Fr. Stanley Rother's Story Is a Must-read.
Many men and women have served the peoples of the United States and accept been declared saints by the Catholic Church building.
People similar Saints John Neumann, Francis Xavier Cabrini, Junipero Serra (who was canonized by Pope Francis in 2015), Marianne Cope, and Damien de Veuster of Moloka'i to name just a few.
And so there are the two female saints who were citizens of the United States by birth—Saints Katherine Drexel of Philadelphia and Elizabeth Ann Seton of New York.
But no men built-in in the Us have been alleged saints—yet. Two very definite possibilities loom on the horizon every bit Venerable Stanley Rother (the kickoff American to be alleged a martyr for the organized religion) and Venerable Solanus Casey, OFMCap, will be declared Blessed on September 23 and November eighteen of this year, respectively.
Such a declaration is a stride toward being named a saint. Many feel that it is merely a matter of time until these two men are canonized.
A Son of the Prairie
Less than 85 years ago, in a farming community in Okarche, Oklahoma, the eldest of five children was born to Franz and Gertrude (Smith) Rother. Nothing was particularly notable about young Stanley Francis.
He had what we might telephone call a normal childhood, growing up and working on the farm with his parents and siblings—eventually at that place would exist one girl and three other boys added to the family—and attending Holy Trinity Catholic Church and school.
While his home was certainly Cosmic, no specific mention was made of a vocation until after high school when Stanley announced he would like to study for the priesthood. He pursued the appropriate studies in San Antonio, Texas, at Supposition Seminary, but was asked by the faculty to discontinue due to poor grades.
He couldn't primary Latin, which was considered essential in the pre-Vatican II Church. Thinking that that decision was the cease of his dream of becoming a priest, Stanley agreed to run into with his local bishop, Victor Reed. The bishop saw potential in Stanley, which inspired him to put in a good word for him at Mountain Saint Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, MD.
That was a fortuitous and providential move as Stanley graduated from Mount Saint Mary'southward in 1963 and was ordained to the priesthood in his home diocese of Oklahoma City/Tulsa past his distributor, Bishop Reed.
He served the diocese as an associate pastor in various parishes for the next v years, all the while gaining a reputation for being a expert spiritual leader, downwards to globe, and loving to work on the country and prepare machinery—you lot couldn't take the farmer out of him—just no one expected to because it was Oklahoma where farming is a major way of life.
And aught pointed to the possibility of Father Rother existence someday alleged a martyr for the organized religion. That whole chapter of his life began when he volunteered for the Guatemalan missions.
A Guatemalan Missionary
In 1968, while serving at Corpus Christi parish in Oklahoma City, Father Rother opted to volunteer for the diocesan mission to the Tz'utujil people located in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala. The mission was the local diocese's response to a asking by Pope John XXIII that ever diocese and religious customs ship missionaries to Central America.
Male parent Rother was more willing to become and his bishop accustomed his request along with that of eleven others. This was the same bishop who had followed his centre and made it possible for Stanley to exist ordained.
Caught in a Civil War
In her book, The Shepherd Who Didn't Run: Fr. Stanley Rother, Martyr from Oklahoma, María Ruiz Scaperlanda lovingly relates the life and work of Father Rother from his childhood through the events of his martyrdom and funeral in 1981 at the young age of 46.
Information technology is articulate from Scaperlanda'south piece of work, also as from other articles and reports, that Father Rother was a dedicated missionary priest who fell in dear with the parish at Santiago Atitlán. Never outgrowing his dear for manual labor and using his talents and expertise as a farmer, Father Rother helped his people grow in many ways.
Always the spiritual leader starting time, he was not afraid to become his hands dirty and oft did so in the advancement of the native culture and local practices. To his credit, he had a long list of accomplishments ranging from a radio station and a hospital to advanced farming techniques, all much appreciated by the local people.
But the government of Republic of guatemala did not see things that way. The government officials viewed the advancement and education of the ethnic peoples a threat.
It was to the government's advantage that the poor remain poor and that the uneducated remain uneducated—and Father Rother was, in their minds, working confronting them. They began to see him every bit a danger to the condition quo. And their hostility was intense and deadly.
It's hard to imagine what went through Father Rother'south heart and mind every bit he began to realize that both he and his parishioners were in grave danger. People began to "disappear."
Opposition became well organized and, in some cases, deadly. Denunciations of what the Church was doing became vocal and public. But Father stood strongly on the side of his people and justice.
The Martyrdom of a Honey Pastor
Shortly before his death, Father Rother returned to Oklahoma to come across his family, the bishop, and his friends. Many, if not all, warned him non to render to Guatemala as they realized his life was in danger.
He, besides, was aware of his situation, but as Scaperlanda and so deliberately makes clear, his attitude was that a skillful shepherd does non run and desert his flock. He stands with them to the end.
And so, he did. He returned to his beloved flock to gloat Holy Calendar week and Easter with them. And shortly thereafter, at 1:30 a.m. on July 28, 1981 three thugs broke into his rectory and, later chirapsia him, shot him twice in the head.
Before the stupor of what had happened had a run a risk to sink in, the people of Santiago Atitlán, recognizing Male parent Rother's love for them and their honey for him, collected his blood and enshrined it along with his heart in their local church building.
Male parent Rother's body was eventually cached in Okarche, OK, but his heart—physically and metaphorically—remains with his beloved Tz'utujil people.
A Growing Legacy
What can ane say well-nigh this uncomplicated and unassuming priest? This farm boy from Oklahoma who went to the missions to serve God and the people of Guatemala?
Well, I'm sure that he would exist embarrassed by all the attention he is receiving as his beatification takes place. He did not live his life as a man or as a priest to gain attention and praise.
He only wanted to serve his Lord and his honey parish, which, of course, is exactly why he is being beatified—he did both well, very well. Pictures of Father Rother witness to his size—at 5ꞌ11'' he towered over the members of his parish—and to his light complexion—noticeable among his nighttime-skinned parishioners.
He was known to accept a quick atmosphere which flared occasionally, but as an onetime missionary priest told me when I was young, the people volition forgive and overlook your weaknesses if they see you as loving and gentle toward the young and the elderly, the vulnerable in your flock.
And so, the Tz'utujil people accustomed this pipe-smoking, disguised priest and, not having a native word for Stanley, capitalized on his heart proper name and affectionately chosen him Padre A'Plas, which means Male parent Francis.
In our nowadays world of sectionalization and hate—in our country as well as in our Church—the witness of the Church building'due south beatification of Father Stanley Rother stands as a clear countercultural statement.
A human being of peace, dedication, integrity, and courage, Father Rother epitomizes what Jesus calls each of u.s.a. to in the Gospels. In many ways, his life was ordinary—that of many missionaries dedicated to and in dear with their adopted peoples and cultures.
But not every missionary is faced with the kind of life and decease decisions that Father Rother faced. In these, he joins the likes of Bishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador and the four-martyred church-women of that same country (Sis Dorothy Kazel, OSU, Sis Ita Ford, MM, Sister Maura Clarke, MM, and Jean Donovan).
Nosotros demand such witnesses of courage and faith in our country and in our Church today.
By declaring Father Rother a martyr for the faith on Dec 2, 2016, Pope Francis has not only honored a man, but the entire people of Oklahoma and this state. Information technology's incommunicable to say what the outcome of this acknowledgement and beatification will exist.
But for now, we can gloat a farm boy from Oklahoma who did his homeland and the Church proud.
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