Cosma Spessotto

Arriving in El Salvador in 1950, Father Cosma Spessotto learned the Spanish language and quickly adapted to the local culture. In October 1953, he was sent to the parish of San Juan Nonualco, a rural locality inhabited mainly by peasants (campesinos) and indigenous populations. He would exercise his pastoral ministry there for 27 years.

Upon his arrival, he found a parish church in ruins, destroyed by an earthquake in the 1930s. With courage, he undertook the reconstruction of the parish church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, with work beginning on June 2, 1960. Beyond the material construction, Father Cosma fully invested himself in the social and spiritual development of his community: - He founded a parish school to educate poor children. - He created vocational workshops to teach trades to young people. - He set up health clinics to care for the most destitute. - He organized collective weddings to regularize the situation of many couples living in common-law unions. - Attached to his agricultural roots, he introduced viticulture to El Salvador by importing grape varieties from Italy and even wrote a practical manual on viticulture for Central America.

In the 1970s, El Salvador descended into a violent civil war. The military government and death squads harshly repressed the civilian population. Faced with this violence, Father Cosma Spessotto tirelessly preached justice, charity, and reconciliation. He denounced the atrocities committed by both sides (military and guerrillas) and became a defender of the oppressed peasants. He intervened several times to negotiate the release of hostages and ensured that Christian burials were given to the victims of the war, whose bodies were abandoned in the streets.

His pastoral commitment and his denunciations of injustices drew the hostility of repressive forces and paramilitary groups. He received numerous death threats. Despite warnings and suggestions from his superiors to return to Italy for his safety, he categorically refused to abandon his parishioners. On June 14, 1980, the feast day of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, while he was kneeling in a pew in his church, near the tabernacle, reading the Word of God and preparing to celebrate the evening Mass, two individuals entered the building. One of them shot him at point-blank range with a submachine gun. Father Cosma died instantly at the age of 57. His martyrdom occurred less than three months after the assassination of the Archbishop of San Salvador, Saint Oscar Romero. The reputation of holiness and martyrdom of Father Cosma spread immediately among the faithful. The diocesan process for his beatification opened on June 14, 2000, and closed on June 14, 2001. The cause was officially accepted by the Holy See on April 4, 2003, conferring upon him the title of Servant of God under the pontificate of John Paul II.

On May 26, 2020, Pope Francis approved the decree recognizing the martyrdom of Father Cosma Spessotto, killed in hatred of the faith (in odium fidei). The beatification ceremony was celebrated on January 22, 2022, at the Plaza del Divino Salvador del Mundo in San Salvador. It was presided over, in the name of Pope Francis, by Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chávez. Father Cosma was beatified at the same time as the Jesuit priest Rutilio Grande and his two lay companions (Manuel Solórzano and Nelson Rutilio Lemus), who were also martyrs of the Salvadoran Civil War. Father Cosma Spessotto is currently honored as Blessed. His liturgical feast is set for June 14, the anniversary of his martyrdom.

The spirituality of Father Cosma Spessotto is deeply rooted in Franciscan humility, love for the Eucharist, and Marian devotion. He lived his ministry as a total gift of self, finding his strength in contemplative prayer before the tabernacle. His spiritual testament, written while he knew he was threatened with death, testifies to his heroic faith and spirit of forgiveness: "To die a martyr would be a grace I do not deserve. To wash away all my sins, faults, and weaknesses with blood shed for Christ would be for me a free gift from the Lord. From now on, I forgive and pray for the conversion of those who cause my death." The legacy of Father Cosma remains alive in El Salvador and Italy. His mortal remains are venerated in the parish church of San Juan Bautista in San Juan Nonualco, where the faithful continue to seek his intercession. His missionary crucifix and bloodstained missal are kept at the sanctuary of the Madonna dei Miracoli in Motta di Livenza, Italy. In 2026, a bronze bust was unveiled in Roverbasso (Codognè) to honor his memory in his native land.