SPECIAL EDITION ARTICLE #22 - July 28th, 2023 by Fr. Ben Daghir

Pompeii · July 28, 2023

Editor's Note: This article is about Blessed Stanley Rother. He was an American Catholic priest and martyr. His feast day is July 28th, the day he was martyred in Santiago, Guatemala. Fr. Ben Daghir has visited the site of Blessed Stanley Rother's martyrdom on three separate trips. He has found great inspiration from the life of Blessed Stanley Rother.

Article:

I would like for the example of an American priest, Blessed Stanley Rother, to be the main focus of this article. Every American Catholic should know Blessed Stanley Rother.

Stanley Rother was born in Oklahoma in 1935. He was an ordinary young man who worked on the farm, played games, and had fun. The Lord began to call him to the priesthood in his teenage years. Just as Simon Peter didn’t know what the future had in store for him when he dropped his nets to follow Jesus, so too Stanley Rother didn’t know the great adventure ahead of him.

Rother entered the seminary in Texas but was asked to leave after several years. He wasn’t gifted in Latin and, therefore, his grades suffered. Stanley knew in his heart that he was called to be a priest. His social skills were excellent. He had a pastor’s heart. He was involved in various projects as a leader in the seminary. Despite these attributes, he was asked to leave the seminary.

Stanley then asked his bishop for another chance. He was sent to Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Rother persevered and was ordained a priest in 1963. Five years later, Fr. Stanley Rother was sent to Guatemala as a missionary priest. His earlier struggles of learning another language would be tested yet again.

Fr. Stanley Rother thrived in Guatemala. He not only learned Spanish but also the Tz'utujil dialect of that particular region. Just as Fr. Stanley was heavily involved in seminary with various projects, he started many initiatives in Santiago, Guatemala. The gifts and talents which Fr. Stanley Rother possessed may not have been crucial in seminary but they became essential in Guatemala. In fact, the brilliance of Fr. Stanley is quite evident when one considers the challenges he faced.

Guatemala in the 1960s had serious problems: infant mortality was high, children were malnourished, the education system was ineffective, and there was very poor healthcare for the people of the village. Fr. Rother helped the locals with more advanced agricultural techniques. His days on the farm in Oklahoma proved to be crucial. He helped the villagers more effectively utilize the land, add different crops for more enhanced nutrition, and even designed an irrigation system. Fr. Stanley also helped to start a radio program which broadcasted lessons in mathematics, language, among other subjects. Fr. Rother founded a hospital called “Hospitalito.” Quite interestingly, Fr. Stanley Rother completed an impressive intellectual project in the midst of all these responsibilities. He translated the New Testament into the native dialect of Tz'utujil. Remember how he couldn’t succeed in seminary due to his inability to learn Latin? Through God’s grace, Fr. Stanley Rother helped the people of his region hear and read the word of God in their native language.

In the midst of all this great work, Fr. Stanley Rother encountered a far greater threat to his people - persecution. A civil war was underway in Guatemala in the late 1970s. Many Catholics had gone missing and were being murdered. The military then came to Santiago, Guatemala. The military promised to protect the people, but Fr. Stanley had parishioners go missing under the military’s watchful and protective eye. Fr. Stanley Rother was not passive concerning this situation and he repeatedly expressed his concerns.

He allowed for the parish to be a safe home for his parishioners and the people of that area. He sent out search teams who looked for missing parishioners. He continued to minister to the people in the midst of danger. Then, Fr. Stanley Rother’s name was placed on a death list.

Due to this threat, Fr. Stanley Rother returned home to Oklahoma. It’s said that he would stand in the doorway of his family’s farm facing toward Guatemala. He would look out at the horizon and stare in silence. Fr. Stanley Rother wrote in a letter “at the sight of wolves, the shepherd cannot run.” His bishop gave him permission to return to his parishioners in Santiago, Guatemala. Fr. Stanley Rother returned during Holy Week of 1981.

Just a few months later on July 28, 1981, Fr. Stanley Rother was martyred in the rectory. Several men entered late in the night and killed him. Although his body was buried in Oklahoma, his heart literally stayed in Guatemala. The parishioners refused to give his heart because it had been poured out to the people in Santiago, Guatemala.

As I stated in the opening paragraph, every American Catholic should know Blessed Stanley Rother. I know that we have a steep decline in priestly vocations. I know that it’s easy to lose hope in the midst of a vocation crisis. Yet, there are vocations and there is hope.

Just as God turned a Galilean fisherman into a saint, so too He turned a farm boy into a remarkable pastor, missionary, and martyr. God used the gifts and talents that Stanley Rother learned as a young boy on a farm in Oklahoma to improve the lives of thousands of Guatemalans. God built upon Stanley Rother’s language struggles and guided him to persevere in translating the New Testament into the native language of Santiago, Guatemala.

The example of Blessed Stanley Rother is adventurous, bold, and far more interesting than anything the culture has to offer young men today. The story of Blessed Stanley Rother is the story of God being victorious in the life of a young man.

I know there are many young men with the heart, the gifts, and the passion of Blessed Stanley Rother. May they answer God’s call with courage.

For more information on Blessed Stanley Rother:

I highly recommend this 20 minute YouTube documentary “An Ordinary Martyr: The Life and Death of Blessed Stanley Rother.” An Ordinary Martyr: The Life and Death of Blessed Stanley Rother

Consider reading The Shepherd Who Didn’t Run: Blessed Stanley Rother, Martyr from Oklahoma by María Ruiz Scaperlanda

Consider also reading The First American Martyr by Most Rev. Anthony B. Taylor