Gallup Bishop James Wall was among those taking part in the dedication and grand opening of the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine in Oklahoma.

“Congratulations to the @ArchOKC on your beautiful new Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine,” he tweeted out soon after the Feb. 17 ceremony. 

The shrine is located on a former golf course in south Oklahoma City, and has been anticipated for years, Catholic News Agency reported. Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley delivered the homily at the dedication. 

Stanley Rother was born in Oklahoma in 1935 and attended Holy Trinity Catholic Church and School. He graduated from Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Maryland and was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Oklahoma City and Tulsa in 1963, Catholic News Agency said of his background.

Five years later, Rother joined a mission in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala and spent 13 years serving the people there. During his time, he accomplished many things, despite the country being at war, which resulted in the deaths of many Catholics. Rother returned home for a short time, and decided to go back to Guatemala even though it would be in unsafe conditions. At just 46 years old, on July 28, 1981, three masked men broke into the rectory where Rother was staying and shot him to death after a failed attempt to kidnap him, the Catholic News Agency report said.

Rother's case for canonization was launched by the Oklahoma City Archdiocese in 2007, and Pope Francis finally declared Rother a martyr nine years later, Catholic News Agency said. Rother is the first person born in the United States to be formally named a martyr by the Catholic Church, as well as the first priest born in the United States to be beatified, or declared "Blessed."

Many members of Rother's family – including his sister – were present at the dedication. Dozens of bishops also attended, including Jesuit Archbishop Gonzalo de Villa y Vásquez of Santiago de Guatemala, who was Rother’s archbishop in Guatemala, according to Catholic News Agency.

Rother's body was transferred from Oklahoma City's Resurrection Memorial Cemetery to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help for prayer and an all-night vigil, after which his remains were taken to the chapel at the new shrine. His body was put within the shrine chapel's altar, where it will remain, the report said. Although Rother's body is buried in Oklahoma City, the Blessed's heart will remain at the Santiago Atitlan church in Guatemala where it is enshrined.