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2 clusters · 4 sources · 6 days · First seen · Last updated

Beatification of the Georgia Martyrs

Overview

The Catholic Church has scheduled the beatification of five Spanish Franciscan missionaries, known as the Georgia Martyrs, for October 31, 2026, in Savannah, Georgia. The ceremony will be celebrated by Cardinal Frank Leo of Toronto and will be livestreamed via social media, the diocesan website, and EWTN.

The missionaries—Pedro de Corpa, Blas Rodríguez de Cuacos, Miguel de Añón, Antonio de Badajoz, and Francisco de Veráscola—were killed in 1597 during the Guale Uprising while attempting to evangelize the Guale people along the Georgia coast. Reports indicate the violence was prompted by Father de Corpa’s instruction to a Guale heir that Christian baptism prohibited the custom of taking a second wife. A sixth friar, Francisco de Avila, was reportedly kidnapped and tortured for several months before his release.

The upcoming event coincides with the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi.

Entities

Georgia Martyrs · Catholic Church · St. Francis of Assisi · Cardinal Frank Leo · Franciscan Order

Timeline

  1. [CULTURE] 3 sources
    Georgia Martyrs scheduled for beatification on October 31

    Five Franciscan friars known as the Georgia Martyrs will be beatified on October 31, honoring those killed during the 1597 Guale Uprising in present-day Georgia.

  2. [CULTURE] 2 sources
    Franciscan missionaries to be beatified in Georgia

    Five Spanish Franciscan missionaries martyred in 1597 in Georgia will be beatified in Savannah on October 31, 2026.

Sources

billcork.wordpress.com · catholicreview.org · georgiabulletin.org · nwcatholic.org