Jean donovan biography witness
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Salvador Witness: Representation Life Wallet Calling gradient Jean Donovan
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Jean Donovan
Born: April 10, 1953
Died: December 2, 1980
Jean Donovan offers a rare gospel witness in these brutal times. Donovan was born on April 10, 1953 and grew up in upper-middle-class Westport, Connecticut. During college she spent a life-changing year in Ireland, where a charismatic priest committed to the Latin American poor challenged her to serve God’s poor. In 1977 Donovan quit her executive consulting job at Arthur Andersen, a national accounting firm, said goodbye to friends, and joined the Maryknoll lay mission program.
For the next few years she served a poor parish in La Libertad, El Salvador. She managed its budget, played with children, and helped other church workers. But the brutal government’s war against the poor intensified. The streets were filled with soldiers, and dead bodies were left along the roads. Donovan and the sisters buried the bodies and supported the distraught relatives who searched for their loved ones.
Donovan and the rest of El Salvador found hope in the fearless homilies of Archbishop Oscar Romero. She wrote to a friend that his message was convincing her that prayer does make a difference.
On March 24, 1980, Romero was shot while presiding at an evening Mass. During the funeral Mass, the army threw bombs into the crowd of
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Jean Donovan
American lay missionary
Jean Donovan | |
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Born | (1953-04-10)April 10, 1953 Westport, Connecticut |
Died | December 2, 1980(1980-12-02) (aged 27) El Salvador |
Cause of death | Murdered by military |
Resting place | Florida, United States |
Nationality | American |
Known for | Catholic martyr of El Salvador |
Jean Marie Donovan (April 10, 1953 – December 2, 1980) was an American lay missionary who was beaten, raped, and murdered along with three fellow missionaries—Ita Ford, Maura Clarke and Dorothy Kazel—by members of the military of El Salvador in 1980.
Early life
[edit]Jean Donovan was born to Patricia and Raymond Donovan, who raised her in an upper middle-class home in Westport, Connecticut. She had an older brother, Michael.[1] She attended Mary Washington College in Virginia (now the University of Mary Washington),[2] and spent a year as an exchange student in Ireland at University College Cork, deepening her Catholic faith through her contact with a priest there who had been a missionary in Peru.[1]
Upon the completion of her master's degree in business from Case Western Reserve University,[1] she accepted a position as a management consultant for the Cleveland branch of the nati