Priest martyred in Guatemala to be beatified by Catholic Church
On September 23, the Catholic Church will beatify Stanley Rother, a priest from Oklahoma serving in Guatemala who was murdered in 1981, the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City announced recently.
In December, Pope Francis recognized Rother as a martyr. He is the first person born in the United States to be given that status by the Vatican.
Rother, who was 46 when he was killed, served a parish of mostly indigenous people in Santiago Atitlán, a poor rural community, for 13 years. He completed a translation of the New Testament into the language of the Tzutuhil people, in which he also celebrated mass, according to his biography from the archdiocese.
