Stanley Francis Rother

          Stanley Francis Rother was born in Okarche, Oklahoma on March 27, 1935, to a farming family. He was baptized two days later at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, his family parish. The oldest of four children, Stanley enjoyed the life of a small town farm boy. He attended the parish school and worked on the family farm, played sports, and assisted at mass as an altar server.

          When he was in high school, Stanley felt he may have a vocation to the priesthood.  (Stanley’s religious vocation wasn’t the only one in his family.  His younger sister Betty Mae entered the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, taking the religious name of Sister Marita.)  At 19, the diocese accepted Stanley’s application to become a seminarian, initially sending him to Assumption Seminary in San Antonio, Texas, to study.  He worked many jobs at the seminary, but after 6 years the staff asked him to leave.  In those days, studying for the priesthood required a mastery of Latin, which Stanley found very difficult.  Despite being asked to leave, Stanley still believed he had a priestly vocation.  He spoke with his bishop, who agreed to find him another seminary spot, which he did at Mount St. Mary’s.  With some tutoring in Latin, Stanley made his way through.  Although never considered strong academically, his holiness did not go unnoticed.  The late Archbishop Harry Flynn, who became friends with Stanley in the seminary and would see him shortly before his martyrdom, in a touching interview before Rother’s beatification, commented on how he envied the way Stanley prayed.

          Stanley Rother was ordained to the priesthood on May 25, 1963.  For the first 5 years, he served as an associate pastor at various churches in Oklahoma.  The Diocese of Oklahoma City operated a mission in Guatemala.  In 1968, Fr. Stanley asked to be assigned to the mission and sent to Santiago Atitlán.  The bishop agreed.  The diocese’s mission in Guatemala is to the Tz’utujil people.  Santiago Atitlán is in a rural, extremely poor area of the country, sitting between two volcanoes that are part of the Sierra Madre mountain rage.  Being a missionary to Santiago Atitlán called upon all aspects of Father Rother, known and unknown talents.  Besides his duties as a priest and pastor, the farm boy from Oklahoma leveraged his industriousness to build a radio station and hospital, establish better farming practices, and teach.  The man who struggled to learn Latin learned their language and translated the New Testament into Tz’utujil so that the people could hear the Mass and read the scriptures in their own language.  He ate with them, truly became one of the community, and the people loved him.  They referred to Father Rother as “Padre Apla’s” (which means “Father Francis”).

         Guatemala was very dangerous. A civil war between militarist government forces and guerrillas raged.  The Catholic Church, because it would not abandon the people, seeking to improve their lives and evangelize, became targets in the conflict.  Thousands of Catholics were killed.  Father Rother recognized that his life was in danger.  A year before he died, Father Rother saw many in his community targeted.  His radio station was destroyed and the director murdered.  Catechists and parishioners were kidnapped and then would be found dead, showing signs of torture.  Father Rother’s name was placed on a death list.  His diocese asked him to return to Oklahoma for his safety, which he did, but Stanley’s heart was with his people.  He did not want to leave them in their hour of need.  “The shepherd cannot run,” he would say.  He spent some time at Mount St. Mary’s before returning to Guatemala and his people, knowing he was likely to be killed.

         On July 28, 1981, three men entered the rectory of St. James parish, attacked Father Rother and executed him in the church.  The people of Santiago Atitlan loved him dearly and mourned his death intensely.  The collected his blood and requested that Father Rother’s heart be allowed to stay in Guatemala at the parish.  Father Rother had arrived in Guatemala to find few who practiced the faith.  Today, the parish has produced numerous priestly vocations.  Stanley Rother was 46.

          Blessed Stanley Rother is the first person to be declared a martyr who was born in the United States. The beautiful Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine is located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The shrine is the largest catholic church in Oklahoma. It was designed to mirror the Spanish style of Saint James the Apostle Catholic Church in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala, which is the parish at which Blessed Rother served as a missionary and at which he was martyred. Blessed Stanley is entombed in the altar in the chapel of the shrine, which includes a mural of Jesus and martyrs greeting him as he entered into heaven and a statue that also contains a first-class relic. The shrine also contains a museum about Fr. Rother’s life. On the grounds there is also a replica of Tepeyac Hill with statues dedicated to Saint Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe. At St. James in Santiago Atitlán, the room where Rother was murdered is now a room for prayer with an altar and relics (his heart and blood shed at his martyrdom). For those on the East Coast of the United States, consider visiting the National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes on the campus of Mount St. Mary’s in Emmitsburg, Maryland. The grotto is a place that Blessed Stanley Rother prayed at both as a seminarian and later in life.