At the dedication of a shrine to honor Blessed Stanley Rother, the first martyr from the U.S. recognized by the Catholic Church, Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City said Father Rother was an ordinary man with deep faith, who charted a path anybody can follow.
Stanley Rother (pronounced ROW-ther) was born in 1935, grew up on a farm and attended Holy Trinity Church and School in Okarche. After discerning a call to the priesthood, he flunked out of the seminary because he struggled with Latin. The bishop of Oklahoma at the time, Bishop Victor Reed, gave him another chance and sent him to Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He was ordained May 25, 1963.
