Cristero War Saints
The Catholic Church has recognized several of those killed in the Cristero rebellion as martyrs, including the Blessed Miguel Pro (SJ), who was executed by firing squad on 23 November 1927—without a trial—on trumped-up charges of involvement in an assassination attempt against former President Álvaro Obregón but in actuality for his priestly activities in defiance of the government. His beatification occurred in 1988.
On 21 May 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized a group of 25 martyrs from this period. They had been beatified on 22 November 1992. Of this group, 22 were secular clergy and three were laymen. They did not take up arms but refused to leave their flocks and ministries, being shot or hanged by government forces for offering the sacraments. Most were executed by federal forces. Although Pedro de Jesús Maldonado was killed in 1937, after the war ended, he is considered a Cristero and a member of this group .
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 where he was staying on August 14 and took him captive. They executed him, reportedly without benefit of a trial, along with three youths of the Mexican Association of Catholic Youth.
The Catholic Church declared 13 additional victims of the anti-Catholic regime as martyrs on 20 November 2005, thus paving the way for their beatifications. This group was mostly lay people, including a 14-year-old, José Sánchez del Río. On 20 November 2005, at Jalisco Stadium in Guadalajara, José Saraiva Cardinal Martins celebrated the beatifications.
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