July 10--Bl. Faustino Villanueva y Villanueva, Priest and Martyr

http://newsaints.faithweb.com/martyrs/Guatemala.htm

What does it mean to be a martyr? Pope Francis has beatified many martyrs, including those killed during the civil war in Guatemala from 1954-1996. Why were they martyred? The Vatican biography for their beatification states: “From 1980, a systematic persecution against the Church began, overwhelming priests, religious and lay people under the pretext that they were ‘enemies of the state’. … The ten martyrs [of Quiché] … were killed in Guatemala between 1980 and 1991 … for being committed to and protecting the dignity of the poor.”

The following is from a Spanish newspaper article: “Faustino Villanueva was born on February 15, 1931 in Yesa, where his parents were also from. He entered the apostolic school of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, in Valladolid, as a child. He professed in 1949 and was ordained a priest in 1956. He went as a volunteer to the mission of Quiché (Guatemala) in 1959, where he remained until his martyrdom, which occurred in the parish office on July 10, 1980, after twenty-one years of fruitful missionary service to the poorest. A month before he died, he wrote to his mother, reiterating his desire to remain in the mission despite the prevailing violence: ‘We cannot leave the people abandoned.’ He died machine-gunned by two young hitmen in the parish office of Joyabaj (El Quiché) on July 10, 1980.

“Those who knew him affirm that ‘he was simply good, evangelical in his non-existent flirtations with power and prestige; so charmingly familiar and unfussy; so clearly biased in favor of the marginalized indigenous, of the favorite downtrodden peasants of the Gospel; of the voiceless.... However, this evangelical Faustino Villanueva was shot mercilessly. And not by mistake. He had long been on a sinister death row list. Guilty of siding with the poor and marginalized.’”

July 28—Bl. Stanley Rother, Priest and Martyr

*

There are fourteen saints, eight blesseds, 25 venerables, and 184 Servants of God with American connections. They founded religious orders, became martyrs, taught, healed, led, and served. They ministered in America and around the world. They were all holy! 

Today’s blessed is one such man, Blessed Stanley Rother, a priest and missionary from Oklahoma, martyred in Guatemala in 1981 during its civil war. He was born in 1935 near Oklahoma City and graduated from the seminary in 1963. In 1968 he was assigned, at his request, to a mission in Guatemala. He served in Santiago Atitlán until his death. Along with his regular duties, he translated the New Testament into the native language of the people and founded a small hospital. 

The civil war eventually came to his parish. “His catechists and parishioners would disappear and later be found dead, with their bodies showing signs of being beaten and tortured.” He wrote to the people of Oklahoma in December 1980 before returning to Guatemala: “This is one of the reasons I have for staying in the face of physical harm. The shepherd cannot run at the first sign of danger.” He was told his name was on a death list but received permission to return to Santiago Atitlán. On July 28, 1981, shooters broke into the rectory and shot him twice in the head. He was one of ten priests murdered in Guatemala that year. He is buried in Oklahoma, but his heart is buried under the altar in Santiago Atitlán. 

On December 1, 2016, Pope Francis decreed that he had been killed in odium fidei, in hatred of the faith. He was beatified on September 23, 2017, the first US-born priest and martyr. Martyrdom is still a part of being Catholic. Bl. Stanley Rother, pray for us.

*http://www.catharchdioceseokc.org/history/rotherindex.htm