06/05/2026
Rother was born in 1935 during the Dust Bowl and was raised on a farm in Okarche, Oklahoma. He was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1963 and served multiple parishes in Oklahoma for five years, including his first at St. Williams Catholic Church in Durant.
In 1968, he joined a burgeoning Oklahoma mission to the Tz’utujil people in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala, then one of the country's most impoverished regions. He served there for thirteen years, as civil unrest and violence spread throughout the country. In July 1981, in service to his work among the Tz’utujil, he was tragically executed. Over three decades later, Rother became the first U.S. born declared a martyr and the first U.S. priest to be beatified by the Catholic Church.
Although his life ended tragically, we are proud to showcase his life of working for the benefit of others. There is currently an exhibit in the Henry G. Bennett Memorial Library at Southeastern exploring the life and work of Blessed Stanley Rother, and he was also honored as a Distinguished Alumni in 2024.
This exhibit was inspired by a donation initiated by Marilyn Hitchcok on behalf of the St. Williams Altar Society.
| | | | 📸 Julitomenchu, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
