On Saturday 12 March 1977 Father Rutilio Grande was assassinated together with two peasants who accompanied him, Manuel Solórzano and Nelson Rutilio Lemus, as they were on their way to El Paisnal. The requiem Mass with the bodies present took place on Monday 14 March in the Cathedral of San Salvador.

 

"My sisters and brothers, let no one here present think that this gathering in the presence of Father Grande's body is some political act with sociological or economic implications. No, it is not that, rather is a gathering in faith --- a faith that through Father Grande's body, dead in hope, is opened to eternal horizons."