Manuel Solórzano (1905 – 12 March 1977) was a

Salvadoran Salvadorans (Spanish: ''Salvadoreños''), also known as Salvadorians (alternate spelling: Salvadoreans), are citizens of El Salvador, a country in Central America. Most Salvadorans live in El Salvador, although there is also a significant Salvad ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

. He was an active participant in his local

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

and was close with its

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

Rutilio Grande García. He was slain alongside Grande and the teenager

Nelson Lemus Nelson Rutilio Lemus Chávez (10 November 1960 – 12 March 1977) was a Salvadoran people, Salvadoran Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic. He was an active participant in his local parish and was often involved in helping others to read the Bibl ...

in 1977 on a dirt road after he tried to shield both men when armed Salvadoran soldiers killed them. He was beatified on 22 January 2022 alongside his two companions.

Life

Manuel Solórzano was born sometime in 1905 in Suchitoto. He married Eleuteria Antonia Guillén and the couple had ten children together. In Aguilares he sold

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s and

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

to make a living and had moved to that town for work reasons. He was also an active participant in the life of his local

and was active in matters related to evangelization efforts where he got to know the local pastor, Rutilio Grande García. Solórzano was murdered when Salvadoran soldiers killed him alongside teenager

and Grande as the three were about to attend

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

that evening and was shot dead at around 5:00pm. The armed soldiers ambushed them in the middle of sugarcane fields and riddled their

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarde ...

with bullets as it travelled from Aguilares to El Paisnal. The three had headed to continue the

novena A novena (from Latin: ''novem'', "nine") is an ancient tradition of devotional praying in Christianity, consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine successive days or weeks. The nine days between the Feast of the Ascension and Pe ...

to Saint Joseph after Mass and Grande at that time had received death threats for his provocative sermons. In his final moments, he tried to cover Grande and Lemus and ten bullets hit him and had almost torn off his arm in the process.

Beatification

The beatification process for Solórzano and his two companions commenced after the

Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, pass ...

issued the official "

nihil obstat ''Nihil obstat'' (Latin for "nothing hinders" or "nothing stands in the way") is a declaration of no objection that warrants censoring of a book, e.g., Catholic published books, to an initiative, or an appointment. Publishing The phrase ''ni ...

" (no objections) edict which would allow for the San Salvador archdiocese to conduct an investigation into their lives and holiness. But the cause would be determine if the three had died "in odium fidei" (in hatred of the faith) which would mean that no miracle would be required for their beatification. The process was conducted the following morning on 8 January 2016 and was concluded a few months later on 16 August. However, a secondary supplementary process was initiated in the archdiocese, spanning from 17 March 2017 until three months later on 6 June; the C.C.S. in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

validated both processes as having complied with their regulations on 2 March 2018. Meanwhile, the postulation (officials in charge of the cause) compiled and submitted the "

Positio In the Catholic Church, a ''positio'' (''Positio super Virtutibus'') is a document or collection of documents used in the process by which a person is declared Venerable, the second of the four steps on the path to canonization as a saint. Des ...

" dossier to the C.C.S. for further investigation. This led to nine

theologians Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...

approving the material on 19 September 2019 and the cardinal and

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

members following suit on 18 February 2020.

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

, on 21 February 2020, signed a decree that permitted their beatification, however, the original tentative August date had been postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The beatification was celebrated on 22 January 2022, with Cardinal

Gregorio Rosa Chávez Gregorio Rosa Chávez (; born 3 September 1942) is a Salvadoran Latin Catholic prelate who was an Auxiliary Bishop of San Salvador from 1982 to 2022. He was a close collaborator of the slain Archbishop Saint Óscar Romero. Pope Francis made ...

presiding on the Pope's behalf. The current postulator for the cause is the Jesuit priest Pascual Cebollada Silvestre.

References

External links

Hagiography Circle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solórzano, Manuel 1905 births 1977 deaths 1977 crimes in El Salvador 1977 murders in North America 1970s murders in El Salvador 20th-century Roman Catholic martyrs Assassinated Salvadoran people Beatifications by Pope Francis Catholic martyrs of El Salvador Deaths by firearm in El Salvador People from Cuscatlán Department People murdered in El Salvador Salvadoran beatified people Salvadoran Roman Catholics Venerated Catholics