GUADALAJARA (MEXICO), MARTYRS OF, SS.

Also known as Martyrs of the Cristero Movement, or Cristobal Magallanes and 24 Companions; d. 1915–1937, Mexico. Jubilee 2000 was a watershed year for Catholicism in Mexico. In 1992, after 150 years of antireligious laws that forced the Church into near obscurity, laws such as those forbidding the wearing of a religious habit in public were rescinded. In 2000, the first National Eucharistic Congress was convened since just before the latest government persecution (1924–34), which sparked the uprising of the Cristero Rebellion (see mexico, modern). Most of the 22 priests and three lay martyrs (David Roldán Lara, his cousin Salvador Lara Puente, and Manuel Morales) included in this group were victims of that persecution in the area around Guadalajara; however, a few testify to the sufferings of earlier periods. The causes of martyrs from other areas of Mexico have been opened, but are on a different course.

The martyrs by year of their deaths, with their age in parentheses, are:

1915: David galvÁn bermÚdez (34 years old).

1926: David roldÁn lara (24); Luis batiz sainz (55); Manuel morales (28); and Salvador lara puente (21).

1927: Agustín (Augustine) caloca cortÉs (29); Cristóbal (Christopher) magallanes jara (57); David uribe velasco (37); Jenaro sÁnchez delgadillo (50); José Isabel Flores varela (60); José María Robles hurtado (39); Julio Alvarez mendoza (60); Margarito Flores garcÍa (28); Mateo Correa magallanes (60); Miguel de la mora (49); Pedro Esqueda ramÍrez (46); Rodrigo Aguilar alemÁn (52); Román Adame rosales (68); and Sabás Reyes salazar (about 43–47).

1928: Atilano Cruz alvarado (26); Jesús Méndez montoya (47); Justino Orona madrigal (51); Toribio Romo gonzÁlez (27); and Tranquilino Ubiarco robles (29).

1937: Pedro de Jesús Maldonado lucero (44).

These courageous martyrs were beatified Nov. 22, 1992, by Pope John Paul II. He approved a miracle attributed to their intercession on June 28, 1999, and canonized them in Rome during the Jubilee of Mexico, May 21, 2000. Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez laid the first stone of the "Shrine of Martyrs," Oct. 25, 2000, which will seat 20,000 once it is completed for the 2004 International Eucharistic Congress.

Feast: May 25 (Mexico).

Bibliography: j. cardoso, Los mártires mexicanos (Mexico City 1953). d. c. bailey, ¡Viva Cristo Rey! The Cristero Rebellion and the Church-State Conflict in Mexico (Austin 1974). v. ceja reyes, Los cristeros: crónica de los que perdieron (México, D.F. 1981) 2 v. j. dÍaz estrella, El movimiento cristero: sociedad y conflicto en los Altos de Jalisco (México, D.F. 1979). f. p. dooley, Los cristeros, Calles y el catolicismo mexicano, tr. m. e. martÍnez negrete deffis (México, D.F. 1976). p. gulisano, Viva Cristo Re: Cristeros: il martirio del popolo del Messico, 1926–29 (Rimini 1999). v. garcÍa juÁrez, Los cristeros (Fresnillo, Zac. 1990). l. lÓpez beltrÁn, La persecución religiosa en México: Carranza, Obregón, Calles, Portes Gil (México 1987). j. a. meyer, La cristiada, (México 1997), 4 v.; La cristiada en Colima (Colima, México 1993); La christiade (Paris 1975), Eng. tr. r. southern, The Cristero Rebellion: The Mexican People between Church and State, 1926–1929 (Cambridge 1976); Apocalypse et révolution au Mexique (Paris 1974). y. padilla rangel, El Catolicismo social y el movimiento Cristero en Aguascalientes (Aguascalientes 1992). j. rodrÍguez inzunza, El mundo de los cristeros campesinos: iglesia y estado en conflicto, México, 1926–1929 (Azcapotzalco, D.F. 1988). m. romo de alba, El gobernador de las estrellas (México, D.F. 1986)

[k. i. rabenstein]