Cristero War: Encyclopedia II - Cristero War - Cristero War saints

Cristero War - Cristero War saints

Main Article: Saints of the Cristero War

The Catholic Church has recognized several of those killed in connection with the Cristero rebellion as martyrs. Perhaps the best-known is Blessed Miguel Pro, SJ. This Jesuit priest was executed by firing squad on November 23, 1927, without benefit of a trial, on the grounds that his priestly activities were in defiance of the government. The Calles government hoped to use images of the execution to scare the rebels into surrender, but the photos had the opposite effect. Upon seeing the photos, which the government had printed in all the newspapers, the Cristeros were inspired with a desire to follow Father Pro into martyrdom for Christ. His beatification occurred in 1988.

On May 21, 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized a group of 25 martyrs from this period. (They had been beatified on November 22, 1992.) For the most part, these were priests who did not take up arms, but refused to leave their flocks, and were executed by federal forces.

To cite just one example (mentioned above in the history), Father Luis Bátiz Sainz was the parish priest in Chalchihuites and a member of the Knights of Columbus. He was known for his devotion to the Eucharist and for his prayer for martyrdom: "Lord, I want to be a martyr; even though I am your unworthy servant, I want to pour out my blood, drop by drop, for your name." In 1926, shortly before the closing of the churches, he was denounced as a conspirator against the government because of his connections with the National League for the Defense of Religious Liberty, which was preparing an armed uprising. A squad of soldiers raided the private house he was staying in on August 14, taking him captive. He was executed without trial together with three youths of the Mexican Association of Catholic Youths.

Thirteen additional victims of the anti-Catholic regime have been declared martyrs by the Catholic Church, paving the way to their beatification. These are primarily lay people, including the 14-year-old José Sánchez del Río. The requirement that they did not take up arms, which was applied to the priest martyrs, does not apply to the lay people, though it had to be shown that they were taking up arms in self-defense.

On November 20th, 2005 on Jalisco Stadium in Guadalajara, Mexico, these 13 martyrs were beatified by Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Cristero War saints", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki