The Cristeros
Mexico has been and is a very Catholic country—right around 95% Catholic.
The Spanish had guaranteed freedom of religion as long as they ruled the land. Things started to deteriorate in the early 1800’s.
Between 1810 and 1920, there were seventeen different rebellions or coup d’états. In the insurrection of 1821, Mexico gained its independence.
From 1821 to 1857, things weren’t so bad for the Church in the newly independent country. Then things started to go downhill.
In 1859 President Benito Juarez decreed three things. First, all Church property except Churches would be confiscated by the government without compensation. This meant that the Church lost all its schools, hospitals, orphanages, soup kitchens, and any other charitable works. Second, only civil marriages would be valid; getting married in the Church didn’t count. Third, all cemeteries, including those owned by the Church, became public property.
Things were really bad. But from 1876 to 1910, President Porfirio Díaz decided not to apply any of the laws directed against the Church. He didn’t want any problems; he just wanted to stay in power.
The Mexican Civil War broke out in 1910 and ended in 1921. Today it is called the “Revolution,” but it wasn’t really a revolution or a civil war. In the American Civil War, two sides fought for the upper hand. The Mexican Civil War was different. It was chaos. At any one time there were up to eight different armies fighting for power.
With the anarchy caused by the battles on all sides groups of marauders started to multiply. It became common to hear the sounds of skirmishes at night and to find bodies in the countryside and at the city gates come morning. There was no telling what these bandits would do or destroy next, and no one felt safe in the open country.
José was born in 1913, towards the beginning of this war. He was 8 when it finished. In January of 1914, when José was only 10 months old, the bishops of Mexico consecrated the entire country to Christ the King. It was here that the cry “Viva Cristo Rey y Santa Maria de Guadalupe!” (Viva Cristo Rey and Holy Mary of Guadalupe!) first became popular.
If people thought things were bad for the Church during the revolution, what happened when it was over came as a shock. After capturing Mexico City on the 31st of July 1914, Revolutionaries took over the seminary which they later closed. At the same time, all Bishops were forced to leave the country.
In 1917 one of the warring factions wrote what was called the “Queretaro Constitution”. It was the first Socialist constitution in history, predating even the constitution of Soviet Russia. At a moment when 98% of Mexico was Catholic, this constitution called for a near total shutdown of the Church. Processions were forbidden, many Churches were desecrated, and anything religious was looked down upon.
On the 21st of November 1921, an attempt was made to destroy Mexican Catholics’ most cherished possession: the image of our Lady of Guadalupe. A stick of dynamite exploded just feet from Juan Diego’s tilma in the Cathedral of Mexico City. Most of the impact of the explosion was absorbed by a crucifix that happened to be placed between our Lady and the bomb. Miraculously, the tilma was untouched, while the crucifix was bent backwards at a 90 degree angle. The Federal government gave their protection to the culprit.
But things only got worse and worse. On the 1st of December 1924, Plutarco Elías Calles became President. In time he came to be known as Mexico’s “Nero”. According to him, because of their loyalty to the Pope, Catholics couldn’t be good citizens. President Calles’ solution was to completely wipe out the Catholic Church in Mexico.
On the 14th of June 1926, the “Calles Law” came into effect. Its main points were.
· All priests from other countries were expelled from Mexico.
· Teaching religion anywhere was forbidden.
· All Church property became property of the state, including parish Churches, shrines, rectories, Bishops’ houses, seminaries, schools, convents, and monasteries.
· It was illegal to wear any special religious clothing—like cassocks or habits—in public.
· The government took control of the Church and all priests became employees of the state, obliged to go wherever the government sent them.
· The Bishops were to be done away with.
· There could be no religious services outside of a Church.
· Priests and religious could no longer direct schools.
· All religious vows became illegal.
· Priests had to submit their homilies for approval to government authorities.
· Freedom of the press for Catholics was abolished.
· The government had to give special permission for the building of any new churches.
Basically, Catholicism was ordered to become a ward of the state.
All this was set to go into effect on the 1st of August 1926. The Bishops petitioned, first Calles, and after he rejected them, the Congress, but all to no avail. Next, the “League for the Defense of Religious Freedom,” a group of lay Catholics, gathered the signatures of 2 million people demanding reform of the laws, but Calles rejected them too, on the false grounds that the campaign was organized by the Clergy.
The Bishops were forced to act. They had tried all they could to stop the law. If it went into effect, all priests would be forced to decide between staying at their parishes and disobeying the law to minister to their people (and thus risking execution), or obeying the government and abandoning their people. The Bishops didn’t want either, so they came up with a plan and asked Pope Pius XI for approval. Once they received the Holy Father’s ok, they announced their decision. The day Calles’ Law went into effect, the 31st of July 1926, all public worship requiring a priest would stop. That meant no more mass. The Bishops entrusted all the Churches to the care of the Catholic people.
All the priests obeyed. On Sunday, July 31st, 1926, the people gathered for the first time in 400 years without mass. They prayed and wept. Signs were placed on the tabernacles that read: “He’s not here.”
