Archbishop Romero’s Diary
Background
For two years, from March 1978 until just before his death, Archbishop Romero kept a diary of his meetings and activities which he dictated most evenings into a simple cassette tape recorder. There are gaps of days and occasionally several weeks but nevertheless they constitute a precious narrative record of his actions and reflections. Those tapes were transcribed and published as a single volume in Spanish on the tenth anniversary of his martyrdom in 1990 with the title ‘Mons. Oscar A. Romero – Su Diario’. In 1993 it was published in English under the title ‘A Shepherd’s Diary’ (the English text is now out of print).
With funding from the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the generous assistance of Allen Hirston of City University (London), the Trust has digitised those cassette recordings. For many and varied reasons the quality of the recordings on the cassettes ranges from ‘excellent sound’ to ‘virtually inaudible’. Furthermore the tapes to which the Trust has access have themselves deteriorated over 33 years. Listeners may find it helpful to use headphones or a speaker - and the volume will need regular adjustment for comfortable listening.
Alongside the audio we are pleased to make available downloadable and searchable PDFs of both the original Spanish and the English texts of the Diary. We are grateful to USCC, the copyright holder, for permission to make them available for non-commercial use. These can be read alongside the audio so that it will be possible to follow the text on the screen whilst listening to Archbishop Romero speaking.
