San Salvador Cathedral

⛪San Salvador Cathedral ⛪

The magnificent San Salvador Cathedral stands in the heart of the Historic District, at the site where the Temple of Santo Domingo once stood in the 16th-century.

Construction of the cathedral started in 1956, taking nearly 40 years to complete, encompasses over 20,000 ft², and is one of El Salvador's most important pilgrimage sites, housing the crypt of Archbishop Oscar Romero.

Romero was revered by both his parishioners and regular citizens for his public and ultimately fatal stance on the, as he put it "grim violation of human rights" being committed by the aristocracy and military dictatorship in control of the nation.

Upon seeing the reality of civilian lives first hand he used church and personal resources to help where he could, but decades of oppression could not be fixed so easily. Traveling through his diocese on horseback he discovered children starving, medicine unavailable, and people beaten and murdered for "insolence" when simply asking for their daily wages. The "fourteen families" of the Aristocracy had ordered the military to shoot union organizers, human rights activists, and especially teachers and practitioners of faith.

After a brutal attack on a group of so-called "Marxist" civilians, Romero wrote the to the National Guard Commander personally denouncing the attack. His response?

"Cassocks are not bulletproof"

During a memorial mass on March 24th 1980, standing behind the alter preparing the gifts of the offerty, two mercenaries approached the chapel and assassinated Romero. He died a martyr, the greatest source of hope for millions of oppressed Salvadorians and the greatest threat to the oligarchy.

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