Oscar A. Romero, born in Ciudad Barrios, on August 15th 1917, studied theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and was ordained priest in 1942. With little pastoral involvement he lived in the Jesuit-run seminary. In 1970, appointed Auxiliary Bishop, he expressed frequent criticism of the social involvement of the clergy that had come in the wake of the Medellin Conference of the Continent's Bishops. In 1974 he was named to the rural diocese of Santiago de Maria and found himself once more caught up in the rural people's struggle for survival. In 1977 he was the surprise choice