José Luis Sanchez del Rio, martyred at age 14 for Christ the King

Summary:

In 1925, Pope Pius XI established the Feast of Christ the King, a reminder of Jesus' kingship over all nations and all humanity. To modern, atheistic societies, the Pope's proclamation was a scandalous provocation; twentieth-century man could not tolerate Christ reigning over him, even if His law of love and His "yoke" were far gentler than the totalitarian ideologies that would soon come to oppress the world. The slogan "Neither God nor masters" leads not to the promised freedom, but to the worst forms of slavery, or to placing oneself under the domination of another sovereign.

In Mexico, churches were closed, religious ceremonies forbidden, convent and religious schools shut down, priests expelled, hunted down, hanged from their steeples, and shot in front of the altar when they persisted in staying to administer the sacraments to the faithful, who would soon suffer the same fate. Everything was done to wrest the faith from the Mexicans. But instead of terrifying the Catholics, President Calles, an atheist and freemason, pushed them into armed rebellion. The Cristero War was a true confrontation between good and evil.

Calles and his troops, who claimed to believe in nothing, shouted loud and clear what had become their programme: "Long live Satan!" and it was in the name of the devil that they massacred their opponents, the Cristeros. Hardly anyone cared about the fate of the persecuted Mexican Catholics, not even Rome, who was embarrassed by the Cristiada uprising - the American sister of the War of Vendée. Can you imagine fighting in the name of Christ the King in 1926? Only backward fanatics could resolve to do so, and it is as fanatics and backward people that the Cristeros were described, when one deigned to acknowledge their existence, suffering and extermination. They received no diplomatic or military support, and no aid, and died amidst general indifference.

It was an atrocious sight that played out on 10 February 1928 in the main street of Schuayo de Morelos, Mexico: a tall boy of fourteen - soon to be fifteen, since he was born on 28 March 1913 in the same town - staggered on his way to his execution. With each step, he left a bloody mark on the ground, because the day before, to make him recant, his captors had cut the soles of his feet with a knife, and then, to add to his suffering, they had put salt in his wounds. He could barely stand and endured unspeakable pain to move forward, while President Calles' soldiers, annoyed at his slowness, beat him with their rifle butts and whipped him. Livid, the child dragged himself along. Occasionally, a complaint escaped him, disguised by this tireless cry: "Long live Our Lady of Guadalupe! Long live Christ the King! ", which redoubled the fury of his persecutors and multiplied the violence.

His name was José Luis Sanchez del Rio. Two years before, barely out of childhood, he chose to join the Cristeros, to the despair of his mother, who had already given two sons to the insurrection and wanted to keep the youngest with her. When she told him he was too young, José Luis retorted that he could be useful in the rear of the army, looking after the horses or preparing soup.

The general at first refused to let him enlist, but José Luis insisted that he wanted the chance to give his life for Jesus Christ and go to Heaven easily. Despite his youth, José Luis soon became indispensable. Not just for the material tasks, but because he had a gift for sustaining the courage and faith of his adult comrades, lifting the spirits of those who were flagging, and consoling the wounded and dying, whom he assisted with rare compassion. Everyone admired his fearless courage and his love of Christ the King and his Mother. José Luis became the icon of this struggle, illuminating the suffering of his comrades with his courage, his charity, his concern for others and his unshakeable faith. He was given the battle name Tarcisio, in memory of Saint Tarcisius, a young Roman deacon massacred by pagans while defending the Eucharist, a nickname that also doomed him to martyrdom.

Having become General Mendoza's flagbearer, he sacrificed himself to save him by giving him his horse when the Cristeros were routed by the government on 25 January 1928. José Luis was taken home by President Calles' army and imprisoned in the church of Santiago, where he had been baptised. The aim was to make a terrible example of the population, as everyone knew him, but also to shake them by stirring up their childhood memories and thoughts of their parents. His father, a wealthy landowner, knowing the government to be corrupt, offered a ransom for his son; the sum was not enough and the boy's death planned. José Luis had no illusions, and on 5 February he wrote his mother a letter found on his body: "The only thing that worries me, Mummy dearest, is that you're going to cry because of me. Please don't! Please don't cry! We'll find each other again."

Massacred at the end of a dreadful Way of the Cross in the presence of his mother, who found the strength to support him through his ordeal, José Luis died on 10 February 1928. He was not yet fifteen.

Beyond reasons to believe:

José Luis is buried in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Schuyao. Canonised on 16 October 2016, he is the patron saint of World Youth Day and altar boys.

Going further:

The movie For Greater Glory: The True Story of Cristiada, a 2012 epic historical war drama film directed by Dean Wright and written by Michael Love

More information:

• David C. Bailey, Viva Cristo Rey!The Cristero Rebellion and the Church-State Conflict in Mexico (University of Texas Press, 1974).
• Cornelia R. Ferreira, BlessedJosé Luis Sanchez del Rio, Cristero Boy Martyr, Canisius Books, 2006.

• The Cristero Rebellion: The Mexican People Between Church and State 1926–1929 (Cambridge Latin American Studies, Series Number 24) Part of: Cambridge Latin American Studies (46 books), by Jean A. Meyer 

• La Cristiada: The Mexican People's War for Religious Liberty Paperback – Illustrated, by Jean Meyer, Square One; Illustrated edition (June 1, 2013)