Feast of Blessed Stanley Rother, Martyr

Thursday, July 28, 2022

Location: All Parishes - Diocese of Little Rock

This optional memorial may be celebrated in the Diocese of Little Rock unless impeded by a celebration of higher precedence on the liturgical calendar. Father Stanley Rother, the first American-born martyr, was beatified in Oklahoma City in 2017, the final stage before canonization to sainthood. This Mass was attended by more than 20,000 people from around the world, according to the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.

Blessed Rother, an Oklahoma native, was ordained a priest in 1963. Five years later he was sent by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City to serve its mission in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala. While stationed there, he helped build a small hospital, a school and its first Catholic radio station. On July 28, 1981, he was brutally murdered in his parish rectory.

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor concelebrated the beatification Mass. He served as episcopal delegate for Father Rother's sainthood cause from 2007 until he was named the bishop of Little Rock in 2008. As delegate he personally interviewed 50 people in Spanish and Tz’utujil, a Mayan language, about their knowledge of Father Rother and the virtues he displayed.

From this experiences, he later published, “Blessed Stanley Francis Rother: The First American Martyr,” a bilingual book that details the life and death Blessed Rother adapted from an extensive audio-visual presentation he had created. The 88-page book includes eight pages of color photographs from Father Rother’s life and his beatification Mass in Oklahoma City. 

In 2017 Bishop Taylor dedicated the Catholic mission in Decatur (Benton County) Blessed Stanley Rother Catholic Church, making it the first in the world to carry the patronage of the Oklahoma priest and martyr.

Blessed Rother’s story is the subject of various books, documentaries and an upcoming feature film. The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City is in the final stages of design of a 2,000-seat shrine church, museum and campus in his honor, to be located in south Oklahoma City. To learn more about Blessed Rother, visit the archdiocese's website.