Father Stanley Rother, Guatemala Martyr

Today marks the death of Father Stanley Rother (1935-1981), who was killed in Guatemala and whose canonization cause is under consideration. The following is adapted from Wikipedia:

Fr. Stanley Francis Rother (27 March 1935 – 28 July 1981) was a Catholic priest and missionary to Guatemala. He was murdered by a death squad, believed to be made up of right-wing extremists and elements of the Guatemalan Army, on 28 July 1981. Fr. Rother attended Mount St. Mary Seminary and as ordained in 1963 for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. He served in several Oklahoma parishes before being assigned to the mission of Santiago Atitlán, in the rural highlands of southwest Guatemala, in 1968. He served there for thirteen years. In addition to his pastoral duties, he translated the New Testament into the Tzutuhil language and celebreated Mass in Tzutuhil. He also founded a small hospital. In early 1981 he was warned that his name was on a death list and that he should leave Guatemala. He returned to Oklahoma in January of that year, but asked permission to return. He went back to Santiago Atitlán in April, and on the morning of July 28, gunmen broke into the rectory of his church and shot him twice in the head after a brief struggle. He was one of ten priests murdered in Guatemala that year. He was buried in Oklahoma, but at the request of his parishioners in Guatemala, his heart was interred beneath the floor of the parish church in Santiago Atitlán.