilio Grande and his companions draws readers into close contact with the Christian gospel and its “pearl of great price.” Second, this biography unveils the extraordinary depth and power of the faith of the “little ones.” Not only does the church need ordinary, approachable saints, but the church and its theologies need a renewed appreciation of the holiness of the everyday.