Jean Donovan
Born: April 10, 1953
Died: December 2, 1980
Jean Donovan offers a rare gospel witness in these brutal times. Donovan was born on April 10, 1953 and grew up in upper-middle-class Westport, Connecticut. During college she spent a life-changing year in Ireland, where a charismatic priest committed to the Latin American poor challenged her to serve God’s poor. In 1977 Donovan quit her executive consulting job at Arthur Andersen, a national accounting firm, said goodbye to friends, and joined the Maryknoll lay mission program.
For the next few years she served a poor parish in La Libertad, El Salvador. She managed its budget, played with children, and helped other church workers. But the brutal government’s war against the poor intensified. The streets were filled with soldiers, and dead bodies were left along the roads. Donovan and the sisters buried the bodies and supported the distraught relatives who searched for their loved ones.
Donovan and the rest of El Salvador found hope in the fearless homilies of Archbishop Oscar Romero. She wrote to a friend that his message was convincing her that prayer does make a difference. In gratitude, she baked and delivered chocolate chip cookies to Archbishop Romero every Sunday.
On March 24, 1980, Romero was shot while presiding at an evening Mass. During the funeral Mass, the army threw bombs into the crowd of 30,000 mourners, killing 30. Although Donovan was terrified at the funeral, she told herself that if she were killed, she would go straight to God.
“There are lots of times I feel like coming home,” Donovan wrote a friend afterwards. “But I really do feel strongly that God has sent me here.”
More about Jean Donovan:
Even unto death: The martyrdom of Jean Donovan
Jean Donovan was a modern-day martyr, losing her life while caring for the poor in the midst of El Salvador's bloody civil war. Thirty years later, her memory continues to inspire.
Image: Flickr/Alison McKellar [CC BY 2.0]
