About James Alfred Miller, FSC (September 21, 1944 – February 13, 1982):
James Alfred Miller (also known as Brother Leo William or Santiago) was born premature on September 21, 1944, to farmers in Stevens Point, Wisconsin; his siblings included his brothers Bill and Ralph and sisters Pat Richter and Louise Shafranski. Miller weighed only four pounds upon birth but later would stand at six feet two inches and weigh 220 pounds. He grew up in Custer. 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 entered Pacelli High School. It was while a freshman that he first met the De La Salle Brothers. In September 1959, he entered the juniorate in Missouri (Juniorate is a three-year course of philosophy in high school for candidates that are planning to postulate to become a priest or nun. During this time, they will get deeper involved and will decide whether this is the road they are interested in following).
Following this, he was then admitted as a postulant into the order in 1962. He commenced his novitiate in August 1962, then assumed the habit and the religious name “Leo William.” He would later resume using his baptismal name like some of his confreres.
He received a master’s degree in Spanish from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota in Winona.
Miller served as a teacher first in Cretin High School before being sent to teach in Bluefields in Nicaragua. He remained in Nicaragua until his superiors ordered him to leave due to political tensions that put Miller at risk of being killed. He was frustrated to be sent back to his native home, where he remained for some time to teach. 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 to Guatemala where he taught, and he remained there until he was murdered:
During the afternoon of February 13, 1982, Miller was on a ladder repairing a wall at the De La Salle Indian School at Huehuetenango. Three hooded and masked men shot and killed Miller. ….he died at the scene before his body hit the ground. Just before being killed, 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.
His funeral was celebrated in Guatemala and Saint Paul before his remains were interred in the Polonia parish in Wisconsin His killer was never identified and brought to justice, despite a long investigation.
Miller’s beatification process opened in Huehuetenango on September 2, 2009, though the cause’s formal introduction came on December 15, 2009, and Miller was named a Servant of God. Pope Francis approved Miller’s beatification in late 2018. It was celebrated in Huehuetenango on 7 December 2019.
Life.
Some claim his murder was in retaliation for the work of the order to prevent native males from being forcibly 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, including Stanley Francis Rother, who was killed five months before Miller.
The Postulator General for the Cause for Canonization of Blessed James Alfred Miller, FSC is Brother Rodolfo Cosimo Meoli, FSC. Brother Meoli was appointed to this role in 2009 when the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints declared “nihil obstat” (nothing against the cause) and formally introduced the cause under Pope Benedict XVI brotherjamesmiller.orgbrotherjamesmiller.org. As Postulator, he oversaw the preparation of the Positio dossier — a comprehensive collection of testimonies, documents, and evidence of Brother James’ life, witness, and martyrdom — for review by theologians and the Vatican brotherjamesmiller.orgbrotherjamesmiller.org.
Brother Meoli’s leadership was instrumental in advancing the cause, which began with a diocesan investigation in Huehuetenango in 2009, the Vatican’s own investigation in 1996, and the eventual beatification of Brother James on December 7, 2019, by Pope Francis.
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, under Pope Benedict XVI after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints declared “nihil obstat” (“nothing against the cause”) and titled Miller as a Servant of God. The C.C.S. later validated the diocesan process in Rome on July 9, 2010, while later receiving the Positio 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; the beatification was celebrated in Huehuetenango on December 7, 2019, with the bishop of David, Panama, Cardinal José Luis Lacunza Maestrojuán presiding.
The La 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.
About Custer, Wisconsin:
The origin of the community’s name is not confirmed, but general consensus is it was named after Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, who was defeated during the battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876.
Traveling to the grave of Blessed James Miller in Custer, Wisconsin:
Located in central Wisconsin, the nearest city is Stevens Point, a well‑established city in the northwest part of Wisconsin, with a population of over 20,000 located about 8 miles (12 km) west-southwest of Custer. Madison, Wisconsin is roughly 99 miles (159 km) northeast of Custer
Blessed James Miller lies is buried at St. Martin Church Cemetery in Custer, Wisconsin. Visible from his gravesite is the Miller family’s dairy farm.
St. Martin Church Cemetery
6692 Highway 66
Custer, Wisconsin 54423