Top photo caption: photo/courtesy Clorinda Galdos Bell
By Katie Yoder, OSV News
OSV News – The venue for the upcoming beatification of the Georgia Martyrs is expanding to accommodate thousands more people after a surge in interest from Catholics around the U.S. and the world.
“The martyrs stood up for the sanctity of marriage,” Bishop Stephen D. Parkes of Savannah, Georgia, told OSV News of the five Franciscan friars from Spain who died in present-day Georgia in the 16th century. “It gives us an opportunity really to … reinforce the Church’s teaching on marriage.”
The martyrs’ beatification Mass scheduled for Oct. 31 in Savannah, Georgia, is changing spaces within the Savannah Convention Center to welcome roughly 12,000 people instead of the 2,000 originally planned. The move comes as Catholics across the country and from Spain are expressing interest in attending, including some with historical connections to the martyrs. The relatives of one martyr may also travel from Spain.
The Franciscan missionaries’ beatification coincides with the Jubilee Year of St. Francis of Assisi that coincides with the 800th anniversary of his death. It will mark the sixth beatification on U.S. soil and the first in Georgia, according to Jill Parks, managing director of communications for the Diocese of Savannah.
All five Franciscan martyrs traveled from Spain to minister to the native Guale people in present-day Georgia. Venerable Pedro de Corpa, Blas Rodríguez de Cuacos, Miguel de Añon, Antonio de Badajoz and Francisco de Veráscola died for their faith in 1597. The violent murders began after Friar Pedro de Corpa forbade the heir to a Guale chiefdom and a baptized Christian, Juanillo, from following his culture’s custom and taking a second wife.
“Our Franciscans were in those first waves of Catholics coming to what’s now the U.S., which is just amazing,” Parks told OSV News. “Then on top of this, they were martyred for defending Christian marriage.”
She added: “A lot of people have been very inspired by them giving their lives essentially for that and for Christian teaching.”
As soon as the date for the beatification was announced, Parks said calls from across the country started pouring in.
“We figured it was really going to be a local Georgia event,” Parks said. “We did not expect that it would be sort of a nationwide thing.”
Meanwhile, many locals are preparing to attend, including Patrick McMahon from Savannah. He told OSV News that he plans to participate in the beatification as a Fourth Degree member of the Knights of Columbus, the world’s largest Catholic fraternal service organization. As a Fourth Degree member, he belongs to the most prestigious degree of the Knights, which is dedicated to the principle of patriotism.
The Knights’ district marshal for the Diocese of Savannah, McMahon said he looked forward to being a part of history.
Laura Daniel, a parishioner of Nativity of Our Lady Catholic Church, a pilgrimage site for the martyrs in Darien, Georgia, also plans to attend with her husband. She helps promote the Georgia Martyrs at her parish, which is located by the sites where the friars were martyred. She called the moment exciting for the local Church.
“It’s just a great opportunity to pass on the history of the Catholic Church in Georgia, coastal Georgia, and the start of the Catholic Church in the Americas,” she told OSV News.
Among those from Spain hoping to attend are Archbishop Joan Enric Vives i Sicília, bishop emeritus of Urgell, who plans to serve as a representative of Spain, Parks said. Archbishop José Rodríguez Carballo of Mérida-Badajoz, who leads the archdiocese where Friar Antonio de Badajoz was raised, also expressed interest in attending and bringing the pastor of the friar’s home parish with him.
Parks said the diocese has also received a call from Church leaders from Friar Francisco de Veráscola’s hometown. The pastor and several other people from the friar’s home parish hope to attend. Parks learned from them that the friar also still has relatives in that area.
“We’re hoping that some of them might actually come to attend the beatification, which would be amazing,” she said.
Both Bishop Parkes and Parks emphasized a desire for a venue that can accommodate and welcome everyone who wishes to attend the beatification. Bishop Parkes called the beatification “a new beginning” to continue to learn more about the history of Catholicism in Georgia, and to ask for the martyrs’ intercession for marriage and family life.
He also hoped it encourages every person to seek heaven.
“There’s a human interest in, well, how is the Church recognizing particular individuals for their holiness?” Bishop Parkes said of Catholics worldwide. “I think that it can inspire each one of us personally in our own road to holiness.”
Katie Yoder is an OSV News correspondent. She writes from Maryland.
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