IMAGE: CNS photo/Diane Clay, Sooner Catholic
By Diane Clay
OKARCHE, Okla. (CNS) — Early on
the morning of May 10, the remains of Father Stanley F. Rother were exhumed
from Holy Trinity Cemetery in Okarche and transported to Oklahoma City.
As required by the Catholic
Church for the beatification process, his remains were examined by medical
professionals and re-interred in the chapel at Resurrection Cemetery in
northwest Oklahoma City.
In March, the Archdiocese of
Oklahoma City announced that Father Rother, one its native sons who worked in
Guatemala and was brutally murdered there in 1981, will be beatified Sept. 23
in a ceremony in downtown Oklahoma City.
Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect
of the Vatican Congregation for Saints’ Causes, will celebrate the beatification
Mass along with Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City. Thousands of
cardinals, bishops, priests, deacons and other Catholics from across the United
States are expected to attend.
Pope Francis recognized Father
Rother’s martyrdom last December, making him the first martyr born in the
United States and clearing the way for his beatification.
The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City
sent Father Rother, who grew up on a family farm in Okarche, to its mission in
Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala, in 1968. He served a poor and indigenous community
in the area, helping build a small hospital, a school and its first Catholic
radio station. But he also helped the agricultural community with its crops and
to build an irrigation system.
Many Guatemalans in his
community were kidnapped, disappeared or murdered as the government accused
them of sympathizing with rebels during the decades-long conflict that plagued
the Central American nation from the 1960s until the late 1990s.
By early 1981, Father Rother had
been placed on a hit list along with several members of his parish staff and
catechists for their continued aid, education and preaching of the Gospel to
the poor population of Tz’utujil Indians.
Father Stanley, known as Father
Francisco because his name was hard for the locals to pronounce, was 46 when a
group of men entered the rectory and fatally shot him. His assailants were never
identified but were believed to be government soldiers.
The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City,
then headed by Archbishop Eusebius J. Beltran,
opened the priest’s sainthood cause in 2007. At
the request of his parishioners in Guatemala, Father Rother’s heart is
enshrined inside the Guatemalan church.
“The witness of Father Rother’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 to be
entrusted with overseeing the continuation of his cause for beatification and
canonization begun by Archbishop Beltran,” Archbishop Coakley said in a statement.
“His beatification is an
unexpected blessing for Oklahoma and for the United States as we celebrate this
ordinary man from humble beginnings who answered the call to serve an
extraordinary life,” he said. “His witness will continue to inspire
us for generations.”
Before the exhumation of Father
Rother’s remains in Okarche, his family led a procession to the gravesite and
participated in a prayer.
Once the vault was removed from
the gravesite, it was transported to Oklahoma City where his remains were
removed, examined and verified. He was placed in a new casket with golden
vestments alongside a document signed by those in attendance. A red ribbon was
wrapped around the casket and sealed with a wax seal of the Archdiocese of
Oklahoma City.
Archbishops Coakley and Beltran led the priests in the singing of “Salve Regina,” a Gregorian chant
hymn, before the casket was lowered into a crypt at Resurrection Cemetery.
A closing prayer service wrapped
up the solemn process.
“It was a holy day. Father
Rother’s presence was felt by many, and we are blessed as the Catholic Church
in Oklahoma to present Father Rother’s life to the world,” Archbishop Coakley
said.
A temporary sign marks the
gravesite at Holy Trinity Cemetery in Okarche where the original vault and
casket were reburied. A permanent memorial marker will be placed. His remains
will stay in the chapel at Resurrection Cemetery until his shrine is completed.
– – –
Clay is editor of the Sooner
Catholic, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.
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