■ A U.S. priest martyred in Guatemala is beatified before thousands.

Rother murdered in 1981 in Guatemalan civil war

OKARCHE, Okla. — Few religious pilgrimages lead down a dusty, unpaved Oklahoma road past grazing horses, metal barns and towering wind turbines in the distance.

But the unusual destination of this 2,000-mile trek from Central America to a farmhouse outside a one-stoplight town seems an appropriate honor for the Rev. Stanley Rother, a martyred Roman Catholic priest celebrated for his unassuming nature and hard work.

Rother was beatified Saturday at Mass in Oklahoma City. Thousands of people attended the ceremony at a downtown convention center to honor the church’s first U.S.-born martyr and the first priest from the United States to be beatified. The native of Okarche was a 46-year-old missionary in Guatemala when he was killed in 1981, one of several priests slain during the country’s civil war between a rightwing dictatorship and liberal guerrillas.

Rother started a radio station, worked alongside farmers and pushed for locals to make and sell knitted clothing. In helping translate the New Testament, Rother is credited with helping start the written form of Tzutuhil.

He helped install an irrigation system and brought in crops such as wheat and soybeans, dissuading farmers from using chemicals. He brought in tractors to till the land and repaired vehicles when they broke down.

Although the beatification ceremony was in Oklahoma City, it has been felt in Rother’s hometown. The delegation from Guatemala stopped for lunch at Esichen’s Bar, which bills itself as Oklahoma’s oldest watering hole but is best known for selling whole fried chickens.

Julie Kroener’s family has owned the Okarche establishment for five generations. She was a child when Rother died.

“This is a huge deal, and it’s an amazing thing to experience,” Kroene said Friday, just after the lunch rush. “It gives you a sense of pride knowing that somebody like that comes from such a simple town.”

Stanley Rother