Members of the Bellarmine community gathered today in remembrance of the six Jesuit priests at the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) and their housekeeper and her daughter who were assassinated on November 16, 1989, by the Atlacatl commando unit of the Salvadoran military.
The solemn ceremony began in the Leontyne Chapel with moments of prayer and reflection shared by students and members of the faculty and staff. Participants then proceeded to the statue of Mary, where flowers were placed, then on to an area of the Mary G. and Leo J. Lucas Quad, where white crosses had been positioned in honor of those killed. Small, handheld crosses were also placed in the ground by the participants, and the symbols were blessed by Fr. Mario Prietto, S.J., superior of the Bellarmine Jesuit community.
The remembrance ceremony was presented by Bellarmine’s Campus Ministry team and the student delegation from the 2019 El Salvador Immersion trip.