Leo William Miller | |
|---|---|
 Miller circa 1962 | |
| Martyr | |
| Born | James Alfred Miller (1944-09-21)September 21, 1944 Stevens Point, Wisconsin, United States |
| Died | February 13, 1982(1982-02-13) (aged 37) Huehuetenango,Guatemala |
| Honored in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 7 December 2019, Huehuetenango, Guatemala by CardinalJosé Luis Lacunza Maestrojuán |
| Feast | 13 February |
| Attributes | Wrench |
James Alfred Miller, FSC (September 21, 1944 – February 13, 1982), also known asBrother Leo William orSantiago, was anAmerican Catholic member of theBrothers of the Christian Schools who served inGuatemala until his murder in 1982.
Miller served as a teacher first inCretin High School before being sent to teach inBluefields inNicaragua where he remained until his superiors ordered him to leave. He was requested to leave his work in Nicaragua due to political tensions that put Miller at risk of being killed, but he was frustrated to be sent back to his native home, where he remained for some time to teach.[1][2] He was known for his construction and practical abilities to the point where students at Cretin High School referred to him as "Brother Fix-It." Miller was later sent toGuatemala where he taught, and he remained there until he was murdered. His killer was never identified and brought to justice, despite a long investigation.[2]
Miller's beatification process opened inHuehuetenango on September 2, 2009, though the cause's formal introduction came on December 15, 2009, and Miller was named aServant of God.[1][3]Pope Francis approved Miller's beatification in late 2018. It was celebrated in Huehuetenango on 7 December 2019.[4]
James Alfred Miller was bornpremature on September 21, 1944, tofarmers inStevens Point, Wisconsin; his siblings included his brothers Bill and Ralph and sisters Pat Richter and Louise Shafranski.[1] Miller weighed almost four pounds upon birth but later would stand at six feet two inches and weigh 220 pounds.[3][2] He grew up inCuster. He was noted for having a boisterous laugh that could startle people in his adulthood.
Miller first attended grammar school in his area before he enteredPacelli High School. It was while a freshman that he first met the De La Salle Brothers. In September 1959, he entered the juniorate inMissouri and was then admitted as apostulant into the order in 1962. He commenced hisnovitiate in August 1962, then assumed thehabit and thereligious name "Leo William."[1] He would later resume using his baptismal name like some of his confreres. He received amaster's degree inSpanish fromSaint Mary's University of Minnesota inWinona.
Miller first worked for three years as a teacher in Cretin High School, now calledCretin-Derham Hall High School (CDH), where he taught Spanish and English in addition toreligious education. He also oversaw maintenance and coachedfootball. Miller made his perpetual vows in August 1969.[1]
In 1969, he was sent toBluefields, Nicaragua, where he taught in schools until 1974 when he was sent toPuerto Cabezas and helped build an industrial arts and vocational complex. Under his leadership as director, the school at which he taught grew from 300 to 800 students. He also accepted the task of supervising the construction of ten new rural schools.[1] However, his superiors later ordered him to leave Nicaragua in July 1979 due to theSandinistas revolution that had broken out. This was exacerbated due to Miller's work with theSomoza government on education initiatives, which placed him at immediate risk of being a Sandinistas victim.[1] Miller maintained distant ties to the Somoza government because he saw that as an excellent chance to have the government expand the schools according to his former classmate and confrere Francis Carr. But some residents took his cordial relations with the government as tacit support, which came to concern his superiors. This grew after Miller received threats to the point that the Sandinistas placed his name on a list of people to be "dealt with."[3]
Miller was never to return to Nicaragua, which distressed him. When he returned to theUnited States, he taught once again at Cretin High School, now calledCretin-Derham Hall High School inSt. Paul, Minnesota from 1979 to 1981. The students referred to him as "Brother Fix-It" as he dealt with maintenance issues and was often seen with awrench in his hand. He also assisted students who had forgotten their locker combinations.[1][2] In 1980, he participated in the Sangre De Cristo renewal program inSanta Fe, New Mexico. Miller was frustrated with his time back in his native home and wrote "I'm bored up here” and "I am anxious to return to Latin America."[3]
He was transferred toGuatemala in January 1981, where he would remain for the remainder of his life teaching in a Lasallian Brothers school inHuehuetenango. He taught English, religion, and Guatemalan art to secondary level students. Miller devoted himself to providing job and leadership skills to the native Guatemalan Indians.[4]
Three hooded and masked men shot and killed Miller during the afternoon on February 13, 1982. The latter was on a ladder repairing a wall at the De La Salle Indian School at Huehuetenango.[1] Miller died at the scene before his body hit the ground. He had sent a student inside to get a tool to aid his work; several children witnessed the murder while watching Miller from a window. Unsuccessful attempts were made to find the assassins and the Guatemalan government expressed regret the case had dragged on for so long. The government later concluded that "subversive criminal elements" were perhaps responsible for the murder and closed the case.[3]
His funeral was celebrated in Guatemala and St. Paul before his remains were interred in the Polonia parish in Wisconsin.[5]
Some claim his murder was in retaliation for the work of the order to prevent native males from beingforcibly conscripted. Despite students being exempt from armed service, four men abducted a native student named Epifanio Camposeco to force him to enter the military after seizing him in the Huehuetenango marketplace on January 31, 1982. Lasallian Brother Paul Joslin went to the authorities to obtain the student's release between January 31 and February 11 but failed to do so despite the Brother’s adamant protests. Joslin later recalled that Miller came to his office in the morning, just hours before his murder, to inform him that he was going on a picnic with his class later that afternoon.Miller's murder in Guatemala came during a string of assassinations of priests and other religious figures, includingStanley Francis Rother, who was killed five months before Miller.[2]
The beatification process opened in Huehuetenango on September 2, 2009, in a diocesan process that later concluded in 2010. This diocesan investigation collected available documentation regarding Miller's life and a series of witness testimonies from those who knew Miller. But the formal introduction to the cause came on December 15, 2009, underPope Benedict XVI after theCongregation for the Causes of Saints declared "nihil obstat" ("nothing against the cause") and titled Miller as aServant of God.[4] The C.C.S. later validated the diocesan process on July 9, 2010, inRome while later receiving thePositio dossier for assessment.
Nine theologians that consult the C.C.S. issued unanimous approval to Miller's cause on March 20, 2018.Pope Francis confirmed Miller's beatification in a decree issued on November 7, 2018;[5] the beatification was celebrated in Huehuetenango on December 7, 2019, with the bishop of David, Panama, CardinalJosé Luis Lacunza Maestrojuán presiding.[6] The currentpostulator for the cause is the De La Salle brother Rodolfo Cosimo Meoli.
TheLa Crosse diocese sponsors an annual Brother James Miller Social Justice Award. The "Brother James Miller Fund" was established after Miller's death and aimed to continue his work for the poor and oppressed.[1]
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