This oil on canvas of the five Georgia Martyrs titled "Faith breaks language barriers of the five Martyrs" was created in 2021 by artist Clorinda Galdos Bell.
SAVANNAH, Georgia — Catholics from across the Southeast are invited to witness a historic moment in the life of the Church when five Franciscan missionaries known as the Georgia Martyrs are beatified this fall.
The beatification Mass will be celebrated Oct. 31 at the Savannah Convention Center. It is free to attend, but registration is required due to limited seating.
The five Spanish friars – Pedro de Corpa, Blas Rodríguez de Cuacos, Miguel de Añon, Antonio de Badajoz and Francisco de Veráscola – were martyred in coastal Georgia in 1597 while evangelizing the indigenous Guale people. They were killed after Friar Pedro de Corpa refused to approve a baptized Guale leader’s decision to take a second wife, remaining faithful to the Church’s teaching on the sanctity of marriage.
The Holy See formally recognized the friars’ martyrdom in 2025, clearing the way for their beatification. Their beatification will be only the sixth ever celebrated on U.S. soil.
Savannah Bishop Stephen Parkes said the martyrs’ witness remains deeply relevant today, especially as Catholics seek to strengthen marriage and family life.
“I hope they will inspire new generations as intercessors for marriage and family life,” he told OSV News, encouraging families to ask for the martyrs’ prayers and to keep Christ at the center of their families.
The Diocese of Savannah has also established places of pilgrimage connected with the martyrs’ legacy, including an outdoor shrine at Nativity of Our Lady Mission in Darien, near the area where several of the missionaries served and died. Archaeological research continues at former mission sites along the Georgia coast, uncovering new insights into the earliest Catholic presence in what is now the United States.
— Catholic News Herald. OSV News contributed.
Be part of this historic celebration
The Georgia Martyrs will be beatified during a special Mass Oct. 31 at the Savannah Convention Center. The event is free, but reservations are required.
Registrants will be entered in a drawing to receive one of 10 prints of the official Beatification image of the Georgia Martyrs, to be unveiled at the Beatification Liturgy.
To learn more about the Georgia Martyrs and get tickets to the beatification Mass, go to thegeorgiamartyrs.org
Questions? Please call Nathan Ware at 912-201-4046.