\u201cI am innocent and I die innocent. I forgive with all my heart those responsible for my death, and I ask God that the shedding of my blood serve the peace of our divided Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n
The last words of Mexican priest Father Crist\u00f3bal Magallanes on May 21, 1927, sum up what the Church celebrates in the lives of St. Crist\u00f3bal Magallanes and Companions: The holiness and devotion of the martyrs who are killed by evil governments, but whose deaths in Christ help unite their nations.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an especially poignant lesson for Americans, since it points to recent history\u2014what happened right on our doorstep \u2014 and religious conflicts we have, so far, largely escaped.<\/p>\n
The life of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton illustrates how religious freedom can unite a nation. Born in 1774, her Protestant family was on the British loyalist side of America\u2019s first divide, but the Constitution that America\u2019s founders drafted not only protected her family from political repercussions, but provided the freedom of religion that allowed her to embrace the Catholic Church as a young mother and then as a religious foundress.<\/p>\n
The 1917 constitution in Mexico took a very different direction from that of America\u2019s constitution.<\/strong><\/p>\n The secularist revolutionary forces in early 20th century Mexico faced off against a Church that owned a lot of the nation\u2019s land, ran nearly all its schools, and opposed independence from Spain. After five years of turmoil, a new constitutionalist government took power in 1915, and produced a Constitution that went into effect in 1917, solidifying Mexico\u2019s independence while disallowing expressions of faith outside of churches, including processions, prayers, and even clerical or religious garb worn in public. Priests were no longer allowed to vote, and the Church was stripped of its schools and much of its land.<\/p>\n The May 21 feast is named for Father Crist\u00f3bal Magallanes because he was a major player in the Church\u2019s spiritual response to the crisis. He founded a clandestine seminary and was arrested on the way to Mass, gave away his possessions and forgave his executioners, and four days later was killed by firing squad. His 24 \u201ccompanions\u201d were Mexicans killed for their faith between 1915 and 1937.<\/p>\n Many of the Mexican martyrs\u2019 stories are well known. Father Mateo Correa was killed at age 62 the same year. He had given first communion to Miguel Pro, who later became the best-known Mexican priest martyr. Correa was arrested for bringing the Eucharist to a shut-in of his flock. In prison, he heard the confessions of captured Cristero soldiers \u2014 fighters in the Catholic counter-revolution \u2014 then was shot for refusing to reveal what the soldiers had said under the sacramental seal of confession.<\/p>\n Some of the martyrs were killed for engaging in political protest. Father Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Robles Hurtado was an active critic of the 1917 Constitution. Known as the \u201cMadman of the Sacred Heart\u201d in seminary because of his intense devotion, he promoted an initiative to erect a giant cross in the geographic center of Mexico, declaring Christ the king of Mexico, and wanted to make the Sacred Heart a central feature of Mexican identity.<\/p>\n He knew he would be killed for his efforts and his death is legendary. Arrested for praying in a private home, he was sentenced to be hanged from a tree and offered his executioners a votive candle to light the way to his place of execution. He even told his hangman, \u201cDon’t dirty your hands,\u201d and put the noose around own his neck, after kissing it like he would a priestly stole.<\/p>\n Many of the martyrs were priests but Manuel Moralez was not. He had entered the seminary but left in order to support his destitute family. He found work as a baker, married, and had three children.<\/p>\n Moralez was committed to living out his faith through the local Catholic Workers Union and Catholic Action group. He became president of the National League for the Defense of Religious Liberty and, at an August, 1928, meeting, insisted that his group \u201cshould be peaceful and not interfere in political affairs. Our project is to implore the government to remove the articles of the Constitution that prevent religious freedom.”<\/p>\n He was arrested a few days later, imprisoned, beaten and tortured.<\/p>\n After being told that he would be allowed to plead his cause to government officials, Moralez was taken outside of town, and offered a reprieve if he publicly accepted the legitimacy of the anti-religious laws. He refused and was shot. Before he was killed, a fellow prisoner pleaded for Moralez\u2019s life, for the sake of his children. Moralez said, \u201cI am dying for God, and God will take care for my children.\u201d<\/p>\n One report says his last words were \u201cLong live Christ the King and Our Lady of Guadalupe!\u201d \u2014 a constant refrain for the Cristeros.<\/p>\n U.S. Catholics \u2014 so far \u2014 have escaped the fate of the Cristeros.<\/strong><\/p>\n After falling into disuse for years, the anti-Catholic Mexican laws were finally taken off the books in 1992. Christ the King and Our Lady of Guadalupe eventually had a greater power to unite Mexicans than the secular government did.<\/p>\n The United States, with a more diverse religious pluralism, cannot unite around Catholic figures the same way. Instead, our uniters are political leaders such as those represented on Mount Rushmore \u2014 each of whom accepted religious freedom in general (and Catholics\u2019 freedom in particular<\/a>).<\/p>\n Mother Seton\u2019s life is a great example of the benefits of religious freedom. \u201cElizabeth Ann Seton was wholly American,\u201d said New York Cardinal Francis Spellman in his introduction to the 1962 biography Mrs. Seton<\/em>. \u201cBoth of her parents and two of her grandparents were born here. When our great Republic was born, she became a charter American citizen.\u201d<\/p>\n The Mexican priests were social leaders who had to be expunged. Elizabeth Seton and other social leaders of her community were welcomed. Spellman describes how Elizabeth was \u201crelated by blood or marriage to New York\u2019s first families.\u201d Her father was New York\u2019s first Health Officer and her father-in-law was a member of the city\u2019s first Chamber of Commerce. She met national leaders George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and John Livingston in New York.<\/p>\n Her prominence allowed her to establish New York\u2019s first Catholic orphanage, and it’s likely that her connections helped her longtime friend Father John Dubois when he became New York\u2019s bishop.<\/p>\n Elizabeth was an enthusiastic American along with her enthusiastic faith. \u201cOh joy joy joy a Captain B will take us to America!\u201d she wrote, when she secured her passage home from Italy. She described how her daughter was \u201cwild with joy\u201d about going home, but often asked, \u201cMa is there no Catholics in America? Ma won\u2019t we go to the Catholic Church when we go home?\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, they could, and they did. We pray to St. Crist\u00f3bal and Companions and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton that our legacy of religious freedom will continue to allow faith to flourish in America.<\/p>\n TOM HOOPES<\/strong>,\u00a0autor m\u00e1s reciente de El Rosario de San Juan Pablo II, es escritor residente en el Benedictine College de Kansas, donde imparte clases. Es anfitri\u00f3n de La extraordinaria Stor<\/a>y podcast sobre la vida de Cristo. Su libro Lo que dijo realmente el Papa Francisco<\/a> ya est\u00e1 disponible en Audible<\/a>. Antiguo reportero en la zona de Washington, D.C., fue secretario de prensa del Presidente del Comit\u00e9 de Medios y Arbitrios de la C\u00e1mara de Representantes de los Estados Unidos y pas\u00f3 10 a\u00f1os como editor del peri\u00f3dico National Catholic Register y de la revista Faith & Family. Su trabajo aparece con frecuencia en el Register, Aleteia y Catholic Digest. Vive en Atchison, Kansas, con su esposa, April, y tiene nueve hijos.<\/em><\/p>\n