Brothers in Christ

Columbia ^ | April, 2005 | Tim S. Hickey

[Coleus]

Brothers in Christ

The vocation to holiness expressed in the life and martyrdom of two Mexican brothers inspires their family today, including a grand knight in Guadalajara

April 3 has become an unofficial feast day for Cristóbal Huerta Wilde. On that day, the grand knight of Fray Antonio Alcalde Council 3552 in Guadalajara, Central-South Mexico, remembers in a special way the heroic life and martyrdom of his grandfather, Ezequiel Huerta Gutiérrez. Ezequiel and his brother, Salvador, were executed by a government firing squad April 3, 1927, due to their involvement with the Cristeros, a group of rebels, including hundreds of Knights of Columbus, who opposed the state-led persecution of the Church that took place in Mexico during the 1920s and 1930s. The era was marked by severe restrictions on priests and nuns, church desecrations, and the outlawing of public religious events, such as the popular Christ the King processions. The name “Cristeros” is derived from the Spanish Cristo Rey, or Christ the King.

The story of Ezequiel and Salvador was first told in Spanish in the book Sangre de Mártir (Blood of the Martyr), published in 2000 with the cooperation of the Knights of Columbus of Mexico. In a note to readers, Cristóbal and Agustín Huerta Wilde, a nephew of Ezequiel’s, say their ancestors’ life and death is a story not just of their family, “but of the Church and of our beloved Mexico.”

They ask readers to “admire the generosity and the honesty” of Ezequiel and Salvador, and the example of their lives and those of the estimated 45,000 Mexican Catholics who were martyred “for their faith in God, their hope in the Church” and for the “greatness of Mexico.” Here, in brief, is the story of the martyrdom of the two men.

Their 'Crimes'

Servant of God Salvador Huerta Gutiérrez

On Aug. 5, 1926, Ezequiel and Salvador, their priest brothers José Refugio and Eduardo, their sister Carmen and other members of the family met to discuss participation in the Cristeros movement. The government had classified Father Eduardo as one of the main agitators. A so-called rebel priest, he was put under surveillance and his name listed at the top of people to arrest. The younger members of the family protested the situation, and many of them wanted to join the Cristeros.

Ezequiel and Salvador, concerned about the safety of their children, urged a different approach. They opposed the use of violence to solve conflicts. Despite the fatherly caution and advice, the young people prevailed. “There was no other alternative than to give them the blessing and entrust them to Divine Providence,” the biography states.

While the two priest brothers devoted themselves to the spiritual assistance of Catholics and celebrated clandestine Masses, Salvador and Ezequiel opened their homes to wounded Cristeros. They accepted food, clothing and medicine to help sustain the Cristeros and many persecuted families.

Their Arrests

On April 1, 1927, another family meeting took place, with many of the same Huerta family members as before. Present were the two priest brothers, who had been underground, and a nephew, Manuel, who had been wounded in Cristeros battles and had come home to convalesce.

The family discussed the repressive actions of the government. Ezequiel’s son, Jésus, a Cristero, had not been heard from in several months. Rigorous searches of private homes, churches and convents had also commenced. Seeking a solution to their problems, the Huerta family decided that Salvador would continue procuring anything needed by the Cristeros cause and aiding families. Ezequiel would organize the clandestine Masses and contact priests and parishioners about their times and locations. Father Eduardo and Father José Refugio would go back into hiding.

While the meeting was taking place, the police heard rumors that the Huerta brothers were in the vicinity. When the arrest order was issued, there was some confusion about which “Huerta brothers” to arrest. Did the order refer to Father Eduardo and Father José Refugio? Or to Salvador and Ezequiel? Or to their sons Manuel, Salvador and Jesús, who were each active on Cristeros battlefields? To further confuse the situation, Ezequiel’s son Jésus went by Jésus Huerta, Isaac Huerta and Teodoro Huerta to carry out his mission within the Cristeros.

The secret police showed up at the mechanic’s shop operated by Salvador. They told him he was needed to repair a general’s car. It seemed strange to Salvador that the agents would seek him out, but he took his tools, climbed into their car, never to return.

