Romanos the Melodist, St
.
(d. ?556).
The greatest of Greek hymn-writers (although only a few—80 out of 1,000—of his hymns survive). A Syrian by birth, after a time as deacon at Berytus, he found his way to Constantinople under Patriarch Anastasius I (d. 518). Hardly any of his hymns are still used in the liturgy, though the famous
Akathistos
hymn is widely regarded as his. Feast day, 1 Oct.
Romans, Letter to the
.
A book of the
New Testament
and the longest of
Paul's
epistles. It was written
c.
58 CE from Corinth. Romans is the most systematic of Paul's letters, and since the 4th cent. it has stood first among them in the Bible. It has powerfully affected Christian doctrine on such questions as
original sin
,
merit
, and justification.
Rome
.
‘The eternal city’, capital of modern Italy (embracing the Vatican City since the Lateran Treaty in 1929 between the
pope
and the Italian government of Mussolini), and major centre of Christianity since the arrival of
Paul
and
Peter
(the presence of the latter having sometimes been disputed). Both
apostles
are believed to have been martyred in Rome: St Peter's Basilica stands on the traditional site of Peter's burial.
Romero, Oscar Arnulfo
(1917–80).
Christian archbishop of E1 Salvador, assassinated in 1980. He studied theology in Rome, 1937–43, became a parish priest and bishop of Santiago de Maria in 1974. Thought to be a conservative bishop, he was appointed archbishop in Feb. 1977, in the expectation that he would not disturb the political
status quo
. Three weeks later, the
Jesuit
Rutilio Grande, together with two others, was gunned down in his jeep. The event was, for Romero, a conversion. He began a ministry of outspoken commitment to those who had no voice of their own.
Paul VI
gave him encouragement, but the accession of
John Paul II
, with its cult of the pope and movement away from the vision of
Vatican II
, led to an increasing campaign against Romero in Rome. The details of this are disputed. The Vatican appointed an apostolic administrator to oversee his work, but Romero was killed before this could be put into effect. He returned from his last visit to Rome to the slogan painted on walls, ‘Be a patriot, kill a priest’. He was killed as he said mass in the chapel of the Divine Providence Hospital where he lived.
Romuald
(Christian monk):