Biography of Saint José Sánchez del Río, the Cristero Child
On Sunday, October 16, 2016, the canonization of José Sánchez del Río, the “cristero boy”, who was just under 15 years old when he was tortured and murdered in February 1928 in Sahuayo (Michoacán, Mexico), was celebrated in Rome, during the anti-Catholic persecution of the secularist regime of Plutarco Elías Calles.
He was beatified on November 20, 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI and canonized as a saint of the universal Church on October 16, 2016 by Pope Francis. The miracle that made his canonization possible was the miraculous healing in 2008 of Ximena Guadalupe Magallón Gálvez, a baby who suffered from meningitis, tuberculosis and a stroke in Sahuayo.
The young saint was part of the Cristero militias but was not a combatant, and was arrested, tortured and killed in cold blood, in an elaborate ritual, explicitly inviting him to reject the faith. He was not a victim of war, but of religious persecution by political power.
Biography of Jose Sanchez del Rio
The Martyr José Sánchez del Río was born in Sahuayo, diocese of Zamora (Michoacán, Mexico), on March 28, 1913. He was baptized in the parish of Santiago Apóstol de Sahuayo, where he would be imprisoned and where his martyrdom would begin fourteen years later. . His parents were Macario Sánchez and María del Río who had four children: Macario, Miguel, José (the martyr) and María Luisa. The boy Joselito, as he was familiarly called, made his first communion at the age of about 9 years.
When the Catholic movement of the “cristeros” began, his two older brothers, members of the Catholic Action of the Mexican Youth, joined the movement for the Defense of Religious Freedom. In Guadalajara, where the family had been forced to move, the young man José visits the tomb of the young lawyer Anacleto González Flores, cruelly martyred on April 1, 1927 and who would be proclaimed blessed in 2005 along with eight other young laymen, including which was Joseph himself, and three other priests.
Joselito
The young José then asked God to be able to die like Anacleto in defense of the Catholic faith. He would achieve such a grace, almost a year later, on February 10, 1928, in the midst of persecution, when, after having joined the “cristeros” for reasons of conscience and serving as their standard bearer with the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe and the national colors of Mexico, and without taking part directly in the armed conflicts, he fell prisoner of the government troops, when he freely ceded his horse to one of the “Cristero chiefs” so that he could escape, fully aware that this meant his capture and a subsequent horrific death.
Joselito prayed the Rosary daily and received the Sacraments, although they were prohibited.
The 27 witnesses of his Process on martyrdom remember him as a normal, healthy and jovial boy, and assure that he attended catechism and was distinguished by his commitment to difficult parish activities, not allowed in those times of persecution; he approached the sacraments when he could, because public worship was prohibited, endangering his life; he prayed the holy rosary every day together with his family, deeply Christian. Despite being still very young, José knew very well what Mexico was experiencing in that persecution.
Insistence to go with the cristeros
From that moment on, his resolution was stronger and stronger asking his parents for permission to join the “cristeros”, which despite an initial reasonable prudence on the part of his parents as well as the “cristeros” leaders, given his young age, they finally consented. To the objections of his parents, the young boy replied: “Mom, going to heaven has never been as easy as it is now.
Finally, the young boy obtained his father’s blessing and was able to join them. In the summer of 1927 he tries to join the “cristeros” along with another friend of his, Lázaro, a teenager like him, and after multiple adventures, they manage to reach the “cristeros”, who repeatedly wanted to return them to their homes, given their young age and the deadly dangers to which they were exposed.
José’s occupations consisted fundamentally of serving in simple tasks that did not involve his commitment to active fighting and being a standard bearer at all. In a clash between the “Cristeros” and the government troops on February 6, 1928, the young José gave his horse to a Cristero leader and thus fell prisoner along with a young Indian friend of his.
Letter to his mother: ready for martyrdom
Prisoners in the town of Cotija, on the same day 6 he was able to send a letter to his mother from the dark and smelly prison of Cotija.
«Cotija, Monday February 6, 1928. My dear mother: I was taken prisoner in combat this day. I think that right now I’m going to die, but nothing matters, mom, resign yourself to the will of God, I’m dying very happy, because I’m dying for Our Lord. Don’t worry about my death, which is what mortifies me; first, tell my other brothers to follow the example of the youngest and you do the will of God. Have courage and send me the blessing along with my father’s. Say hello to everyone for the last time and you, finally receive the heart of your son who loves you so much and to see you before dying he would have wanted. Joselito Jose Sanchez del Rio.
