Stanley Rother
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The Servant of God, the Reverend Stanley Rother |
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| Orders | |
| Ordination | May 25, 1963 by Victor Reed |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
March 27, 1935 Okarche, Oklahoma, United States |
| Died | July 28, 1981 (aged 46) Santiago Atitlan, Sololá, Guatemala |
| Buried | Okarche, Oklahoma, United States (Heart preserved in Santiago Atitlan) |
| Nationality | American |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Parents | Franz and Gertrude Rother |
| Alma mater | Mount St. Mary's University |
| Sainthood | |
| Title as Saint | Priest and martyr |
Stanley Francis Rother (March 27, 1935 - July 28, 1981) was an American Catholic priest and missionary to Guatemala. He was murdered on July 28, 1981, by a death squad—believed to have been made up of right-wing extremists and elements of the Guatemalan Army. The Congregation of the Causes of Saints of the Holy See officially recognized Rother on June 23, 2015, as a martyr, a critical stage before beatification.
Rother was born on March 27, 1935, the son of Franz and Gertrude Rother, who had a farm near Okarche, Oklahoma. He grew up to be a strong, young man, adept at the many tasks required on the farm. Nonetheless, after completing high school, he declared his calling to the priesthood. To prepare for this, he was sent to Assumption Seminary in San Antonio, Texas. His talents gained working on the farm, however, left him with so many duties at the seminary that his studies suffered. After nearly six years, the seminary staff advised him to withdraw.
After consultion with his bishop, Victor Reed, Rother then attended Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, from which he graduated in 1963. He was ordained by Reed as a priest of the Diocese of Oklahoma City-Tulsa (now the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City) on May 25 of that same year. Rother then served as an associate pastor in various parishes around Oklahoma. In 1968, at his own request, he was assigned to the mission of the archdiocese to the Tz'utujil people located in Santiago Atitlán, in the rural highlands of southwest Guatemala.
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