Rother Shrine is a work of heart

The Feb. 17, 2023, dedication of the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine will have something for everyone. Many inspiring and carefully chosen pieces of art will be waiting to welcome pilgrims from near and far.

"The committee members are all honored to be included in such a unique and historic project,” said Father William Novak, chairman of the shrine’s arts and environment committee, which has been overseeing the design of the building and its furnishings. “They are working diligently to create a space that will both highlight the beauty of Blessed Stanley’s church in Guatemala and illustrate his life of ministry and sacrifice.”

The church is designed in the Spanish Colonial style, with key design elements including the clay tile roof, the wooden ceilings and the Saltillo tile floors. Because of frequent severe hailstorms, real clay tile roofs are impractical. The material used on the roof of the shrine is a synthetic material that resembles natural clay but is much more durable. All the candlesticks and crucifixes will be silver, as silver is plentiful in Spanish and Mexican cultures.

The shrine will house two worship spaces. The main church seating approximately 2,000, and the chapel seating 144. The altars for both spaces are from Italy, and were carved by hand in Baroque style, with a polychrome, or multi-colored, finish. They will be vibrant, gilded and very ornate. The coffin containing Blessed Stanley’s remains will be set into the altar in the chapel. In the apse dome above, a mural by the Evergreene Studio from Brooklyn, New York, depicts Blessed Stanley being welcomed into heaven by Christ and the company of martyrs.

Along the pillars in the main church will be the Stations of the Cross, which are replicas of the stations in the Basilica Cathedral in Puebla, Mexico. The stations are hand-painted and framed in carved wood. Following the visual path of the stations will lead worshippers to the main altar and tabernacle.

Behind the altar is a reredos that will stand 28 feet high and 17 feet wide. It features a hand-carved statue of Blessed Stanley in the center, surrounded by saintly figures and pilgrim images. The reredos has two ornate antique columns, and several others carved to match. Represented in front of all of them will be the sacred hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. In the attic, or top of the reredos, is an antique crucifix that was found in Italy.

Outside, the scene of Our Lady of Guadalupe appearing to Saint Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill is recreated in oversized bronze statues. Initially, a well-known sculptor from Santa Fe was chosen to create these pieces, but various considerations led the committee to look elsewhere. Eventually, they contacted Georgina Farias, the creator of a statue for the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and commissioned her. She is currently 78 years old and lives in Mexico, where she works with a team to create works of art. She and her creative team viewed the project as more of a calling than a commission. 

The statues were taken to be blessed by Monsignor Eduardo Chavez Sanchez, the Postulator for the Cause of Saint Juan Diego in Mexico City.

The committee expects to add more stenciling, decoration and statues to the shrine in the future to enhance its beauty for new and regular visitors alike. 

A live feed from the shrine construction site can be viewed any time at rothershrine.org/webcam.

Debi Wagner is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.


Photo: (above) Construction continued inside the Bl. Stanley Rother Shrine in this July 2022 picture. Photo Avery Holt/Sooner Catholic. 



A worker plastered the dome in the chapel at the Bl. Stanley Rother Shrine in this July 2022 picture. Photo Avery Holt/Sooner Catholic.