San José Luis Sánchez del Río: Boy Martyr of La Cristiada*

SAINT JOSÉ LUIS SÁNCHEZ DEL RÍO

Boy Martyr of La Cristiada

Among the highlights, and perhaps the most heartbreaking scene of top-grossing Mexican film Cristiada was the martyrdom of José Sánchez del Río (1913-1928), a fourteen-year-old Cristero, tortured and killed for his refusal to renounce his Catholic faith. Cristiada was a historical drama that depicted the uprising of Catholics in Mexico in the early 20th century after all peaceful means have failed to convince President Plutarco Elías Calles (1877-1945) to stop the persecution of the Catholic Church and restore religious freedom in Mexico. José Sánchez del Río, along with twelve other Cristero martyrs, were beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on 20 November 2005 during a ceremony presided over by His Eminence José Saraiva Cardinal Martins in Guadalajara, Mexico. Pope Francis approved a miracle attributed to him on 21 January 2016, allowing for his canonization to take place; a date was determined at a consistory on 15 March 2016, and he was proclaimed to be a saint on 16 October 2016.

THE “CALLES LAW” AND THE CRISTERO WAR

Prior to Plutarco Calles’ ascent to the presidency in 1924, the 1917 Constitution of Mexico, which resurrected the provisions of the La Reforma, was already in effect. La Reforma, which continues to be celebrated in Mexico today as a paid holiday, refers to the reforms implemented in the 1850s by President Benito Juárez (1806-1872) who confiscated agricultural lands of the Catholic Church, declared that all Churches were properties of the federal government, prohibited public religious expressions and the public wearing of clerical garb. This reform was intended to significantly curb the power and influence that the Catholic Church enjoys in Mexico. When Calles became president, he strongly enforced the anti-clerical provisions of the 1917 Constitution through the passing of a Law for Reforming the Penal Code popularly known as the Calles Law. With this law, the president imposed criminal penalties on those who will violate the anti-Catholic provisions of the Constitution. Likewise, the president, who was strongly pitted against the Catholic Church, expelled foreign priests, closed monasteries and Catholic schools and confiscated Church properties.

Unable to bear any longer the of President Calles towards the Church, Catholic lay organizations in Mexico collaborated to stage protests against the government. The bishops suspended public worship and called for an amendment of the anti-clerical provisions of the Constitution. Even Pope Pius XI (1857-1939) wrote an encyclical, Iniquis Afflictisque (18 November 1926) denouncing the attacks of the Mexican government against the Catholic Church. All peaceful protests were in vain. For the Catholic peasants of Mexico, deprivation of the sacraments was the last straw.

By January of 1917, an armed rebellion against Calles and his government was already in full swing. This rebellion is known as La Cristiada or the Cristero War since the rebels referred to themselves as Cristeros, and their battle cry was “Viva Cristo Rey!” (Long live Christ the King!). The Cristeros were mostly peasants and members of Catholic movements, and a significant number of them come from the youth sector. They were strongly convinced that their cause was legitimate, even as the bishops of Mexico never formally approved of their armed rebellion. The rebellion ended when, in 1929, the government finally agreed to enter into concessions with the Church and guaranteed some religious freedom.

The Catholic Church recognized as martyrs those that were killed during the Cristero Rebellion. Twenty-five were canonized by Pope John Paul II in the year 2000, and thirteen were beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, among which was boy-martyr, José Luis Sánchez del Río, who was eventually canonized by Pope Francis in 2016.

JOSELITO, THE BOY CRISTERO

José Luis Sánchez del Río, fondly called “Joselito”, was born to Macario Sánchez and María del Río of Sahuayo, Michoacán, Mexico, on 28 March 1913. Though not much is known about his pre-Cristero life, Joselito was depicted in the movie Cristiada as a mischievous young boy, who nonetheless loved the Church and was being trained to be an altar boy. When Joselito was thirteen years old, he was so attracted by the valor and piety of the Cristeros and intensely desired to join them. Two of his brothers, Macario and Miguel, had already joined the rebels. He was quoted as saying to his mother, “In order to go to heaven, we have to go to war. Never has it been so easy to attain heaven!” Having secured the permission of his parents, he wrote Cristero General, Prudencio Mendoza, asking for admission to his troops. Initially hesitant to accept Joselito because of his age, General Mendoza eventually approved of Joselito’s request and designated him as the banner bearer, Joselito being too young to carry arms. The Cristeros nicknamed him Tarcisius, after the early Christian saint who was martyred for protecting the Eucharist from desecration.

