Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro

Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro was born on January 13, 1891, in Guadalupe, Zacatecas, Mexico, the son of a mining engineer. High-spirited and known throughout his life for his playful sense of humor, he entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1911. When the Mexican Revolution forced religious orders into exile, he continued his formation in the United States, Spain, Nicaragua, and finally Belgium, where he was ordained a priest in 1925. Throughout these years he suffered from a painful stomach ailment that repeated surgeries failed to cure. He returned to Mexico in 1926, just as President Plutarco Elías Calles began a fierce enforcement of anti-Catholic laws that outlawed public worship. Father Pro exercised a clandestine ministry in Mexico City, celebrating Mass in private homes, hearing confessions, distributing Communion, and organizing aid for the poor. Adopting disguises — a mechanic, a beggar, a well-dressed gentleman — he repeatedly slipped past the police who were hunting priests. In November 1927, a car that the Pro brothers had recently sold was used in a bombing attempt against former president Álvaro Obregón. Though he had no part in the plot, Father Pro was arrested with his brothers and, without a trial, was condemned to death. On November 23, 1927, he blessed the soldiers of the firing squad, knelt briefly in prayer, and then stood with his arms outstretched in the form of a cross. He died proclaiming 'Viva Cristo Rey!' — 'Long live Christ the King!' The government photographed the execution hoping to intimidate Catholics, but the images instead spread devotion to the martyr, and thousands defied the ban on public worship to attend his funeral procession. Pope John Paul II beatified Miguel Agustín Pro on September 25, 1988. His memorial is kept on November 23, and he remains one of the most beloved witnesses of the Cristero-era Church, honored especially in Mexico and among all who suffer for religious freedom.