Jesús Emilio Jaramillo Monsalve

On November 11, 1970, Pope Paul VI appointed him Vicar Apostolic of Arauca and Titular Bishop of Strumnitza. He received episcopal consecration on January 10, 1971. When the Apostolic Vicariate was elevated to the rank of diocese by Pope John Paul II on July 19, 1984, Bishop Jaramillo Monsalve became its very first diocesan bishop. He officially took possession of his see on September 21, 1984. His episcopate in Arauca was marked by tireless missionary zeal in an isolated, poor region severely tested by violence. Concerned for the spiritual and material development of his faithful, he multiplied social, educational, and pastoral initiatives: he founded the Instituto San José Obrero in La Esmeralda (Arauquita) to ensure the human, technical, and Christian formation of peasants and rural leaders; he created the Equipo del Indio (Indian Team), a specialized pastoral structure dedicated to the evangelization, education, and defense of the rights of the Tunebo indigenous people of the Sarare region; in 1980, with the help of the Hospitaller Brothers of Saint John of God, he founded the Hospital San Ricardo Pampuri to offer quality medical care to the destitute populations of Sarare; he also founded several educational institutions, including the La Frontera colleges and the Instituto Oriental Femenino in the municipality of Tame; he encouraged the creation of family housing cooperatives (Cofavi) and homes for peasants. Alongside his concrete achievements, Bishop Jaramillo was an eloquent preacher and a respected spiritual writer, notably the author of the works He ahí al hombre ("Behold the Man") and Apareció una mujer ("A Woman Appeared").

During the 1980s, Colombia went through a period of extreme violence linked to the armed conflict and drug trafficking. In the department of Arauca, the Marxist guerrilla of the National Liberation Army (ELN) reigned with terror. Bishop Jaramillo firmly opposed the abuses, kidnappings, and ideology of the ELN, courageously denouncing the climate of fear imposed on the civilian population. His public stances and his refusal to yield to the pressures of armed groups earned him death threats on several occasions. On October 2, 1989, as he was finishing a pastoral visit in the vereda of Puerto Nidia (municipality of Fortul)—where he had celebrated Mass, baptisms, and first communions—the bishop set out on the road back to Arauca. He was traveling in a vehicle accompanied by Father Helmer José Muñoz (diocesan delegate for pastoral care), two other priests (Fathers León Pastor Zarabanda and Rubín Rodríguez Salinas), a seminarian (Germán Piracoca), and a parish secretary (Claudia Rodríguez). Around 3:30 PM, at the bridge over the Caranal River, the vehicle was intercepted by three armed men from the ELN. The assailants asked who Bishop Jaramillo was. The bishop answered with courage: "It is I" (Soy yo). The guerrillas demanded that he accompany them under the pretext of delivering a message to the authorities. They also forced Father Helmer José Muñoz to come along. After driving several kilometers, the kidnappers released Father Muñoz but kept the bishop. The next morning, October 3, 1989, the lifeless body of Bishop Jaramillo was found on the side of a road in the vereda of Santa Isabel (Panamá de Arauca, municipality of Arauquita). The bishop had been tortured, stripped of his episcopal insignia (his pectoral cross and his ring), and murdered with several gunshots to the head. The autopsy would reveal that he succumbed to his wounds on October 2 around 7:00 PM. The ELN claimed responsibility for the assassination, accusing him of complicity with the military and opposition to the revolution.

The cause for the beatification of Bishop Jaramillo Monsalve officially opened in the year 2000 at the diocesan level in Arauca, following the granting of the nihil obstat by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on July 7, 2000. The diocesan inquiry into his martyrdom took place from October 2, 2000, to June 29, 2006. On July 7, 2017, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree officially recognizing his martyrdom in odium fidei (in hatred of the faith). The beatification ceremony was celebrated on September 8, 2017, in Villavicencio (at the Parque Temático Las Malocas), in Colombia, presided over directly by Pope Francis during his apostolic journey to the country. Bishop Jaramillo was beatified at the same time as the martyr priest Pedro María Ramírez Ramos. His liturgical feast is set for October 3, the anniversary of the discovery of his remains and his birth into Heaven. His mortal remains rest in the Cathedral of Santa Bárbara in Arauca, in the right nave.

The spirituality of Bishop Jesús Emilio Jaramillo Monsalve is deeply rooted in his vocation as a missionary of Yarumal. His episcopal motto, 'El Señor viene' ('The Lord is coming'), guided all his pastoral action: it expressed his unwavering hope in the coming of Christ into the heart of the darkest human realities. Nicknamed the 'Apostle of peace' and the 'Prophet of reconciliation', he embodied a Church close to the poor, the peasants, and the indigenous peoples, refusing violence from wherever it came (guerrilla, paramilitaries, or military repression). For him, true peace could only be built on social justice, truth, and concrete reconciliation. His martyrdom became a powerful symbol for the Colombian people in search of peace after decades of civil war. Every year, on October 2, many faithful make a pilgrimage to the site of his martyrdom in Santa Isabel.