Editing Óscar Romero (section)

==Priesthood==
[[File:Romero, Vatican City, 1942, color.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Romero in 1942 at [[Vatican City|the Vatican]].]]

Romero entered the [[minor seminary]] in San Miguel at the age of thirteen. He left the seminary for three months to return home when his mother became ill after the birth of her eighth child; during this time he worked with two of his brothers in a gold mine near Ciudad Barrios.<ref name="liberators">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/liberatorspatrio00adam_0 |url-access=registration |title=Liberators, Patriots and Leaders of Latin America: 32 Biographies |author=Adams, Jerome R. |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc.|date=2010 |access-date=27 December 2015|isbn=9780786455522 }}</ref> After graduation, he enrolled in the national [[seminary]] in San Salvador. He completed his studies at the [[Gregorian University]] in [[Rome]], where he received a [[Licentiate in Theology]] ''cum laude'' in 1941, but had to wait a year to be ordained because he was younger than the required age.<ref name="wright">Wright, Scott (26 February 2015). "Family". ''Oscar Romero and the Communion of Saints: A Biography''. Orbis Books. {{ISBN|978-1-60833-247-2}}. Retrieved 27 December 2015.</ref> He was [[Holy Orders|ordained]] in Rome on 4 April 1942.<ref name="catholic-heirarchy" /><ref name=un>{{Cite web|url=https://www.un.org/en/events/righttotruthday/romero.shtml|title=Biography of Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero – International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims, 24 March|website=United Nations}}</ref> His family could not attend his ordination because of travel restrictions due to [[World War II]].<ref name="kell-bio" /> Romero remained in Italy to obtain a doctoral degree in theology, specializing in [[ascetical theology]] and Christian perfection according to [[Luis de la Puente]].<ref name="wright" /> Before finishing, in 1943 at the age of 26, he was summoned back home from Italy by his bishop. He traveled home with a good friend, Father Valladares, who was also doing doctoral work in Rome. On the route home, they made stops in Spain and Cuba, where they were detained by the Cuban police, likely for having come from [[Kingdom of Italy#Fascist regime (1922–1943)|Fascist Italy]],<ref>Italy had signed [[Armistice of Cassibile|an armistice with the Allies]] two weeks earlier, but the ship on which they sailed had recently been suspected of espionage. {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mg4eXqsXLhoC&q=Marqu%C3%A9s+de+Comillas |title=The Hemingway Patrols: Ernest Hemingway and His Hunt for U-Boats |last1=Mort |first1=Terry |date=2009 |publisher=Scribner |access-date=27 December 2015|isbn=9781416597902 }}</ref> and were placed in a series of internment camps. After several months in prison, Valladares became sick and [[Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer|Redemptorist]] priests helped to have the two transferred to a hospital. From the hospital they were released from Cuban custody and sailed on to Mexico, then traveled overland to El Salvador.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://polycarpi.blogspot.com/2015/12/oscar-romeros-odyssey-in-cuba.html |title=Oscar Romero's Odyssey in Cuba  |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=21 December 2015 |website=Supermartyrio: The Martyrdom Files |access-date=27 December 2015}}</ref>

Romero was first assigned to serve as a [[parish priest]] in [[Anamorós]], but then moved to [[San Miguel, El Salvador|San Miguel]] where he worked for over 20 years.<ref name=un/> He promoted various apostolic groups, started an [[Alcoholics Anonymous]] group, helped in the construction of San Miguel's cathedral, and supported devotion to [[Our Lady of Peace]]. He was later appointed rector of the inter-diocesan seminary in [[San Salvador]]. Emotionally and physically exhausted by his work in San Miguel, Romero took a retreat in January 1966 where he visited a priest for confession and a psychiatrist. He was diagnosed by the psychiatrist as having [[obsessive-compulsive personality disorder]] and by priests with [[scrupulosity]].<ref>{{cite book|year=2014|title=Oscar Romero: Love Must Win Out|publisher=Liturgical Press|last=Clarke|first=Kevin|page=45|isbn=978-0-8146-3757-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|year=2011|title=Congregants Of Silence|publisher=Lulu|last=Schaller|first=George|page=70|isbn=978-1-105-19762-8}}</ref>

In 1966, he was chosen to be Secretary of the Bishops Conference for El Salvador. He also became the director of the archdiocesan newspaper ''Orientación'', which became fairly conservative while he was editor, defending the traditional Magisterium of the Catholic Church.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Óscar Romero|url=https://followingjesus.org/oscar-romero/|date=14 March 2016|website=following Jesus|language=en-US|access-date=23 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913131031/http://followingjesus.org/oscar-romero/|archive-date=13 September 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>