Therese Osborne recalls her co-workers who, like Blessed Oscar Romero, were martyred for the faith in El Salvador in 1980.
Martyrs for the faith
On December 2, 1980, during the height of a horrible Civil War in El Salvador, two members of the Diocese of Cleveland Latin American Mission, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel and Ms. Jean Donovan, a laywoman, as well as two Maryknoll Sisters from New York, Sr. Maura Clark and Sr. Ita Ford were beaten, raped and murdered.
Five Salvadoran National Guardsmen were responsible for their brutal slaying, and in 1984, were sentenced to thirty years in prison.
Over 75,000 people, including the Archbishop of San Salvador, The Most Reverend Óscar Romero, were killed during the Salvadoran Civil War.
Sister Dorothy and Jean served at Immaculate Conception Parish in La Libertad.