Mexico’s Child Martyr Inspires Bravery and Faith

The little church is tucked away in the back streets of a Mexican resort town. Its utilitarian architecture lacks the colonial charm of the city’s cathedral where tour buses stop for photo ops. In this neighborhood, far removed from high-rise condos and hotels, the parishioners are primarily locals. North of the border visitors seldom wander in.

Once inside its doors, one could be in any small parish church anywhere in Mexico. Its walls are adorned with familiar images of Catholicism. There is Joseph holding the infant Christ, St. Charbel adorned with ribbons, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and, of course, Our Lady of Guadalupe. Near the door hangs a picture of Pope Francis. On the left wall, halfway back from the altar, is, as one often sees in a Mexican church, a painting of a teenage boy.

This picture might seem unfamiliar to a U.S. visitor. Its subject is not as instantly recognizable as some of the other statues and art. The boy’s image in the painting is almost photo realistic. He stares out from the frame, calm and confident, meeting viewers’ eyes. He wears blue jeans and a white button-down shirt. He looks like any number of young men who might be nearby, praying in pews or walking on the street. Without closer inspection, the unacquainted might dismiss the painting as an advertisement for the Mexican Catholic Youth Association. However, drawing nearer, the viewer spots a rosary in the boy’s right hand and a palm frond in his left. A discarded flag tossed behind him draws the viewer’s gaze to the ground, and there, one cannot help but notice bloody footprints and the young man’s bare, flayed feet.

This boy is Joselito, the child martyr of the Cristeros War. Declared venerable by St. John Paul II, beatified by Pope Benedict XVI, and canonized by Pope Francis, St. Jose Luis Sanchez del Rio is an early 20th century martyr protecting us today. He is the patron of persecuted Christians, children, and adolescents. He stands as a reminder of the constant threat to religious freedom. He stares out from his painting, imploring us to be brave and bold in our faith.

In a country so identified with Catholicism, the idea of recent martyrs might seem strange. As the Most Reverend Jose H. Gomez, Archbishop of Los Angeles, has stated, “Mexico was the original cradle of Christianity in the New World.” However, revolution and civil war marred the early decades of the 20th century and unleashed vicious repression of the Faith. By the 1920’s, the liberal, urban, and intellectual Constitutionalists were victorious. Their contempt for the Church became law.

The Mexican Church, so vibrantly essential to the country’s character, was under attack. The faith of the vast majority of its citizens was repressed. The unthinkable had been unleashed. Religious orders were banned. Priests were executed or forced into exile. Churches were nationalized and desecrated. As Archbishop Gomez stated, “That such oppression could happen in a nation so deeply Catholic as Mexico should make everyone stop and think.”

By 1926, Catholics could no longer tolerate attacks on their faith. A force of the faithful took up arms in the Cristero War to liberate the Church from state tyranny. Among the youngest of those eager to battle for Christ was a 13-year-old boy from Sahuayo, Michoacan, Jose Luis Sanchez del Rio—nicknamed Joselito.

When his older brothers enlisted, Joselito was eager to follow them to war. However, both his mother and the commander of the Cristeros in his hometown refused to allow him to enlist because of his age. But the youth knew that the call he felt from God to stand against repression could not be denied. He sought out the general of the Cristeros in the nearby town of Cotija. He persisted in his requests. The General, impressed by the boy’s faith, appointed him flagbearer for a local troop.

If the young saint’s story stopped here, it would still be inspirational. As so many teenagers today turn from the Faith, distracted by technology and a consumer society, Jose Luis Sanchez del Rio stands as inspiration for a better way. He was young in years, but his faith was solid. He rejected the world’s pleasures and seductions in favor of a place on the front line in the battle for religious freedom.

The saint’s story goes beyond his willingness to serve. By 1928, fighting in the Cristero War was intense. On February 6th of that year, a battle broke out in Cotija, and Joselito’s troops found themselves outnumbered. The Cistero soldiers were in retreat when a Mexican government soldier shot the general’s horse. The young saint, sensing that his leader was in danger, offered his own horse to save the man’s life. Joselito took cover, continuing to fight until government forces subdued and captured the Christians.

Because of his age, the army did not immediately execute the young man. Thinking someone so young would be easy to break, they took Jose to jail. There, they told him he would be spared in exchange for renouncing Christ. The youth refused. That night he wrote to his mother, “I think I am going to die at this moment, but that does not matter, mother. Resign yourself to the will of God: I am dying very happy, because I am dying on the line next to our God.”

The young saint was not killed that night. The government forces, infuriated by the stubbornness of the youth, began to torture Joselito. They knew the renunciation of his Faith would be a psychological victory for their side. Each time the army inflicted new pain, they would offer the youth release if only he would apostatize. However, the young saint’s resolve could not be shaken. Infuriating the atheists, Joselito prayed the rosary each day in prison and remained steadfast in his faith. The torture only seemed to strengthen the boy’s courage and increase his joy.

On February 7th, the army transferred their teenage prisoner back to his hometown of Sahuayo. The government had nationalized the town’s church, a holy place named for Santiago (St. James the Greater), the first apostle to be martyred. The government had desecrated the holy place, transforming it into a prison for the Cristeros. There, where Joselito and his family had worshipped and never imagined the horror of the war to come, the boy’s torture continued. Still, he refused to give the army what they wanted.

Certain the youth could not bear the sight of execution, the soldiers forced him to watch a fellow prisoner die. Again, young Joselito proved stronger than his oppressors. He did not break. He shouted encouragement to his fellow Christian, promising they would meet again soon in heaven.

On February 10th, the 14-year-old boy was sentenced to death. The soldiers were still certain they could make the future saint denounce the Church. They flayed the soles of the boy’s feet. They sliced him with machetes. In imitation of the soldiers who forced Christ along His sorrowful way to Golgatha, they marched the bleeding youth to the town’s cemetery.

There, they led him to an open grave. They asked him one last time to disown his Faith. St. Jose Luis Sanchez del Rio shouted back: “Viva Cristo Rey! Viva Santa Maria de Guadalupe!”  (Long live Christ the King! Long live St. Mary of Guadalupe!) The captain fired his pistol into the teenager’s head. The saint tumbled into his grave, and his soul soared to heaven.

Whatever the Mexican state had hoped to achieve by their brutal torture and murder of the boy saint was never to happen. The bloody footprints, mangled body, and testament of bravery bore witness to the government’s sin and the evil of their cause. Jose Luis Sanchez del Rio was a martyr for Christ and, like all martyrs, in his death was his victory.

The Cristeros war ended in a ceasefire in 1929, but the restored freedom of worship and continued impact of the Catholic Church is the result of the courage and sacrifice of the Cristeros. On the day of Joselito’s canonization, Cardinal Alberto Suarez Inda, Archbishop Emeritus of Morelia, said:

Jose Sanchez del Rio, who in a courageous, generous and determined way, preferred to die for Christ, longed for martyrdom as a grace; and now that Pope Francis is canonizing him today, we can certainly recognize that we have a great intercessor and a great example for youth.

United States Catholics might think St. Joselito speaks to a different people in an historic time. Freedom, however, is tenuous, and those who treasure it must be incessantly diligent. Young Catholics feel the need for the patronage of Mexico’s child martyr in places like Nicaragua where repressive regimes threaten the Faith. But perhaps the painting of the teenage saint that features so prominently in Mexico deserves its place in U.S. churches, too. Secular forces here may not be official or armed in our country, but they are strong.

St. Jose Luis Sanchez del Rio’s story has power to inspire us, particularly the young, giving us strength to defend our Church and be bold in our faith.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons