Bl. James Miller

Bl. James Miller was a twentieth-century brother in the Brothers of the Christian Schools, also known as Christian Brothers. He was born in Wisconsin in 1942, and after joining the Christian Brothers he worked at a high school in Minnesota until 1969. He spent the next 10 years in rural Nicaragua teaching both religion and other subjects to those who otherwise received little to no education. Bl. James also recognized the physical needs of the people he was serving and helped build many schools and other buildings in the surrounding rural area. However, due to the political strife in Nicaragua that directly threatened his life, he had to return to the United States. In 1981 he returned to Central America, this time to Guatemala. While again working to support the physical, educational, and spiritual needs of those in rural Guatemala, Bl. James was killed. He was declared a martyr and beatified in 2019.