Stanley Rother

Stanley Francis Rother ( ; March 27, 1935 – July 28, 1981) was an American Catholic priest from Oklahoma who was murdered during the Guatemalan Civil War. He held several parish assignments as a priest of the Diocese of Oklahoma City from 1963 to 1968 before being assigned as a missionary to Guatemala.

On December 1, 2016, Pope Francis confirmed that Rother had died a martyr, murdered for his faith, and Rother was beatified on September 23, 2017, in Oklahoma City. He is the first U.S.-born priest and martyr to be beatified by the Catholic Church, and the second person to be beatified on American soil.

Early life Stanley Francis Rother was born on March 27, 1935, in Okarche, Oklahoma, one of four children of Franz Rother and Gertrude Smith. Stanley was baptized on March 29, 1935, in Okarche's Holy Trinity Church by the pastor, Zenon Steber. The couple had two other sons, Tom and Jim, and a daughter, Betty Mae, who entered a religious order as an adult. Using his farming background, he helped the farmers in the area to grow new crops.

In 1973, Rother noted in a letter: "I am now preaching in Tz'utuhil." As there was no Tz'utujil equivalent for the name "Stanley," the people of Rother's mission called him "Padre Apla's" ("Father Francis"), his middle name. He made one request of his friends in Oklahoma: Just say a prayer on occasion that we will be safe and still able to be of service to these people of God. Rother reluctantly returned to Oklahoma that month. Daniel Henry Mueggenborg, bishop of the Diocese of Reno, recalled that when he was a college student, he attended a mass that Rother celebrated in Okarche that spring. Mueggenborg said that he: ... was captivated by the deep spiritual presence that surrounded [Rother]. There was a spirit of profound peace and love [that] filled the room when he entered.

Rother wanted to go back to Micatokla. He asked Archbishop Charles Salatka of Oklahoma City for permission to return to Guatemala to celebrate Easter. A funeral mass was celebrated for him on July 29 at the mission church. Over 2,500 attendees crowded the building and thousands more stood outside. At the request of his parishioners, the church hierarchy allowed the removal of Rother's heart for burial behind the church altar. The men were convicted of murder and sentenced to eight years in prison, despite Bocel's claims that they were not the gunmen. Their convictions were later overturned by a Guatemalan appellate court. Some sources state that the US government pressured the Guatemalan government to overturn the verdict, but there is no proof of that. Rother was one of ten priests murdered in Guatemala in 1981.

Oklahoma Senator David Boren and Salatka called for the Reagan administration to investigate the Rother murder, but it never happened.

Veneration

The Diocese of Sololá-Chimaltenango in Guatemala opened a cause for canonization of Rother in September 2007. They immediately transferred it to the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, which started its investigation in October 2007. In November 2009, Rother was named a "Servant of God". The archdiocese closed its investigation in 2010 and handed it over to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (CCS) in Rome. The CSS cardinal and bishops approved it in October 2016. In December 2016, Pope Francis approved Rother's beatification, confirming that he had been killed "in odium fidei" ("in hatred of the faith"). Because of this ruling, no miracle was required for Rother's beatification. In May 2017, as part of the beatification procedure, Rother's remains were exhumed for examination by medical professionals.

Rother was beatified on September 23, 2017, at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City. The beatification mass was attended by 20,000 people. Cardinal Angelo Amato, the CSS prefect, presided at the mass on behalf of Pope Francis. Amato was assisted by Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City and his predecessor, Archbishop Emeritus Eusebius J. Beltran.

For Rother to become a saint, the Vatican would have to verify a miracle attributed to his intercession. The documentary film American Martyr: The Stanley Rother Story, narrated in English by the actor Martin Sheen, was scheduled to be released in theaters in August 2026.

Several church facilities have been named in Rother's honor: Blessed Stanley Rother Church, Decatur, Arkansas Blessed Stanley Rother House of Formation, a seminary in Baton Rouge, Louisiana Blessed Stanley Rother Hispanic Institute, a Spanish-language and culture school at St. Joseph Church in Norman, Oklahoma

Shrine

In 2019, the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City broke ground on the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine, a new church and ministry complex in Oklahoma City.

The Rother Shrine was dedicated in a mass in February 2023. A chapel inside the shrine contains Rother's remains. The shrine also features a museum, sanctuary, gift shop, and visitor center. The Rother Shrine is the largest Catholic church in Oklahoma.