Pre-Cana Savannah

Georgia Martyrs!

Bishop Parkes, on Monday, January 27, 2025, received word from Rome that Friar Pedro de Corpa and his four
Companions were declared martyrs who died from hatred of the faith (odium fidei) in September of 1597 at three different Guale missions in Coastal Georgia here in what is now the Diocese of Savannah. They died because they upheld the Church’s teaching on marriage. Very simply, the heir to the chiefdom wanted to marry a second wife and the friars stood firm on the truth that marriage is between one man and one woman. They upheld the dignity of marriage (like St. John the Baptist, the patron of the Diocese of Savannah). These friars are now to be called “Venerable” and the Rite of Beatification will be sometime next year. They are one step closer to being declared canonized SAINTS!

The cause (case) for these men to be canonized began over 40 years ago here in the Diocese when a mission was
found on what is now St. Catherine’s Island. Archeologists had been looking for the Mission of Santa Catalina de
Guale and they discovered the foundations of the mission church in the early 1980s.

For their whole story, please see http://www.thegeorgiamartyrs.org. Before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, two
centuries before Blessed Junipero Serra founded the missions in modern day California, and before Catholics were
not allowed in the colony of Georgia by Oglethorpe, the Guale Indians lived and practiced Catholicism here on the
coast of Georgia. This is the rich history of our faith in our Diocese of Savannah! The witness of these friars is our heritage!

Venerable Pedro de Corpa and Companions, pray for us!
St. James the Less, pray for us!

~ Fr. Daniel Firmin