President Donald Trump issued a message July 28 marking the 45th anniversary of the martyrdom of Blessed Stanley Rother, the first American-born martyr to be beatified by the Catholic Church. Blessed Rother was born in Okarche, Oklahoma, in 1935, becoming a priest of what was then the Diocese of Oklahoma City-Tulsa in 1963. In the years since his martyrdom, Trump said, Blessed Rother "has stood as a living testament to the power of courage, sacrificial service, and fidelity to God." "The Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine in Oklahoma City now stands as a major site of pilgrimages, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors," Trump said. Trump has previously issued statements honoring other Catholic feast days, including the feast of St. Michael the Archangel, Sept. 29, and the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Dec. 8.