Between heaven
and earth
Between light
and dark
Between faith
and sin
Lies only my
heart
Lies God and
only my heart
-
Opening Poem, For
Greater Glory; Movie depicting the Cristero War
The Cristero War or the
Cristero Rebellion (1926–29), also known as La Cristiada, was a widespread
struggle in central-western Mexico in response to the imposition of secularist
and anti-clerical articles of the 1917 Constitution of Mexico, which were
perceived by opponents as anti-Catholic measures aimed at imposing state
atheism.
President Plutarco Elías Calles of Mexico moved to enforce
certain articles of the Mexican Constitution, articles aimed at eliminating the
power of the Catholic Church and suppressing popular religious celebrations. The ensuing conflict pitted the Mexican army against
tens-of-thousands of armed civilians.
These civilians included a women’s brigade, known as the Feminine
Brigades of St. Joan of Arc, who assisted the rebels in smuggling guns and
ammunition. At its height, upwards of
25,000 women were reported to be involved in its activity. The civilians also consisted of priests, who
were tortured and murdered in public (and later canonized by Pope John Paul
II).
The American Knights of Columbus collected more than $1
million to assist exiles from Mexico, to continue the education of expelled
seminarians and to inform citizens of the US about oppression. High-ranking members of the Ku Klux Klan
offered President Calles $10,000 to help fight the Catholic Church.
Pope Pius XI would issue three papal encyclicals on this
matter between 1925–37. In these, he
denounced the actions of the Mexican government, yet asked the Church in Mexico
to abide by the orders ceasing all services.
He also called for an end to the armed rebellion. Let’s just say that some of the rebellious
faithful failed to comply.
The movie is wonderful, and worth watching. At Amazon, from over 1,000 reviews, it
receives 4.8 / 5.0 rating. Count me
among the 5.0. In the reviews, there are
many comments in favor of standing up to religious oppression, of stories from descendants
of those who lived and fought during this period of Mexican history, and of
what happens when government works to stand in the place of God.
Many of these reviews were written even as recently as the
last couple of years.
Conclusion
The Battle Hymn of the Cristeros ended with the line "¡Viva
Cristo Rey!" – Long live Christ the King!
Today we have king corona.
It is amazing what a little bug can do.
The original Latin American revolutions against Spain were partly fueled by parish priests who were sold out by their Bishops when the Bourbons replaced the Habsburgs on the Spanish throne and government became far more centralized. The higher clergy appointed by the Bourbons were all Spanish, instead of some creoles or mestizo under the Habsburgs. This Spanish higher clergy in Latin America balanced its accounts to the detriment of the lower clergy when the Bourbons reduced tax privileges to the churches. The parish priests and parishioners got tired of the centralization and taxes.
ReplyDeleteThe Mexican government remains anti-Christian and anti-European. Our family lives in Mexico and home-schools our four children. Recently we had to evacuate from our home due to violence and insecurity in our community. I sent my wife and kids to a nearby city and enrolled the two younger kids in a church run school rather than attempt to continue homeschooling through such a difficult time. I was horrified to discover that the church school uses the official government curriculum. The history and geography textbooks have a blatant anti-Christian and anti-European bias. The accomplishments of Christian civilization are minimized and those of Egypt, the Arabs, the Mayans and the Aztecs are inflated. The rest of the curriculum promotes sexual perversion and the myths of overpopulation and climate change. As you can imagine we will not be enrolling in the school for another semester.
ReplyDeleteFor more information on the background to the Mexican persecution I think you would find Alberto Villasana's essay, The Origin and Essence of Mexican Identity, very helpful. The English translation from Spanish appeared in the July/August,2015 issue of Culture Wars Magazine, pg 14-19
ReplyDelete