Stanley Rother

20th century American Catholic Priest and Martyr

Stanley Francis Rother (/'//r//o://T//ər/ ROHthər; March 27, 1935 – July 28, 1981) was an American Roman Catholic priest from Oklahoma who was murdered in Guatemala in 1981. He had worked as a missionary priest there since 1968. He held several parish assignments as a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City from 1963 to 1968 before being assigned 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 after the New Jersey born nun Miriam Teresa Demjanovich in 2014.

Stanley Francis Rother was born on March 27, 1935, in Okarche, one of four children of Franz Rother and Gertrude Smith, who farmed near that Oklahoma town. He was baptized on March 29, 1935, in Okarche's Holy Trinity Church by Father Zenon Steber. His sister Betty Mae adopted the religious name Sister Marita upon taking her vows, and they had two brothers, Tom and Jim. By 1975, Rother had become the de facto leader of the Oklahoma sponsored mission effort in Guatemala as other religious and lay supporters rotated out of the program. Since there was no Tz'utujil equivalent for "Stanley," the people of Rother's mission affectionately called him "Padre Apla's” ("Father Francis”), a nod to his other given name. Rother reluctantly returned to Oklahoma in January, and while home in Okarche, said Mass served by Daniel Henry Mueggenborg, a college student who became inspired by Rother to pursue the priesthood, though he later asked the archbishop for permission to return. Another reason for returning was that he wanted to celebrate Easter with them. Despite the confessions, many people familiar with the circumstances of the murder considered the three accused men innocent, and the prosecutions a cover up of paramilitary involvement in the murder. Convictions for all three men were later overturned by a Guatemalan appellate court, under pressure from U. S. authorities. The formal start of the cause was on November 25, 2009, when Rother was titled “Servant of God”. The diocesan process received validation from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on March 16, 2012, and later received the Positio dossier from cause officials in 2014. Theologians unanimously approved Rother’s cause in a decision on June 23, 2015, and by the cardinal and bishops of the CCS on October 18, 2016. On December 1, 2016, his beatification received approval from Pope Francis who confirmed that Rother had been killed "in odium fidei" ("in hatred of the faith"). Rother was beatified on September 23, 2017, at the Cox Convention Center, with Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the CCS, presiding on the pope's behalf. The beatification Mass was attended by 20,000 people.

In 2019, the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City broke ground on the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine, a new church and ministry complex located at I 35 and 89th Street in Southern Oklahoma City (the site of the former Brookside Golf Course). The shrine is the largest Catholic Church in the US state of Oklahoma. On February 17, 2023, a dedication Mass was held, marking the official opening of the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine in Oklahoma City. A chapel located inside the shrine is the final resting place for Rother, and the shrine also features a museum, sanctuary, gift shop, and visitor center. Build in the Spanish Colonial style, the design mirrors the parish church where Rother served and was martyred in Guatemala. The shrine is fully funded by Catholic donors and is debt free.