Elias Calles
Posted on 04/23/2023 7:18:55 PM PDT by ebb tide
Read Part One: A Guide to Mexican Anti-Catholicism in the 1800s
G.K. Chesterton famously said “Christendom has had a series of revolutions and in each one of them Christianity has died.” This reflects the 20th century history of Mexico. Chesterton continues that quote with “Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it had a God who knew the way out of the grave.”
It has also been said that a revolution always eats its own. The Mexican Revolution was no exception. Many of its leaders, from Francisco Madero (1913, age 39) to Emiliano Zapata (1919, age 39), from Venustiano Carranza (1920, age 60) to Pancho Villa (1932, age 45), were all murdered. Eventually Álvaro Obregón, a northern general and avowed atheist from Sonora, emerged victorious. He is credited with bringing ‘peace and order’ out of revolutionary chaos. Yet he was a cruel and heavy-handed ruler and was himself assassinated. Plutarco Elías Calles was Obregón’s designated successor, serving as president of Mexico from 1924-1928. It was Calles’ intention to intensify and solidify the policies begun by Obregón.
The Elias Calles laws, also known as the Calles Law or the Law of Religious Associations and Public Worship, were a series of anti-clerical laws enacted in Mexico in the 1920s during the presidency of Calles, who was a 33rd degree freemason.[1] These laws followed the new constitution of 1917, which included measures such as requiring priests to register with the government, prohibiting them from wearing religious attire in public, and prohibiting the Church from owning property. Some Catholics, including priests and bishops, rightfully defied the government’s laws, leading to conflict and persecution.
Elias Calles
The laws were part of a broader effort to secularize Mexican society and limit the power of the Catholic Church, which had traditionally played a significant role in Mexican politics and society. Among other things, the laws prohibited priests and religious leaders from participating in politics, outlawed religious education, restricted the number of priests allowed in the country, and required all religious organizations to register with the government and provide detailed information about their finances and activities. The fine for wearing clerical attire was the equivalent of $4,000 in today’s dollars. Priests who criticized the government were arrested and imprisoned for 5 years. Monasteries were dissolved, their wealth looted, and their land appropriated by the government. Priests were executed, and soldiers who would not do so were executed themselves.
The Calles laws were strongly opposed by Catholics in Mexico, who saw them as an attack on their faith and their rights. The laws led to widespread protests and civil unrest, and some Catholics even took up arms in a rebellion known as the Cristero War.
Although the Calles laws were eventually repealed or relaxed,[2] they had a lasting impact on the relationship between the Mexican government and the Catholic Church and are a blight on the country of Mexico, which was the location of the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1531.
The conflict between the freemason-run government and the Catholic Church ultimately led to the Cristero War, which lasted from 1926 to 1929 and resulted in the deaths of thousands of people on both sides. The Catholic rebels who sought to defend Holy Mother Church were known as the Cristeros.
The martyrs included Father Miguel Pro, a Jesuit priest who was falsely accused of attempting to assassinate a government official and was executed by firing squad in 1927; and Anacleto Gonzalez Flores, a lawyer and lay Catholic activist who was arrested and executed in 1927 for his opposition to the government’s anti-clerical policies. Similarly, Father Cristobal Magallanes Jara and his 24 companions, a group of priests who were arrested, tortured, and executed by government forces in 1927 for their support of the Cristeros.
One of the Church’s best-known youthful martyrs is St. José Sánchez del Río.[3] If he had denied the faith he would have been freed and granted a life of privilege. He refused. His feet were flayed and he was forced to walk to his burial site. He was repeatedly stabbed by soldiers, and with each plunge of the knife he cried out: “Viva Cristo Rey! Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!”[4]He was then shot twice in the head (February 10, 1928). This hero of the Faith was brutally ridiculed, horribly tortured, and executed precisely on account of his love and fidelity to Jesus Christ.
Father Miguel Agustín Pro,[5] during his execution, famously refused a blindfold and forgave his killers. And as he died, in an expression of love, he opened his arms and screamed, “¡Viva Cristo Rey!” Those were his dying words to his executioners.
He is a great example of what to be thankful for. Thank God today for the gift of the Catholic Church and its Sacraments to lead us to Heaven. Thank Him for the Eucharist, the Bread of angels and delight of all souls. Thank Him for the gift of His Mother, Who intercedes for us. Thank the Lord for His merciful Heart pierced on the Cross. Thank the Lord for His wonder and beauty.
In our world today, we too see self-proclaimed Catholic politicians claim to separate their faith from the public square. That is not possible, though. Christ is King of all society, including our nations, and He must reign. Let us pray for the triumph of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart in all the nations of the world!
ENDNOTES:
[1] Pope Pius XI correctly saw the growth of communism in Mexico during the 1920s; see his encyclical against communism, Divini Redemptoris (⁋5,18,19). Indeed, the errors of Russia were spreading across the globe, as Our Lady had foretold at Fatima.
[2] It was not until 1992, once Mexico was completely secularized and Freemasonic principles were deeply entrenched in the fabric of society, that most of the anti-clerical provisions were removed from the Mexican Constitution (by vote of the legislature under President Salinas de Gortari). At this time, Catholic critics rightly pointed out ‘the point was moot.’
[3] Today many know his story because it was portrayed in the 2012 film, For Greater Glory.
[4]This can be translated roughly as: “Long live Christ the King! Long live Holy Mary, the Virgin of Guadalupe!”
[5] Catholic piety reminds us that the martyrs gain many graces for us. Followers of The Fatima Center may be familiar with Father Michael Rodríguez. He is a distant relative of Fr. Miguel Agustin Pro. The grandmother of Father Rodríguez’s maternal grandmother and a grandmother of this saint were sisters. We do well to recall that 2nd Century patristic teaching, “the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church” (coined by Tertullian).
...The Elias Calles laws, also known as the Calles Law or the Law of Religious Associations and Public Worship, were a series of anti-clerical laws enacted in Mexico in the 1920s during the presidency of Calles, who was a 33rd degree freemason.
Ping
I never knew about any of this until maybe a year or two ago. It really shocked me. It might be the most shocking historical fact I ever encountered, tbh.
A reminder of what American leftists would like to do the Christian faithful.
Please take me off your list.
Exactly
A movie was made about this in 2012: “For Greater Glory”. Look into the martrydom of the 14 yr old boy Jose Sanchez del Rio, murdered by the Freemason Govt. He was made a Saint. The movie covers this.
Doh...I see the article covers what I said. Sorry for being repetitive.
Great column.
Closer to home, the democrat KKK didn’t just hate blacks.
Add Jews and Catholics.
No, thanks, that’s fine. I should watch that movie. Terrible. My feeling upon learning of all this was if it can happen in Mexico it could happen anywhere.
Sure. No problem.
I know the Truth.
I am sick of your insults.
If we were on Twitter, I would have simply blocked you.
You are constantly spewing hate here and I want no part of it.
Bye Bye
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