OSV News) — A date for the beatification of five Franciscans known as the Georgia martyrs has been set for Oct. 31, according to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints’ website. It lists Cardinal Frank Leo of Toronto as the beatification Mass’ celebrant.
The announcement on the dicastery’s homepage features an image of a painting of the martyrs, with the center figure holding a fan of palms, a symbol associated with martyrdom, the act of dying for one’s faith.
In 1597, the Spanish Franciscans Pedro de Corpa, Blas Rodríguez de Cuacos, Miguel de Añón, Antonio de Badajoz and Francisco de Veráscola were ministering at five missions along the coast of present-day Georgia when they were killed by a band of Indigenous men between Sept. 14-17.
Their murders were prompted by Father de Corpa angering the heir to a Guale chiefdom, Juanillo, by telling him that as a baptized Christian, he could not follow his culture’s custom and take a second wife. Juanillo and his men killed the priest at a mission near the modern city of Eulonia, Georgia, before killing four of the other five Franciscan missionaries ministering in the area.
Pope Francis recognized the friars’ deaths as martyrdom Jan. 27, 2025, paving way for their beatification.
Franciscans launched a cause for the Georgia martyrs‘ canonization in 1950, but due to changes in the canonization process, the diocesan phase of the investigation did not begin until 1984 under Bishop Raymond W. Lessard of Savannah.
Officials at the Diocese of Savannah have yet to receive written confirmation from the dicastery of the Oct. 31 date. The diocese will publicize details of the beatification when it is in hand, Jill Parks, the diocese’s managing director of communications, told OSV News Feb. 17.
Proposed accompanying events are expected to include pilgrimage stops at the known sites of the Franciscans’ former missions, she said.
The date coincides with Halloween, the eve of the solemnity of All Saints.
The date also falls within the Jubilee Year of St. Francis, which commemorates the 800th anniversary of the death of the Franciscans’ founder.
Maria Wiering is managing editor of OSV News.
