Beatification

First recognized U.S. martyr; first U.S.-born priest to be beatified
 
OKLAHOMA CITY (Sept. 23, 2017) – More than 20,000 faithful gathered in downtown Oklahoma City Saturday to honor Oklahoma priest, missionary and martyr, Blessed Stanley Francis Rother. A native of Okarche, Okla., Father Stanley Rother was beatified during a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome; Most Rev. Paul S. Coakley, Archbishop of Oklahoma City; and Most Rev. Eusebius J. Beltran, Archbishop Emeritus of Oklahoma City.
 
“This is a day of rejoicing for the Catholic Church in Oklahoma, the United States and indeed for the Church in Guatemala and beyond. I am grateful for everyone who joined us to witness this historic and grace-filled event and to share our joy as we give thanks to God for the witness of Blessed Stanley Francis Rother, priest and martyr,” Archbishop Coakley said.
 
Beatification is a declaration by Pope Francis that Father Rother lived a holy life and is a good example to follow. The ceremony declared Father Rother lives in heaven and intercedes for the faithful. Beatifi- cation is the final step before sainthood.
 
During the Beatification Mass, the official painting and tapestry for Blessed Stanley Rother was unveiled, featuring Blessed Stanley Rother standing in front of his parish mission in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala, while clutching a copy of the New Testament he helped translate into the villagers’ native Mayan language. In each corner of the tapestry, is a parish or seminary that was significant in Father Rother’s life – Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Okarche, The Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Oklahoma City where he was ordained, Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., and Saint James the Apostle in Guatemala. The tapestry also includes native plants and flowers from Oklahoma and Guatemala.
 
“The beatification of Father Stanley Francis Rother is an historic event not only for the Archdiocese of
Oklahoma City, that witnesses one of its heroic priests raised to the honors of the altars, but also for the Catholic Church in the United States of America that celebrates, for the first time, the beatification of a priest, missionary and martyr,” Cardinal Amato said during his homily.
                       
“His martyrdom, if it fills us with sadness, also gives us the joy of admiring the kindness, generosity and courage of a great man of faith. The 13 years spent as a missionary in Guatemala will always be remembered as the glorious epic of a martyr of Christ, an authentic lighted torch of hope for the Church and for the world.”
 
Blessed Stanley Rother was born in his family’s farmhouse in Okarche in 1935. After discerning a call to the priesthood, he attended seminaries in Texas and eventually in Maryland. He was ordained in 1963. After serving for five years in what was then the Diocese of Oklahoma City and Tulsa, he volunteered to serve at the diocese’s mission in Guatemala, Micatokla, in 1968.
 
He created a co-op to help the farmers earn more money for their crops, he taught them model farming techniques, opened a school and radio station and helped to complete a written alphabet for the Mayan descendants that lead to the first publication of the Gospels of the New Testament into their native Tz’utujil language.