Cardinal Frank Leo to celebrate Georgia Martyrs' beatification on Oct. 31

Cardinal Frank Leo, the archbishop of Toronto, will preside over the beatification Mass for five Franciscan friars known as the Georgia Martyrs on Oct. 31. Serving as a papal legate for Pope Leo XIV, the cardinal will lead the 11 a.m. ceremony at the Savannah Convention Center in Savannah, Georgia. The Diocese of Savannah will livestream the event on its website, diosav.org, as well as on EWTN and various social media channels.

The beatification honors Spanish Franciscan missionaries Pedro de Corpa, Blas Rodríguez de Cuacos, Miguel de Añón, Francisco de Veráscola, and lay brother Antonio de Badajoz. The group was killed in 1597 while ministering to the Guale people along the coast and barrier islands of present-day Georgia.

The missionaries were killed following a conflict regarding Catholic teachings on marriage. According to reports, Father Pedro de Corpa informed Juanillo, the heir to a Guale chiefdom, that his baptism prevented him from following the cultural custom of taking a second wife. Juanillo and a group of men killed de Corpa near the contemporary city of Eulonia before killing the four other missionaries. This ceremony marks the first beatification of its kind held in the southern United States.