{"id":75407,"date":"2026-04-17T21:51:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T21:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/04\/17\/bishop-stephen-parks-of-savannah-on-beatification-of-georgia-martyrs-bear-witness-with-joy\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T21:52:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T21:52:21","slug":"bishop-stephen-parks-of-savannah-on-beatification-of-georgia-martyrs-bear-witness-with-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/04\/17\/bishop-stephen-parks-of-savannah-on-beatification-of-georgia-martyrs-bear-witness-with-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"Bishop Stephen Parks of Savannah on beatification of Georgia martyrs: ‘Bear witness with joy’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

The bishop of the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia, which is the host diocese for the beatification of the Georgia martyrs, encouraged Catholics to draw inspiration from the martyrs by becoming “happy witnesses” to the faith.<\/p>\n

In an interview on “EWTN News Nightly” on April 16, Bishop Stephen D. Parks shared about the upcoming beatification of five Spanish Franciscan monks, known collectively as the “Georgia Martyrs.” The beatification will take place Oct. 31 and will be celebrated by Cardinal Francis Leo of the Archdiocese of Toronto.<\/p>\n

“People are very excited about it because it’s very unique in the life of a diocese,” Parks told “EWTN News Nightly.” “It’s not something that happens often.”<\/p>\n

According to Parks, the beatification will be “a first in the South.”<\/p>\n

Plans for the beatification are still in progress, and a location has not yet been determined \u2014 but coming from Savannah, which has been nicknamed the Hostess City of the South, Parks said he “looks forward to welcoming many visitors.”<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of planning goes into it because there are some questions about how many people will actually come,\u201d Parks said. \u201cWe are looking for a space that is big enough to accommodate thousands of people and we want to feel very welcoming.\u201d<\/p>\n

From martyr to blessed<\/h2>\n

Parkes described the 16th-century martyrs as “men who gave their lives for our faith in defense of the sacrament of marriage.”<\/p>\n

“They were Spanish missionaries who came to our country to help Christianize the native people,” Parks said. “And, obviously, they ran into some challenges with the promotion process.”<\/p>\n

In September 1597, Father Pedro de Corpa, Father Blas Rodr\u00edguez, Father Miguel de Anon, Brother Antonio de Badajoz, and Father Francisco de Varascola were murdered for defending the sanctity of marriage at a mission in present-day Georgia.<\/p>\n

Reason for canonizing Georgia martyrs officially started<\/a> in the 1950s but it gained momentum in the 1980s. Beatification is an important step towards sainthood in the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

In January 2025, Pope Francis recognized five Franciscans as martyrs for Jesus Christ, who were killed for their faith. Parks called it a “milestone” for the cause.<\/p>\n

“When Pope Francis approved the beatification, it was important because we knew we would now be able to move forward with this,” Parks said. “It was accepted by the Church.”<\/p>\n

“They will be known as Blessed Pedro de Corpa and the companions \u2013 also commonly known as the Georgia Martyrs,” he said. \u201cIn our process toward canonization and canonization, this is a huge milestone.\u201d<\/p>\n

What can Catholics learn from the martyrs of Georgia?<\/h2>\n

Asked what lessons Catholics can learn from the martyrs, Parks said “We have to be joyful witnesses.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are called to be witnesses of the faith, especially in the world we live in today,\u201d he said. \u201cI don’t think we’re always supposed to be Catholic, but we have to be courageous witnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

“We must continue to promote marriage and family life as a priority for our country, for our communities, for our society,” Parks said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people look at that and see the incredible foundation we have in faith \u2013 we have something solid to believe in \u2013 I believe people are looking for that today in a world where a lot of things are fleeting and a lot of things are temporary,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

“In this way, look at how we can celebrate people who lived centuries ago, and they were defending something that still exists and that we take up today,” Parks said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The bishop of the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia, which is the host diocese for the beatification of the Georgia martyrs, encouraged Catholics to draw inspiration from the martyrs by becoming “happy witnesses” to the faith. In an interview on “EWTN News Nightly” on April 16, Bishop Stephen D. Parks shared about the upcoming beatification of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":75412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[1312,9791,255,2643,646,13046,3607,3530,8080,11831],"class_list":["post-75407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bible-news","tag-bear","tag-beatification","tag-bishop","tag-georgia","tag-joy","tag-martyrs","tag-parks","tag-savannah","tag-stephen","tag-witness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75407"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75413,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75407\/revisions\/75413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}