Posted on 07/21/2013 9:23:10 AM PDT by marshmallow
The story of the persecution of Mexican Catholics in the 1920s is being told anew, in an English translation of a book by a scholar of Mexican culture and history.
“This was a period of enormous suffering and loss of life, as the government of Mexico in the 1920s sought to all but extinguish the faith that was fervently practiced and loved by the people,” Joseph Cullen, senior communications specialist with the Knights of Columbus, told CNA July 19.
“Mexican President Plutarco Calles’ violent crackdown killed many, and many more fled north.”
The English-language edition of Jean Meyer’s book “La Cristiada: The Mexican People’s War for Religious Liberty,” published by Square One Publishers, was commissioned by the Knights of Columbus. Its author, the French-born historian Jean Meyer, has taught at the Sorbonne and at El Colegio de México.
The book tells the story of the “Cristiada,” the Cristero rebellion and uprising that lasted for three years. In the mid-1920s, a government crackdown severely restricted the freedom of the Catholic Church in Mexico, with laws banning public displays of religion and expelling foreign priests.
In July 1926, the Church reacted by suspending all religious services in Mexico.
The persecution included the summary execution of many clergy and lay Catholics. Several Knights of Columbus were martyred under the government, including six priests who were later canonized.
The violent crackdown led to further persecution, and provoked an uprising that grew into a civil war.
Some American groups such as the Knights of Columbus sought to end the persecution, while others, including the then-powerful Ku Klux Klan, favored the Mexican government’s actions.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicnewsagency.com ...
The “Calles Law,” as it came to be known, called for uniform enforcement throughout the country of the Constitution’s anticlerical articles. It threatened severe sanctions for violations and for government officials who failed to enforce them. “As long as I am President of the Republic, the Constitution of 1917 will be obeyed,” he vowed, saying he would not be moved by the “wailing of sacristans or the pujidos (groans) of the over-pious” (David C. Bailey, ¡Viva Cristo Rey!: The Cristero Rebellion, and the Church-State Conflict in Mexico, 65).
http://www.catholic.com/magazine/articles/¡viva-cristo-rey
http://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/books/baiviv
http://books.google.com/books/about/Viva_Cristo_Rey.html?id=q6tVAAAAMAAJ
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/980173?uid=3739656&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21102171265123
Viva Cristo Rey!
Oh, how interesting! This is not, I see, the companion book to “For Greater Glory,” also published with assistance from the Knights of Columbus, but a much more complete history of the Cristero War.
I can get one for my birthday! Mexicans filled with religious zeal are some of my favorite people.
Viva Cristo Rey!
For Greater Glory: The True Story of Cristeros (EWTN program on YouTube)
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The Undercover Priest, Blessed Miguel Augustin Pro
The Martyrdom of Blessed Miguel Pro, S.J.
A Patron Saint for the Falsely Accused [Father Miguel Augustin Pro, S.J.]
Mexican "Cristeros" Martyrs Beatified
Blessed Miguel Pro:Heroic Mexican Martyr["VIVA CRISTO REY!"]
Father Miguel Pro: Heroic Mexican Martyr
Blessed Miguel Pro [last dying words:"Viva El Cristo Rey"("Long Live Christ The King")]
bttt
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