Archbishop Oscar Romero. Emily Wade Will
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After the telegraph office posted Santos Romero to Ciudad Barrios in August 1910, however, he wanted to stay put. He had set his eyes on Guadalupe Jesús Galdámez, a sweet young woman who received enough schooling, likely through grade three, to work as a primary school teacher. Her friends called her “Niña Jesús,” using her middle name. Officials had offered her a teaching position in the village of Guatajiaqua, in neighboring Morazán department, but her parents did not want her to venture so far from home.10
It didn’t take Don Santos and Niña Jesús long to decide to spend their lives together. They wed in a civil marriage on December 8, 1910, and again in a church marriage in January 1911. The newlyweds moved into a house provided by Niña Jesús’s parents. It was one of several houses owned by members of her extended family along one side of the town’s central plaza.
Oscar’s parents: Santos Romero and Guadalupe Jesús Galdámez. (photo credit, Zolia Aurora Asturias and Eva del Carmen Asturias)
The large house—half a block in size—was modest in its construction. Its walls were bahareque—wood canes or laths covered with mud and whitewashed. The roof was of red clay tiles and the floors of earthen brick.
Furnishings consisted of plain but sturdy chairs and tables made mostly of roble, an abundant oak species. Beds were simple wood frames with rope webbings pulled between them to serve as mattresses. The Romero boys slept at least two to a bed.
Don Santos’s telegraph office occupied a partitioned corner of the house, and another small area was devoted to the village post office, which Niña Jesús ran. Once the boys turned six or seven, their parents enlisted them to deliver telegrams and letters. The task was not burdensome, as the tiny town was hardly flooded with messages and mail, and they didn’t have to walk far.
Oscar, about age ten. (photo credit, Elvira Chacón)
Papá taught Morse code to a few of his sons, including Gustavo, Oscar, and Mamerto, and showed them how to operate the telegraph. Oscar also learned to type after his father bought a typewriter. Oscar enjoyed both the telegraph and typewriter, and would continue an interest in communications technology throughout his life.
Still, Oscar was grateful to Gustavo that he wouldn’t need to leave church today to deliver a telegram.
As if reading Oscar’s mind, Mamá said, “Do you remember the outfit I sewed for you when you were a little boy and a church dignitary visited?”
Oscar shook his head. “I must have been too young. I always liked to play priest, though.”
“You borrowed my aprons to wrap around your shoulders as a robe.” Mamá smiled.
“Playing priest” was a common childhood activity, and it was little Oscar’s favorite make-believe. Wearing his apron “cassock,” Oscar created altars on chairs and “said mass” or “gave Communion.” Sometimes he called his friends to march in a pretend saint’s day procession. In their play-acting, Oscar reserved the role of priest for himself.
As he grew older, Oscar followed Father Cecilio Morales around. He eventually became an altar boy, and the priest gave him duties, such as ringing the church bells. Oscar stopped in the church to pray at least once a day.
In reality, however, the Romero children did not enjoy much play time. They had to help their parents with household chores and a patchwork of activities to supply their basic needs. Don Santos received a small income for running the telegraph office, as did Niña Jesus for managing the town’s mail service. Niña Jesus, an adept seamstress, also sewed clothes for neighbors.
“El Pulgo”
Don Santos farmed some 104 acres of fertile land acquired from his father-in-law.11 It was located along the skirt of the nearby volcano, some two to three miles from the family home. Since at least 1880, coffee had replaced indigo as El Salvador’s “king crop,” and Don Santos planted coffee bushes in the shade of the slope’s oak trees, as well as some cacao, coconut palms, and nance, a type of fruit tree.
The boys hiked to the small farm, which Don Santos named “El Pulgo,”12 to help their father. Coffee was a fussy crop in certain seasons. Oscar and his brothers cleared weeds and helped prune the bushes and pick the ripe red berries. Leaving the farm, Papá gave each boy a piece of firewood to carry home for the cookstove.13
At least the Romero children were spared the burden of handcarting water from a spring to their home. In 1918, Papá had connected his house to the town’s water supply. Mamá and the girl she hired to help scrub clothes were blessed with water piped into the home.
The running water and an indoor bathroom were the family’s only modern conveniences, however. The town had no electricity. They lit a kerosene lamp for a couple hours each night, and Papá often read to the children then.
Later that day, Oscar held his head high as he entered the church in the central plaza for Father Monroy’s mass. He had worked with others to clean the sanctuary, and townswomen decorated it with sprays of flowers.
Oscar frequently stopped in this Ciudad Barrios church to pray. (1998 photo, Emily Will)
Following the service, the town mayor, Alfonso Leiva, called Oscar to speak with him and the two visitors.
“This young man has been interested in God’s work since he was a cipote, a little lad,” Mayor Leiva told the vicar-general and Father Calvo. “He’s bright and would make a fine priest.”
The vicar-general turned to Oscar. “Tell us about your education.”
“The minor seminary requires a solid foundation,” Father Calvo added. Oscar knew the priest taught at the minor seminary, or preseminary, in San Miguel city.
“I attended the public school here.” Oscar cast his gaze to the ground.
“Were you a good student?” the vicar-general asked.
“Maestra Anita said I was,” Oscar said quietly.
“The public school goes only through grade three,” the mayor informed the vicar and priest.
“Oh?” Father Calvo said. “Oscar had only three years of school?”
“No,” the mayor quickly replied. “His parents asked Anita Iglesias, the local teacher, to give Oscar private lessons for three additional years. Two hours a day.”
“I went to the school for the extra classes in the afternoons after the younger children left,” Oscar said.
“What’s more,” Mayor Leiva said, “Oscar enjoys music. He’s learned how to play his father’s flute.”