James Miller

          While some know the name of Father Stanley Rother, the first US-born person to be recognized as a martyr (killed in his mission parish in Guatemala), many do not know that there is another person born in the United States who also died for the faith, and in Guatemala.  James Miller was born on September 21, 1944, in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.  The oldest of five children, James’ parents were farmers in the rural Northern Midwest. James was born premature, weighing less than 5 pounds and had to be tube fed. His aunt joked that she must have overdone it, helping feed him, because as an adult James stood 6 feet 2 and weighed 200 pounds. He was baptized in Immaculate Conception church in Custer, Wisconsin, on October 1, 1944. James’ early life was filled with the duties of a farm boy and shaped by his rural roots, of which he was very proud. His grade school had a single teacher who taught all the kids from 8 grade levels in one classroom. James was known to have a startling loud laugh, to be full of energy and zeal, one who enjoyed manual labor and didn’t see any job as beneath his dignity.

         In his youth, James thought he was called to be a priest and was drawn to the faith. His brother Bill recounts seeing his brother celebrating pretend Masses and performing Benediction, even praying over a hurt chicken on the farm that the chicken would not die. James first encountered the Brothers of the Christian Schools when he was a freshman at Pacelli High School in Stevens Point. At the time, 11 brothers served in the school.  Their witness left an impression on James. He enrolled in their junior novitiate the following year, which brought him out of Wisconsin for the first time and to Glencoe, Missouri. After spending his second year of the junior novitiate at Cretin Hall in St. Paul, Minnesota, James returned to Glencoe for his final year. He was an excellent student and active in sports. The junior novitiate only strengthened his desire to become a Christian Brother. James entered the novitiate on August 30, 1962, taking the name Brother Leo William. (In 1966, the rules of the Christian Brothers changed and permission was given for brothers to revert to their baptismal names if they wished. James did.)   

          The novitiate brought James to St. Mary’s University in Winona, Minnesota. It was at St. Mary’s where the seeds of James’ desire to serve in the missions in Central America took root. One of his instructors, for a public speaking class, recalled that his final speech spoke of the need for Christians in the United States to assist people in poor missionary countries. That same instructor recounted that James was an intelligent yet simple man, very generous with all, especially the suffering. James earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and English. Before graduation, Brother James was asked to go back to Cretin High School as an emergency substitute teacher after one of the brothers assigned there became ill. Completing all his remaining course work in two weeks so he could still graduate with his class, Brother James returned to Cretin and stayed as a teacher for a little over 3 years. Besides teaching Spanish, English and Religion, he did anything else he could to assist: starting and coaching a soccer team, as well as serving as the janitor and maintenance supervisor. The students nicknamed him “Brother Fixit”. Wanting to become truly fluent in Spanish, Brother James applied for and received a National Defense Education Act grant in 1968, which he used to enroll in an intensive language program at the University of Dayton. On June 12, 1969, Brother James made his perpetual vows as a Christian Brother, after which the realization of his missionary vocation began in Nicaragua.

          Brother James served in Nicaragua for 10 years, first in Bluefields and then in Puerto Cabezas.  He impressed many with his fluency in Spanish.  Brother James exemplified the zeal and dedication to instructing and caring for their students – “being ready to give your very life” because of how “so dear are the youth entrusted to you” – that Saint John Baptist de La Salle wanted from the Christian Brothers when he founded them.   In the early days, Brother James taught English, Math, and Religion.  Later he became the principal of a vocational school, growing it to 800 students, and then taking on the task to supervise the construction of ten new schools.  Nicaragua was not a safe place.  Violence grew during the Sandinistas revolution.  Brother James had built relationships with the Somoza government in order to get resources and support for the schools.  Some interpreted this pragmatism for support, whcih led his superiors to fear for his life as the Sandinistas gained power.  They ordered Brother James to return to the United States, which he was able to do under the cover of escorting an aging nun to get medical care, moving up vacation time he planned to use to visit family.

          Although Brother James planned to return to Nicaragua after his visit home to Wisconsin, his superiors in the Christian Brothers thought better of it. Instead, they assigned him to Cretin High School (now Cretin-Derham Hall) once again. Like before, he taught Spanish and performed maintenance and janitorial work at the school. But his heart was back in Central America and he longed to go back. Having seen the poverty of Central America, he found it difficult to see so much wealth and opportunity (including that for education) be taken for granted in the United States. In September of 1980, Brother James was sent to Sangre de Cristo Center, a retreat center in New Mexico initially established by the Christian Brothers as a place for brothers in mid-life to come for spiritual and psychological renewal without the demands of apostolate. There Brother James wondered if he might not after all be called to the priesthood, as he once thought as a young boy. However, the Christian Brothers had decided previously not to establish a priesthood option within the order, so if a true calling it would demand of Brother James to also pursue a new community. He considered briefly the possibility of becoming a priest with the Capuchin Franciscan order, which he had become familiar with when working in Nicaragua. After some exploration, Brother James concluded God was reaffirming his vocation as a Christian Brother. Wanting to go back to Central America, Brother James sought out an appointment anywhere, but specifically hoped to be sent to Guatemala. At the end of the year, he got his wish and was assigned to the Colegio La Salle at Huehuetenango for a planned period of three years.

          Brother James would only spend 13 months in Guatemala.  He would teach  History of Guatemalan Art, English and Religion at the Brothers’ school.  He was also assigned to what was known as the Indian Center, which trained students from the local community to become teachers and replace non-locals in order to restore to schools an appreciation of local culture.  Brother James was made responsible for leading the Indian Center, which included managing building maintenance, a farm, and a carpentry shop.  The situation in Guatemala was similar to Nicaragua.  A civil war between militarist government forces and guerillas raged.  The Catholic Church because it would not abandon the people, seeking to improve their lives and evangelize, became targets in the conflict.  Death squads targeted Catholics for torture and murder.

          On February 13, 1982, three gunmen entered the grounds of the De La Salle Indian School at Huehuetenango. Brother James was on a ladder doing some repair work on a wall. He sent a student who was with him inside to get a tool. The gunmen opened fire. 6 bullets hit Brother James who fell from the ladder and died from the wounds and a loss of blood. Several of the children witnessed the murder through a window. Authorities never identified his killers. A thousand students escorted the body of their beloved Hermano Santiago to the airport for his return to Wisconsin for burial. Brother James was 37. 

         Blessed James Miller is buried in his family’s section of the parish cemetery of St. Martin’s church in Ellis, Wisconsin.  This was his family’s parish, near where he grew up, but has since been closed and merged (along with others) into Sacred Heart parish in Polonia, Wisconsin.  Cretin-Derham Hall, a high school in St. Paul, Minnesota at which the Brothers of the Christian Schools serve, and where Blessed Miller went as a student and also taught, named their adoration chapel and courtyard after him.  The chapel reportedly contains a first class relic (hair) from Blessed Miller and there is a statue of him in the courtyard. In Guatemala, a Brother Santiago Miller Museum Exhibition is housed in the “Miller House” on the campus of the Colegio De La Salle in Huehuetenango.