IMPRISONMENT AND MARTYRDOM

During one battle between government forces and the Cristeros, Joselito was distributing ammunition to the rebels when he caught sight of a Cristero general, Morfin Guizar, whose horse was shot dead. Since the situation made the general highly vulnerable, Joselito generously donated his horse to the general, saying that the latter is of more use to the war than a young boy. Although the general refused Joselito’s offer, the young boy insisted, and the general eventually took the horse and fled. Now without a horse, Joselito was easily captured by government troops on 5 February 1928. Unlike other captured rebels who were immediately executed by government soldiers, José and another boy rebel, Lazarus, was imprisoned in the parish church of Sahuayo which was used by government forces as jail for rebel prisoners.

Several times, government authorities tried to convince Joselito to apostatize, offering him immediate freedom. When Joselito was unmoved by the attempts, he was forced by authorities to witness the public execution of a fellow young Cristero. Joselito remained strong in his defiance. His captors ordered him to write a letter to his aunt, María Sánchez, so that in turn, she could ask Joselito’s mother to visit him in prison. The authorities were thinking that seeing his mother in tears would make Joselito apostatize, but still he remained relentless in his conviction. The local government authority, a man called Rafael Picasso, solicited for a huge amount of money to ransom Joselito, but the boy discouraged the people from contributing since he was eager to go to heaven. It was said that when food was brought to Joselito in prison, his uncle, Fr. Ignacio Sánchez would put a consecrated host in the food basket so that Joselito can receive Holy Communion. Those who walk pass the church-turned-jail often heard Joselito pray the rosary aloud or sang hymns to the Virgin Mary.

Rafael Picasso, who previously attempted to save Joselito, eventually turned against him because of an incident involving chickens. Picasso, whose decision was to turn the church to a jail, also used the church as a cage for chickens. Picasso had a collection of expensive fighting roosters, some of which he even imported from Canada. Joselito, dismayed that chickens were all over the church, took them by the neck, killed them and hanged them from a banister. Indignant by what Joselito did, Picasso ordered for the boy’s execution by firing squad.

Prior to his execution, the soldiers, believing that severe pain will change Joselito’s mind, flayed the soles of his feet. On 10 February 1928, the soldiers made him walk barefoot through the unpaved cobblestone paths to the cemetery where they had already dug a grave. Along the way, soldiers would strike him with their machetes, such that Joselito bled on his way to his own grave. Joselito was shown his grave in a final attempt to convince him to apostatize. Instead, the firmer became his resolve to go to heaven. He uttered a word of forgiveness to his executors, and urged them to repent so that he could see them in heaven. Finally, he was told that if he would say “Death to Christ the King”, he would be immediately released. Instead, Joselito shouted “Viva Cristo Rey!” He was then shot, and while still alive, Joselito managed to draw a cross on the ground with his own blood, before the soldiers fired a mercy shot to his head.

THE ROAD TO SAINTHOOD

Joselito’s remains were eventually transferred to the Sagrada Corazón Church of Sahuayo, his hometown. The diocesan process for his beatification began on 1 May 1996. Soon, on October 21st of the same year, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints gave its nihil obstat to Joselito’s cause, and he was accorded the title, Servant of God. The Positio was submitted to the Congregation in 2003, and on 22 June 2004, Pope St. John Paul II, approved the findings of the Congregation, allowing for Joselito’s beatification. The following year, Pope Benedict XVI beatified José Luis Sánchez del Río. His feast day is to be observed every 10th of February, the day of his martyrdom.

The miracle needed for his canonization was approved by Pope Francis on 21 January 2016. The miracle involved the inexplicable instant recovery of Ximena Guadalupe Magallón Gálvez, who, as an eight-month-old baby in 2008, suffered a mysterious fever which, after a delicate operation that drained water from her right lung, was discovered as a symptom of tuberculosis. Incidentally, Ximena and her parents were at that time visiting Sahuayo, Joselito’s hometown. As the intense treatment for tuberculosis was carried out, the infant suffered a stroke, and ninety percent of her brain was damaged. The doctors said that there was no hope that Ximena would survive. For three days, the baby was put into an induced coma. During the three days, Ximena’s parents went to daily mass and prayed for Blessed Jose’s intercession. On the third day, there being no sign that the baby can recover, Ximena was disconnected from the machines that kept her alive. To the surprise of the doctors, Ximena opened her eyes and smiled at them. When a CT scan was performed, eighty percent of her brain had recovered. The following day, her brain was totally well. The doctors, however, warned the parents of Ximena that due to the brain damage she temporarily suffered, she might be unable to walk, or eat properly or speak. However, to this day, Ximena remains healthy, prompting Pope Francis to approve of the miracle and allow for Blessed Jose’s canonization.