First American-born Saint

The beatification of Father Stanley Rother, a priest from Oklahoma who was killed by death aquads in Guatemala in 1981, drew over 17,000 people to the Convention Center in Oklahoma City on September 23, 2017. It was an elaborate ceremony with a cardinal, bishops, priests, and people from around the country in attendance.

It seemed ironic that this man who was rejected by his first seminary for failing his studies, yet persisted in his desire to be a priest, would become the first American-born saint. He volunteered to be a missionary to Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala, and translated the New Testament into Tz’utujil,  the native language of the people. He also built a church, a hospital and worked as a farmer among his parishioners. After receiving death threats from government officials, he briefly returned to Oklahoma, but soon went back because he felt a shepherd should not desert his flock.

He returned to Guatemala not to die, but to live because his ministry there was his life. But the death squads came during the night and shot him. After his death, his body was returned to Oklahoma, but his heart was buried under the altar in the church in Santiago Atitlan, at the request of his parishioners. His simple home there has become a shrine revered by the Guatemalan people.

In the 1500 years since the church in Santiago Atitlan was established, there were no vocations. Since Father Rother's death, nine men have entered the seminary. Tertullian said that "the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church." Father Stanley Rother's blood is indeed bringng growth to the Church in Guatemala.