world, the French Curé d’Ars “will stir up the pious zeal of priests and of those whom God is calling to take up the priesthood” (119). Ironically, it is a prayer that undoubtedly graced and guided Stanley Rother, who that year had just failed the first year of theology at one seminary and was begging God to find him a new seminary home.
The words Pope John XXIII meant for St. John Vianney are uncannily appropriate for the steadfast trust of our first American martyr: “How could anyone help being moved deeply with a life so completely dedicated to Christ shining so clearly there before him?” (80).
Blessed Stanley Rother, the first U.S. priest to be beatified, has already had a profound impact on all who have heard his story. This is not only because of the witness of his death as a martyr, but even more significantly because his life, his devotion, and his priestly service make him an ideal patron for all missionary disciples.
One final thought — a request. Please help me spread the story of Blessed Stanley Rother’s life!
Go to StanleyRother.org to learn more about the sainthood cause and see the plans for the beautiful Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine being built in Oklahoma City — the church that will serve as his final resting place. You can also sign up to receive updates from the archdiocese on the cause for Stanley Rother’s canonization.
Above all, please pray for a miracle through the intercession of Blessed Stanley Rother. Bring him your petitions. He is a good listener, a brother in the faith who wants to help you!
María Ruiz Scaperlanda
December 2018
Foreword
Much has occurred since the 2015 publication of this biography of Blessed Stanley Rother, most notably his beatification on September 23, 2017. In 1981, I learned about the heroic death of Father Stanley Francis Rother. I was a seminarian at his alma mater, Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. From that time until this day, the witness of Blessed Stanley’s life and death has been a source of encouragement and inspiration to me as a seminarian, priest, and now as a bishop. I consider it a great gift of Divine Providence to be entrusted with overseeing the continuation of his cause for canonization begun by my predecessor, Archbishop Eusebius J. Beltran.
Stanley Rother was born and raised in Okarche, Oklahoma, and ordained a priest in 1963 for what was then the Diocese of Oklahoma City and Tulsa. He served parishes in Oklahoma for five years before his priestly ministry fully blossomed as a missionary, serving the parish of Santiago Atitlán and its mission in Cerro de Oro in the Diocese of Sololá-Chimaltenango in Guatemala. He arrived in 1968, served faithfully for thirteen years, and met his violent death on July 28, 1981.
The Church has affirmed that Father Rother died as a martyr, in odium fidei (“in hatred of the faith”). That declaration cleared the way for his beatification. It is my ardent hope that he will soon be canonized as a saint for the glory of God and for the benefit of the universal Church.
At this moment in the history of the Catholic Church, we need attractive and compelling models of priestly holiness. We need witnesses to pastoral charity. In the wake of the terrible abuse crisis that has caused such devastation in our Church and in society, the recognition of this generous parish priest’s simple manner of life and the sacrificial manner of his death serve as a tremendous affirmation to priests and faithful alike in the United States and around the world.
Here in Oklahoma, where Catholics are a small minority, the impact of Father Rother’s beatification has been a powerful spiritual impetus in our efforts in the New Evangelization. As I have seen since his beatification, his witness is inspiring priests, seminarians, and the faithful far beyond Oklahoma.
Similarly, in Guatemala, where the Church has suffered bitterly, the beatification of Father Rother has affirmed many suffering members of the clergy and faithful who esteem Blessed Stanley (Padre Apla’s) as their martyr and saint.
Saints are local. They come from ordinary families, parishes, and communities like Okarche. But their impact is universal. They belong to the whole Church. They remind us that holiness is our fundamental vocation. Saints represent the full flowering of the grace of our baptism.
I am grateful for this book, the first published biography of Blessed Stanley Rother. It is my hope that through this work many more people will be inspired by his beautiful life and valiant witness as an icon of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who did not run.
Most Reverend Paul S. Coakley
Archbishop of Oklahoma City
December 12, 2018
Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Introduction
On May 25, 1963, my brother Stanley Francis Rother was ordained as a priest for the Diocese of Oklahoma City and Tulsa. The following statement was his selection for inscription on his ordination card: “For myself I am a Christian. For the sake of others I am a Priest.”
“For Myself I Am a Christian”
Stanley Francis Rother, the eldest, and his four siblings — Elizabeth, James, Carolyn (who died in infancy), and Thomas — were raised in a staunchly religious atmosphere, as were most German Catholic families in the rural settlement of Okarche, Oklahoma, in the late 1930s, ’40s, and early ’50s. Our family home was literally surrounded by the extended family. Grandparents lived within a mile, and many uncles, aunts, and first and second cousins were within three or four miles, with church and school a little beyond three miles.
This extended family, along with the experiences of the church and school communities, was interlinked with our immediate family in developing a deep faith and lifelong values indispensable for providing a solid Christian life. The families worshiped at Holy Trinity Church; the children attended Holy Trinity School, from first through twelfth grades, under the tutelage of the Sisters Adorers of the Blood of Christ. Religion classes, daily Mass, sacramental preparation, daily Rosary in the home, and Sunday evening holy hour and benediction, along with other seasonal religious practices were integrated into our daily lives. Our Christian values were indeed formed by the people with whom we associated, and we certainly had some of the best!
Come and Follow Me (cf. Mt 4:19)
For the eighteen formative years of his life, Stanley was absorbed in the security of his family, church, and school. When he journeyed to the seminary some five hundred miles away, he took with him his faith, his values, his prayer life, and the prayers of others, but left behind the network of people and practices that had supported him, encouraged him, and nourished him. Armed with this deep faith life and a strong value system, Stanley embarked on the next phase of his life.
Only after I recently read from the diaries that he kept in those first few years in the seminary did I realize how the religious practices from his home life continued to be so important to him. I was even more surprised to read that he was experiencing such challenging struggles in his studies. Though he had these unexpected academic challenges during this time, I believe he became stronger for it. Stan was a man of prayer. he had an unwavering desire to be a priest, and he believed and trusted that in God he would find his way.
“For the Sake of Others I Am a Priest”
As I reflected on Stanley’s fifty-fifth anniversary of ordination
