Skip to main content

About Resurrection Memorial Cemetery

Owned and operated by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, Resurrection Cemetery is a not-for profit organization that aspires to keep sacred the committal of loved ones of every faith.

Over the years, Resurrection Cemetery has grown from a pasture-like setting into a fully developed cemetery offering to its patrons traditional burial sites, garden mausoleums, columbaria and Westminster abbey crypts. We are a park cemetery, requiring bronze on granite memorials, rather than the old-world upright monuments.

Our Memorial Chapel is available at no charge to our property-owning families for funeral or committal services. For a small set-up fee, our cemetery staff is able to accommodate those families requesting a funeral mass. The chapel includes a nice sound system and the acoustics are wonderful.

The Archbishop of Oklahoma City celebrates one mass a year at the Resurrection Cemetery chapel at Memorial Day.

Plan Your Visit

Our History

Resurrection Memorial Cemetery was founded in 1960 by the Brothers of St. Joseph, one of the most unique of religious communities at that time. The Brothers of St. Joseph, modern-day monks of the 60’s, plotted, planted and were the caretakers of the land which would become the cemetery we know today as Resurrection Memorial Cemetery.

While the Brothers of St. Joseph have long been inactive, the dedicated care and attention they gave this sacred space is at the forefront of the minds of the staff at Resurrection Memorial Cemetery. In that spirit, we seek to serve the community at large, providing comfort to those who mourn, and to perform the final corporal Work of Mercy; To Bury the Dead.

Resurrection Memorial Cemetery is owned and operated by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.

The cemetery maintains information on the Brothers of St. Joseph, but much of their story is untold. If you would like information on the Brothers of St. Joseph, or if you have information about the Brothers, please contact our office.

Take Our Virtual Tour

Founded on the Promise of Faith Peace Compassion Guidance

About Father Stanley Rother’s Life and Death

Father Stanley Rother, born March 27, 1935, grew up in Okarche, Oklahoma and was ordained a priest in 1963. Five years later, he received the call to serve the Oklahoma mission in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala.

Through the years, Father Rother learned the local Tzutuhil dialect, served the people with devotion, and was deeply loved by the parishioners. Political unrest swept the country in the 1970’s, and in 1980 four priests were killed in Guatemala.

In his Christmas letter of 1980, Father Rother wrote: “The shepherd cannot run at the first sign of danger.” Nevertheless, as conditions worsened, he came back to Oklahoma. After a short time, despite the danger, he returned to the mission because of his love for the people.

On the night of July 28, 1981, three men entered the rectory and shot Father Rother. Father Rother’s heart is buried in the church in Guatemala and his body was buried at Holy Trinity Cemetery in Okarche. Father Rother was entombed here in Resurrection Memorial Chapel until February 12, 2023, when he was entombed in the altar in the chapel of the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine.

The official Cause of Beatification of Father Rother was begun in October 2007. We now pray that the church will declare him a saint.

Blessed Stanley Rother was Beatified on Sept. 23rd, 2017 in Oklahoma City.

Learn More

Prayer for the Canonization of Blessed Stanley Rother

O God, fount of all holiness,
make us each walk worthily in our vocation,
through the intercession of your Saints,
on whom you bestowed
a great variety of graces on earth.
Having graced Your Church
with the life of
your priest and martyr
Stanley Rother
Grant that by his intercession
this humble flock may reach
where the brave Shepherd has gone.
Grant that your Church may proclaim him a Saint living
in Your presence
and interceding for us.
Through Christ our Lord.

Amen.