Saint Jose Sanchez del Rio
Patron: of Persecuted Christians, Children and Adolescents.
St. José Luis Sánchez del Río was born on March 28, 1913 in Sahuayo, Michoacán, Mexico as the third of four children in his family. José loved his faith and grew up with a strong devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
José was 12-years-old when the Cristero War began in Mexico. During this time, the Mexican government wanted to extinguish the influence of the Catholic Church throughout the country. They started executing priests, seizing the Catholic Church's property, and closing religious schools and convents, in accordance with anti-clerical laws that were written into the Mexican Constitution.
People from many of the central and western states in Mexico rebelled against the government in defense of the Catholic Church. José's brothers joined the rebel forces, but his mother would not allow him to participate. Prudencio Mendoza, the rebel general, also refused José's enlistment because he was too young to join the rebellion.
But José desperately wanted to be a Cristero. He wanted the chance to stand up for his faith. He begged his mother to let him join, saying, "Mama, do not let me lose the opportunity to gain Heaven so easily so soon."
The general finally allowed José to become the flagbearer of the troop. José was nicknamed Tarcisius by the Cristeros, after the early Christian saint martyred for protecting the Eucharist.
Image: "Saint Jose Luis Sanchez del Rio", painting by Rene Martinez Valdez.
Comments
Post a Comment