Today is the Feast of José Sánchez del Río.
I would very much like a relic of this wonderful saint. Anyone?
I suspect many people, perhaps even among the readers here, have convinced themselves that the persecution of the Church and Christians on a great scale could never happen in our time. There couldn’t possibly be such a change in our present conditions such that Catholics, priests especially, were rounded up and shot against the walls of their churches, hanged in their sanctuaries, put into concentration camps. No, No. That couldn’t possibly happen.
(Frankly, if the Catholics being rounded up also desired the TLM, highly placed prelates would help.)
Nor could a civilized society pass laws allowing abortion even up to the moment of entirely normal and natural birth. Nope. Couldn’t happen.
José Sánchez del Río, just a boy, joined the Cristeros when in Mexico there was a persecution of the Church by the government. Eventually he was captured. Soldiers made him watch the hanging of another Cristero in order to torment and break him, José – Josélito – encouraged the man, saying, “You will be in Heaven before me. Prepare a place for me. Tell Christ the King I shall be with him soon”. His captors tortured him by flaying the skin of the soles of his feet, forcing him to walk through salt, and then walk to the cemetery where he was to be executed. The soldiers said that if he denied Christ, they would spare him. Josélito shouted “Long live Christ the King! Long live Our Lady of Guadalupe!”. They shot him. He was 14 years old.
He was beatified during the pontificate of John Paul II and Francis proclaimed him to be a saint in 2016. Oddly, he does not appear on the Vatican Curia calendar. Hmmm….
His relics are to venerated in the Church of Saint James the Apostle in Sahuayo.
Here is an excerpt from the movie For Greater Glory, about the Cristeros. US HERE – UK HERE
Remember. This happened in the 20th c. But it could never happen today! Right?
Finally, there was a just too cool “coincidence” involving Josélito and the marvelous portable altars made by St. Joseph’s Apprentice. HERE
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I, in my turn, suspect that those people who “have convinced themselves that the persecution of the Church and Christians on a great scale could never happen in our time” simply haven’t been paying thoughtful attention to domestic and foreign news. Whether we’re looking at the end times or a bad patch coming up is anybody’s guess. Time to reread and reflect on Lord of the World and Lord of the Rings. And to pack your spiritual bags just in case.
It’s a thought provoking movie, especially now.
“He was beatified during the pontificate of John Paul II and Francis proclaimed him to be a saint in 2016. Oddly, he does not appear on the Vatican Curia calendar. Hmmm….”
José Luis was beatified by Cardinal José Saraiva Martins in Guadalajara, Mexico during the pontificate of Benedict XVI.
He was beatified as one of the eight companions of Blessed Anacleto González Flores. According to the Apostolic Letter, their memorial was assigned for November 20, the date of their beatification: https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/apost_letters/documents/hf_ben-xvi_apl_20051115_beatification-messico.html
José Luis was the only one canonized out of the group, since the approved miracle resulted from the family invoking his intercession only and not the group.
The reason Saint José Luis is not on the Vatican Curia calendar for Febraury 10 may be due to his memorial still being observed at the Vatican on November 20 according the Apostolic Letter. In Mexico, his memorial is celebrated on February 10.
Also, Saint José Luis Sánchez del Río can now be commemorated at Mass in the Extraordinary Form as permitted by the Decree “Cum sanctissima”.