On 28th July, 2018, parishes across Oklahoma celebrated the first feast day of the first U.S. born martyr, Blessed Stanley Rother, marking the 37 anniversary of his death. Special masses, relic veneration services, and other events took place throughout the Oklahoma City-area. Catholics from Guatemala, where Rother served as a priest and was killed, attended the feast. His feast was celebrated in churches in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, the Diocese of Tulsa, and the Diocese of Little Rock, Arkansas.
The first Catholic Church dedicated to Rother is located in Decatur, Arkansas, and was dedicated shortly after Rother’s beatification. The Diocese of Sololá-Chimaltenango, where the priest served the native people of Guatemala for 13 years, also celebrated the feast day. His Grace Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City had prepared readings for churches to use in honor of Blessed Stanley Rother.
On July 28, a special Mass was celebrated at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church. Here, relics and medals of Rother were given to members of the martyr’s family. Another Mass was led by His Excellency Archbishop Coakley later that evening at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Okarche, the martyr’s hometown. Other churches and pastoral centers hosted prayers services, including times to venerate a first-class relic of Rother at St Francis de Sales Chapel on Saturday and Sunday. The church’s gift shop featured Blessed Rother’s medals, prayer cards, and posters. Last September, more than 20,000 people attended a beatification Mass in downtown Oklahoma City, making Blessed Rother the first U.S. born martyr to be officially beatified. His Holiness Pope Francis approved Rother’s martyrdom in December 2016.
Source: CNA
