WASHINGTON — Catholics in Oklahoma have been preparing for a long time for this moment. Many, like Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, had faith it would come, but there's still a sense of awe, to think that a farm boy, one of their own, is about to take a step toward official sainthood.

On Sept. 23, Oklahomans will get a front-row seat to the beatification of Father Stanley Rother, an ordinary man from an ordinary town, who died extraordinarily as a martyr in Guatemala while serving in a mission. He knew well the dangers of the Guatemalan highlands, where government forces tortured and killed anyone suspected of dissent during the most politically tumultuous moments in the country's history.

However, Father Rother refused to abandon the community he so loved from 1968 until his 1981 assassination. Like many of the poor and persecuted he served, he died long before he had to at age 46, shot in the head in the parish rectory.

"People are justly proud of this native son, but one wouldn't expect something like this, such a recognition to be accorded to somebody from Okarche, Oklahoma," said Archbishop Coakley.

Okarche (pronounced Oh-car-chee) is a small farming town with a lot of windmills, said Archbishop Coakley, and one that's increasingly receiving visitors and pilgrims wanting to learn more about the tranquil setting that was home to Father Rother. He left it behind because he wanted to serve the Church in a place where priests were needed and, in the late 1960s, priests were needed in the remote highlands of Guatemala, where the Oklahoma City Archdiocese had a mission in the town of Santiago Atitlan.

"We weren't talking about the peripheries 30, 35 years ago when Father Rother was killed but certainly he had that missionary spirit," said Archbishop Coakley. "He had a heart for the people there. He recognized their dignity, he recognized that they were precious in the Lord's sight."

Some say Father Rother arrived "knowing 10 words in Spanish," but the agricultural skills he imported from Okarche and his kindness endeared him to the locals. Archbishop Coakley has visited Santiago Atitlan on a couple of occasions, once during a pilgrimage and also for an event honoring Father Rother.

"The devotion of the locals to Padre Aplas, as they call him, is amazing," he said. "He's venerated and honored as the beloved shepherd who laid down his life for them. We were there for the very special day of the anniversary of this death so there was a large festive Mass, a colorful event, processions.

"For many, many years, his heart has been enshrined in the back of the church, where people approach reverently and pray ... evidence of their esteem for him, their appreciation for him. Their devotion to him is really everywhere."

Though his heart, physically and otherwise, was left in Guatemala, the rest of his remains returned to Okarche. For years, people stopped by to pray at his grave at the Holy Trinity Cemetery in town, said Archbishop Coakley, even before he was declared a martyr by the Vatican in late 2016. His remains have since been exhumed as part of the beatification process and moved to a chapel in Oklahoma City, where the ceremony declaring him Blessed Stanley Rother will take place.

Two of Father Rother's siblings as well as a delegation from Guatemala will attend the ceremony at the Cox Convention Center. Guatemalans from Santiago Atitlan will participate in the liturgy, which will include the prayers of the faithful in their local dialect. A large banner that will be unveiled at the time of the beatification will display elements of Guatemalan culture, said Archbishop Coakley.

Because of Father Rother's sacrifice, Guatemala no longer needs help from Oklahoma, Archbishop Coakley said.

"In the aftermath of Father Rother's death, the Church's holy words proved to be true, that the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians," said Archbishop Coakley. "The Church (in Santiago Atitlan) really began to flourish after Father Rother's death and they've seen a number of vocations from the parish and, ultimately, the local diocese thanked us for our service there but said that they could now staff the parish."

He said he wants Catholics to understand that a martyr and a holy person such as Father Rother can come from an ordinary beginning.

"There was nothing exceptional about him," said the archbishop about Father Rother. "But he was extraordinarily faithful to his calling, to his vocation, to grace. He's a witness to all of us that God chooses the humble, the lowly, as he always does, to accomplish great things for those who allow themselves to be used by God."

"Ultimately, if God calls a young man from Okarche, Oklahoma, to be a saint, to be beatified, to be a martyr, it reminds us that all of us, no matter our beginnings, our circumstances, are called to holiness as well," he said.