At the other end of the city, Ezequiel was at home. An accomplished singer and music teacher, he was working on musical arrangements for a Cristeros hymn when police agents knocked on his door. One of his children answered the door, and when Ezequiel looked out and saw the men in their uniforms, he knew why they had come. As he opened the door, he was told that they had orders to detain him and search the house. The biography states: “While Ezequiel disappeared by the doorsill, the children, holding to the bars in the folding screen door, with their eyes full of tears, yelled, ‘Dad, Dad!’” Juan Bernal and Fernandos Calderas, two young men helping Ezequiel with the musical arrangement, were also arrested.

Interrogation and Torture

The three men were taken to a military post for questioning. An officer asked them their names, trying to find out which one was a Huerta brother. Ezequiel identified himself immediately. The two young men told the police that they had been at Huerta’s house for singing lessons when they were apprehended. The officer ordered Ezequiel to be put in one cell and the young men in another cell.

From his cell, Ezequiel gave encouragement to the young men. He told them to pray and leave everything in God’s hands. He himself meditated on the accounts of the many Cristeros who had been beaten, massacred and executed for the faith. He prayed for his priest brothers and for his other family members. At times, he broke the silence with whisperings of prayer: “Thank you, my Lord.”

At approximately 9 p.m. the soldiers returned. They stopped in front of Ezequiel’s cell, opened the door and threw something — someone — inside. Moans began to rise from the person who had just been dumped in the cell.

“Who is that man, Mr. Ezequiel?” asked the young man Bernal. “I do not know,” he replied.

Darkness surrounded the prisoners. Guided by the moaning, Ezequiel approached his new cellmate. He turned the body over and saw the hardly recognizable bruised and bloody face of his brother Salvador. His feet were bare and bloody.

“Salvador, Salvador,” Ezequiel whispered. “Can you hear me?”

His brother squeezed his hand and said, “What are you doing here, Ezequiel? They grabbed you, too? I give thanks to God that you are here, my brother.”

Salvador continued: “We must be strong because we do not know what awaits us. Brother, no matter what happens, we must continue until the end. If the hour has come and we have to give up our lives, it does not matter. We must endure. Now it is time to defend what is ours — our liberty and our country.”

Ezequiel took off his shirt and softly passed it over his brother’s bloody face and feet.

Fernando Calderas, one of the young men who had been arrested with Ezequiel, was especially friendly with Salvador. “What happened to you?” he asked from his own cell.

With broken words and between sobs of pain, Salvador recounted his interrogation and the charges brought against him for being a traitor to the country. The police asked him about his priest brothers and the whereabouts of the Cristeros.

They tried to make Salvador talk by slapping him, hitting him with a stick and burning him. They tied his hands to a ceiling beam and hit him hard all over his body until he bled. His tormentors tried everything they could to get him to talk, but they only heard Salvador’s unhurried praying of the Our Father in response.

After Salvador had recounted his torture to his brother and the two young men, the police returned, this time for Ezequiel. They led him to a room, tied him to a chair and demanded that he tell them all he knew about the Cristeros — their hideouts, priests’ names, locations of Masses, etc.

When he did not answer, they kicked him out of the chair to the floor. They hit him with sticks and whipped him. Hurt and bloodied, he remained silent. “Look,” said one officer, “if we hung your brother by his arms, we will hang you by your feet if you do not talk.”

His captors stripped Ezequiel below the waist and beat him all over with a leather strap. The officer leading the interrogation told him to confess or he would be killed immediately. Screams and moans filled the room.

Suddenly, despite his weakened condition, Ezequiel stood and began singing in a loud, strong voice: “Long live my Christ, long live my King! May his law prevail triumphantly everywhere! Long live Christ the King! Long live Christ the King!” Time and again he sang the Cristeros hymn and time and again he was whipped and beaten. It was reported that his singing could be heard throughout most of the police station.

Ezequiel was returned to his cell, where he reported to Salvador and the young men what had happened to him. “Were they able to get any information out of you?” Salvador asked.

“Brother,” Ezequiel replied, “they will obtain the information only in paradise…if they ever get there.”

Their Martyrdom

It was 1 a.m. on Sunday, April 3. The police and military did not know what to do with the Huerta brothers. It was decided to execute them at dawn.