The Spanish had guaranteed freedom of religion as long as they ruled the land. Things started to deteriorate in the early 1800’s.
Between 1810 and 1920, there were seventeen different rebellions or coup d’états. In the insurrection of 1821, Mexico gained its independence.
From 1821 to 1857, things weren’t so bad for the Church in the newly independent country. Then things started to go downhill.
In 1859 President Benito Juarez decreed three things. First, all Church property except Churches would be confiscated by the government without compensation. This meant that the Church lost all its schools, hospitals, orphanages, soup kitchens, and any other charitable works. Second, only civil marriages would be valid; getting married in the Church didn’t count. Third, all cemeteries, including those owned by the Church, became public property.
Things were really bad. But from 1876 to 1910, President Porfirio Díaz decided not to apply any of the laws directed against the Church. He didn’t want any problems; he just wanted to stay in power.
The Mexican Civil War broke out in 1910 and ended in 1921. Today it is called the “Revolution,” but it wasn’t really a revolution or a civil war. In the American Civil War, two sides fought for the upper hand. The Mexican Civil War was different. It was chaos. At any one time there were up to eight different armies fighting for power.
With the anarchy caused by the battles on all sides groups of marauders started to multiply. It became common to hear the sounds of skirmishes at night and to find bodies in the countryside and at the city gates come morning. There was no telling what these bandits would do or destroy next, and no one felt safe in the open country.
José was born in 1913, towards the beginning of this war. He was 8 when it finished. In January of 1914, when José was only 10 months old, the bishops of Mexico consecrated the entire country to Christ the King. It was here that the cry “Viva Cristo Rey y Santa Maria de Guadalupe!” (Viva Cristo Rey and Holy Mary of Guadalupe!) first became popular.
If people thought things were bad for the Church during the revolution, what happened when it was over came as a shock. After capturing Mexico City on the 31st of July 1914, Revolutionaries took over the seminary which they later closed. At the same time, all Bishops were forced to leave the country.
In 1917 one of the warring factions wrote what was called the “Queretaro Constitution”. It was the first Socialist constitution in history, predating even the constitution of Soviet Russia. At a moment when 98% of Mexico was Catholic, this constitution called for a near total shutdown of the Church. Processions were forbidden, many Churches were desecrated, and anything religious was looked down upon.
On the 21st of November 1921, an attempt was made to destroy Mexican Catholics’ most cherished possession: the image of our Lady of Guadalupe. A stick of dynamite exploded just feet from Juan Diego’s tilma in the Cathedral of Mexico City. Most of the impact of the explosion was absorbed by a crucifix that happened to be placed between our Lady and the bomb. Miraculously, the tilma was untouched, while the crucifix was bent backwards at a 90 degree angle. The Federal government gave their protection to the culprit.
But things only got worse and worse. On the 1st of December 1924, Plutarco Elías Calles became President. In time he came to be known as Mexico’s “Nero”. According to him, because of their loyalty to the Pope, Catholics couldn’t be good citizens. President Calles’ solution was to completely wipe out the Catholic Church in Mexico.
On the 14th of June 1926, the “Calles Law” came into effect. Its main points were.
· All priests from other countries were expelled from Mexico.
· Teaching religion anywhere was forbidden.
· All Church property became property of the state, including parish Churches, shrines, rectories, Bishops’ houses, seminaries, schools, convents, and monasteries.
· It was illegal to wear any special religious clothing—like cassocks or habits—in public.
· The government took control of the Church and all priests became employees of the state, obliged to go wherever the government sent them.
· The Bishops were to be done away with.
· There could be no religious services outside of a Church.
· Priests and religious could no longer direct schools.
· All religious vows became illegal.
· Priests had to submit their homilies for approval to government authorities.
· Freedom of the press for Catholics was abolished.
· The government had to give special permission for the building of any new churches.
Basically, Catholicism was ordered to become a ward of the state.
All this was set to go into effect on the 1st of August 1926. The Bishops petitioned, first Calles, and after he rejected them, the Congress, but all to no avail. Next, the “League for the Defense of Religious Freedom,” a group of lay Catholics, gathered the signatures of 2 million people demanding reform of the laws, but Calles rejected them too, on the false grounds that the campaign was organized by the Clergy.
The Bishops were forced to act. They had tried all they could to stop the law. If it went into effect, all priests would be forced to decide between staying at their parishes and disobeying the law to minister to their people (and thus risking execution), or obeying the government and abandoning their people. The Bishops didn’t want either, so they came up with a plan and asked Pope Pius XI for approval. Once they received the Holy Father’s ok, they announced their decision. The day Calles’ Law went into effect, the 31st of July 1926, all public worship requiring a priest would stop. That meant no more mass. The Bishops entrusted all the Churches to the care of the Catholic people.
All the priests obeyed. On Sunday, July 31st, 1926, the people gathered for the first time in 400 years without mass. They prayed and wept. Signs were placed on the tabernacles that read: “He’s not here.”