Saint Christopher Magallanes and Companions

Today is the Feast of Saint Chrisophter Magallanes and Companions.

Now, I have to admit, I had never heard of these Saints. And now I realized why. These Saints have only recently been raised to the altar by Pope John Paul II on May 21, 2000. And they were inserted into the universal calendar of the Church in the new 2002 edition of the Missale Romanum.

With a hat tip to Carolina Canonball over at The Crescat, I found out that Saint Christopher and Companions were a part of the Cristero rebellion in Mexico. This brings these Saints a little bit closer to home for me being in Texas and having a parishoner who has a great devotion to the Mexican Martyrs of the Cristeros rebellion, so much so that he taught himself Spanish just to be able to go to Mexico to learn more about the Cristeros. If you haven't heard of them, you might be more familiar with one of the more popular Martyrs of that movement, Blessed Miguel Pro.

I don't think many people realize that Mexico went through a Communist revolution and that the Catholic Church was suppressed to the point of the government putting priests and religious to death. Eventually the Cristeros formed and fought back against the government.

You can learn more about Saint Christopher (or Cristobal) Magallanes and Companions at Carolina Canonball's post and at the Patron Saint Index.

I also give a hat tip to Matt at Absolutely No Spin for bringing to my attention a Google Video about the Cristeros.

As a warning, there is a bit of foul language in it (subtitled). However, it gives a bit more history of some of the battles of the Cristeros and even covers the story of Saint Jose Sanchez del Rio, a young boy who was martyred during this time (and was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on November 20, 2005).



RS