According to Bernal and Calderas, this is what happened. The soldiers returned to find the Huerta brothers resting on the cot in their cell. The police lifted Salvador and Ezequiel from the cot. The brothers prayed that God give their friends and cellmates the strength to resist whatever happened to them. Bernal asked a soldier where the Huertas were being taken. “To the firing squad,” he replied.

As Ezequiel was being taken from the cell, he told the young men, “Do not worry. I am going to request to God that nothing happen to you.”

The group of soldiers disappeared by the stairs, taking with them the Huerta brothers.

Bernal and Calderas prayed to God that Ezequiel’s prayer for them be heard. At 10 a.m., the soldiers returned for the men. They thought it was their turn, but without any explanation two guards accompanied them to the gate of the station where they were thrown out into the street free men.

“When we got out of the station, we immediately went to the parish,” the two reported. “We were received in the rectory and given breakfast. We told all of them there what we had lived through.” They then went in search of the Huerta brothers’ bodies.

The cause for canonization of Ezequiel and Salvador Huerta was opened by the Archdiocese of Guadalajara in 1994. It is up to Rome to set the day, month and year in which the Church will glorify the whole world by proclaiming the sainthood of these martyrs who have a special connection to the Knights of Columbus.

This article, written by Columbia Editor Tim S. Hickey, is based on the English translation of the book Sangre de Mártir by Jorge Huerte Wilde. Luis A. Villares, a translator who works on the Spanish edition of Columbia, translated the book into English. Grand Knight Cristóbal Huerta Wilde presented Sangre de Mártir to Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson during the International Eucharistic Congress in Guadalajara last October.

[Coleus]

Amazing as it is, and for whatever reason, these outrages have occurred without a cry of protest upon the part of many of the world's most well known religious leaders. Like the Priest and the Levite (in the story of the good Samaritan) who ignored the plight of the man who was beaten and robbed by thieves, they too have "passed by on the other side."
It is not well known that one of the first countries to become a victim of the war on religion during the 20th century, and the first country in this hemisphere to be betrayed into Communism, was Mexico. To realize the full import of this, it is necessary to review some of Mexico's history leading up to these events.

Before the 19th century, primarily through the efforts of the Catholic Church, the inhabitants of Mexico were elevated to a settled Christian people, unified by a common faith, and possessing the arts and industries of a self-sustaining civilization. This was no less than a miracle of transformation from hostile nomadic tribes, speaking different languages, and ruled by the Aztecs who annually sacrificed tens of thousands of human beings upon their polytheistic altars.

The University of Mexico was established in 1553, almost a hundred years before Harvard. From the sixteenth to eighteenth century, it produced a series of native poets, dramatists, historians, jurists, scientists, and journalists of such excellence that North America had little comparable. Mexico had the first printing press in the new world. It was engaged in printing catechisms, school texts, and Bibles. Evidence of culture was found in the churches that dotted the land, many of which had schools and hospitals in connection with their work.

Agriculture flourished and, by 1810, some exports were on a par with the United States. Many manufactured goods competed with England in volume. Everything about Mexico bore the fruits of a happy and industrious people led to this plateau of greatness by the love and leadership of the dedicated priests and nuns of the Catholic Church.

The decline of Mexico started when religious influence began declining after the king of Spain, Charles III, expelled the Jesuits in 1767 and the state seized the Jesuits' Pious Fund of some forty-five million dollars. This money had been used by the Jesuits to lend to small farmers at 5 percent interest, with the interest being used for charity.

When the Cadiz Constitution of 1820 restricted the rights and liberties of the Church, and The Cortes rejected Mexico's submitted Guarantees of Religious Independence and Union, Royalist leader Iturbide was proclaimed Emperor of an Independent Mexico.

But a peaceful and prosperous Mexico, united by a common religious faith, was not allowed to continue. The events that followed were replays of the events of the French Revolution..................

 

...............Garrido Canabal, who under Calles planned and carried out such conscience killing devices, had been sent to Russia to study the Soviet education system.
Under Calles 90 percent of the churches, and all Catholic schools and convents were confiscated and closed. Only twenty-five priests were allowed to minister to the 1,700,000 people in the Federal District. Priests were banned from fourteen states, many being tortured and slain. All bishops were listed for expulsion and amendments were posted in Congress demanding then-death.

Typical of Socialist regimes, every excuse was used to confiscate private property, even homes where church services were held, or priests were hidden. Rewards were offered to those who would report such "criminal offenses."

Through all of this, the blood of a gentle and devout people was being shed. The savagery against those who protested was such that on one occasion hundreds of women and children lay wounded or dying in the streets.

When 10,000 students and 60,000 parents marched in protest to Calles educational program, the United States Ambassador, Josephus Daniels, came to his aid with American support and eulogies to "Mexico's strong man."

When the Mexican people rose up in arms against sacrilege, rape and rapine (the Cristero period 1926-1929) and Calles forces were in danger of being overthrown, American combat planes were sent to drop tons of gas bombs and incendiary grenades on the freedom fighters. The only things the United States government showed any interest in protecting were the antireligious dictators and American oil, mineral, and banking interests.

Efforts to take the story of the plight of Mexico to the American press were effectively blocked by a censorship of silence. When a famous international reporter went to Mexico and wrote an authentic account of the events taking place, no large North American newspaper would print it. The New York Daily wanted the story, but the millionaire owner forbid the editor to touch it. By this time (1928), the Money Barons in New York had purchased control of the major newspapers in the United States and Mr. McCullagh had to go to England to find a publisher.

Although the Socialist rulers of Mexico spent millions of dollars on propaganda in U. S. newspapers, the truth did eventually begin to filter through. Much of the credit for the circumventing of the censorship was due to the efforts of the Knights of Columbus. As a result, protests from across America began to flow into Congress, the Senate, and the State Department. This resulted in a resolution of Congress (the Borah Resolution) calling for a Congressional investigation into the matter. Resolutions were also passed by six state legislatures supporting the Borah Resolution. Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish leaders also supported it.

from the book, The Secret Side of History

[Coleus]

Communism’s Resurgence

[Tax-chick]

Knights of Columbus Martyrs bump! These are such great stories ... especially as we watch our country imposing atheism more each year.

[Salvation]

The Secret Side of History, indeed.

Someday the world will know.

[Coleus]

It is not well known that one of the first countries to become a victim of the war on religion during the 20th century, and the first country in this hemisphere to be betrayed into Communism, was Mexico.....

[Knitting A Conundrum]

TAN Books, I believe, publishes a good book on this very issue, about the priests martyred in Mexico. It is a good read, if you don't know much about this.

[Coleus]

Thanks, I think I have a catalog for tan somewhere, I'll check it out.

[Dajjal]

Martyrs of Mexico bumpus ad summum

[livius]

Thank you for posting this. Both Mexico and Spain produced many martyrs for the faith in the 20th century. Because they were martyred by leftists, however, these martyrs were forgotten and ignored until very recently. Remember, the left can do no wrong; this, sadly, has been the view of some in the Catholic Church, too.

[Ciexyz]

Inspiring account.

[Pio]

Please order books from TAN ASAP! They are facing Chapter 11 bankrupcy and need to start showing a profit...like, yesterday.

[ArrogantBustard]

When 10,000 students and 60,000 parents marched in protest to Calles educational program, the United States Ambassador, Josephus Daniels, came to his aid with American support and eulogies to "Mexico's strong man."
When the Mexican people rose up in arms against sacrilege, rape and rapine (the Cristero period 1926-1929) and Calles forces were in danger of being overthrown, American combat planes were sent to drop tons of gas bombs and incendiary grenades on the freedom fighters. The only things the United States government showed any interest in protecting were the antireligious dictators and American oil, mineral, and banking interests. Shameful.

[Siobhan]

VIVA CRISTO REY

[Salvation]

Catholic Discussion Ping!

Please notify me via FReepmail if you would like to be added to or taken off the Catholic Discussion Ping List.

[Tribune7]

Thanks for posting. Bump

[Robert Drobot]

Keep up the good work.

[8mmMauser]

The events are remarkably similar, with no accident to those which took place where we lived in the '90's but following the French Revolution, the wars of the Vendee.

It is not only the painful sameness but the incredible sweeping under the rug of a huge atrocity. And history books skip over it or ignore it completely.


8mm

[Coleus]

Thank you Robert.

[AlaninSA]

Please FReepmail me if you'd like to be added to or removed from the KofC ping list.

[reagandemocrat]

I thought I'd seen this before.

As true today as ever.... no, even more.

RD