An American missionary priest killed in Guatemala 35 years ago was officially declared a martyr by the Vatican on Friday, making him the first from the U.S. The announcement puts Rev. Stanley Rother, a priest from the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, at the doorstep of sainthood.

Rother, who had served 15 years in Guatemala, was shot dead at the age of 46 at his parish church in 1981. Pope Francis, the first from Latin America, signed the decree Thursday, and the Vatican announced the following morning that Rother had fulfilled the requirement of having “died in hatred of the faith,” according to USA Today.