St Oscar Romero Day is Wednesday 24 March.

This year is the 41st anniversary of St Oscar Romero’s martyrdom. He died in church at the hands of the state like another archbishop, Thomas Becket.

‘The name Romero means pilgrim,’ said Dr Gemma Simmonds CJ earlier this month. ‘If we need a companion to help us on our way, then, in the saint of El Salvador, we could not find a better one.’

The Oscar Romero UK shrine is at St George’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in Southwark near the start of the Pilgrims’ Way.

His relics can be found at Canterbury, alongside those of Thomas Becket, in St Thomas of Canterbury Church next to the cathedral.

Next Saturday 27 March, on the eve of Holy Week, there will be a Romero Mass at 12.30pm in Southwark’s St George’s Cathedral (opposite the Imperial War Museum).

Archbishop of Southwark John Wilson will preside and preach. He
will also commission four Guardians of the Romero Shrine: Mgr John O’Toole, Canon Alan McLean, Kathleen O’Brien and Julian Filochowski who will have the responsibility to foster devotion to St Oscar Romero and to assist the Dean Richard Hearne in the oversight of the Shrine.

The Mass will be live streamed on www.romerotrust.org.uk