His parish, desecrated and converted into a prison-stable
The two boys were taken to Sahuayo on February 7 and locked up in the parish church of Santiago, which had been converted into a prison for several Catholics and a stable for government troops. The soldiers, among other desecrations, had turned the presbytery and the Tabernacle into a chicken coop for “fighting cocks”, owned by the political boss of the region. Faced with such desecration, young José reacted strongly by killing the roosters, and without fear of death threats from that chief, who among other things had been a family friend and godfather of his first communion.
He, who had always distinguished himself for his devotion to the Eucharist, responded to that boss on February 8: “The house of God is for praying, not for using it as a stable for animals… I am ready for anything. You can shoot me. In this way I will immediately find myself in the presence of God. “
One of the soldiers violently hit him in the mouth with the butt of the rifle, breaking his teeth, as in fact could be verified during the exhumation of his remains. As immediate revenge, and in the presence of José, his companion Lázaro was hanged in the square in front of the church; Believing him dead, they abandoned him and he was saved by the gravedigger, while Joseph continued to be imprisoned in the baptistery of the church, where he had been baptized.
Inviting him to change sides
He was repeatedly invited to pass to the part of the pursuers; and that political boss made several very flattering proposals such as enrolling him in the prestigious military school of the Regime or sending him to the United States, but the young man firmly rejected them.
That political boss then asked the young man’s family for a ransom of 5,000 gold pesos that José’s father handed over, and that the persecutor received despite the fact that he had already had the young man assassinated the night before. José had repeatedly asked his parents not to pay that ransom since he had already offered his life to God and that “his faith was not for sale”.
On February 7, taken to Sahuayo, and already imprisoned in the parish church, the soldiers informed the two young boys of their decision to shoot them. They would remain there for three days. On February 10, 1928, José was transferred around 6 in the afternoon from the parish to a nearby inn. Around 7 in the afternoon he manages to send a letter to his aunt María, where she informs him that he would be shot shortly after for his fidelity to Christ and the Catholic faith, and asks another aunt, named Magdalena, to bring him Communion . She will make it. It all happened around 8 at night.
They cut off the soles of his feet
In that inn, converted into a troop barracks, the soldiers flayed his feet with a dagger.
Two witnesses testify as follows: “On the third day of prison, late at night, they took him to an inn that was on Santiago street in front of the parish church, the soldiers skinned his feet with a knife. Between where José was and where I was, there was only a wall in between and I heard José saying: “What are you waiting for, what are you waiting for?” I did not hear laments, I only heard José’s resigned voice. I saw the footprints of blood from the soles of his feet in the portal called Arregui, which is on the street that leads to the pantheon. They also tortured him in the inn. They took him at night because they did not want people to realize that they were going to kill him. kill. They took him to the pantheon where he was first stabbed and then they gave him the coup de grâce in the head. “When they cut off the soles of his feet, they made him walk on Colima salt (which are very coarse grains). , they took him out of the inn and took him walking barefoot and bleeding, they took him walking on the cobblestones to the mouth of the portal; each step he took left the imprint of his completely bloody feet, a pure sore,…”.
Around 11 pm, after skinning his feet, they made him walk, beating him, through the street that led to the municipal cemetery. The butchers wanted to force him to apostatize from the faith with torture, but they did not succeed. His lips only opened to shout “Long live Christ the King and Holy Mary of Guadalupe!”.
final execution
Arriving at the cemetery, the chief of the soldiers ordered them to stab him to prevent the shots from being heard in the town. There was curfew. The young martyr, at each stab wound, shouted with a sharp voice: “Long live Christ the King!”, “Long live Holy Mary of Guadalupe!”. Then, the military chief, with his pistol, fired a couple of shots at him in the head. His body was thrown into a small pit, covered with a little earth. It was 11:30 p.m. on Friday, February 10, 1928.
Then, during the deep night, the gravedigger and some good souls secretly returned to the place, took him out of the pit, covered him with a sheet and buried him again in the same place. In 1954, the remains of the Martyr were interred and transferred to the nearby church of the Sacred Heart. In 1996 they were buried again and transported to the parish of Santiago Apóstol in Sahuayo, next to the baptistery, where he had been baptized and where he had been imprisoned until shortly before his martyrdom.
The Church had to carry out its pastoral action clandestinely. But the government did not allow it. The police dedicated themselves to searching, registering and searching houses where the sacraments were celebrated privately and the priests were persecuted and wanted as criminals.
The priests, by government order, were…