Blessed Miguel Pro, American Martyr

During this time, regular practice of the Catholic faith became a criminal offence, and increasingly corrupt investigations and bribery of informants made secrecy a necessary part of sacramental life. Miguel Agustín Pro, a pious young man with a sense of humour, had entered the Society of Jesus. He was forced to flee the country in 1914 to continue his priesthood studies, but his desire to return to Mexico never left him.

Ordination of Father Miguel Pro

After spending time in in California where he learned quick command of the English language, he spent several years at the Jesuit house in Granada, and began teaching in Nicaragua in 1919. Pro returned to Europe to finish his theological training in Belgium, and here was ordained priest. Tears of joy ran down his face as he pronounced the words of Consecration for the first time. He wrote to his family in Mexico:

‘I went straight back to my room and spread out all the photographs of my family, I blessed them with my whole soul. Then I went out to the garden to give my blessing to members of the community. I started out very strong, but after the third pass I began to sob. A well-meaning man, fourth in line, asked me if my mother had come for the ordination, God forgive him!’’

Soon after his ordination, Father Pro became very sick and had to undergo several excruciating operations for stomach ulcers. He endured his pain with love and found strength in prayer. The prognosis was bleak, no medical cure was possible, and the doctor’s advice was echoed by Pro’s religious superior: ‘return to your homeland to die.’

Returning to Mexico

By this time every religious act had been legally prohibited in Mexico, but Pro’s return was an answered prayer. He dressed in lay clothes and went about hearing thousands of confessions, distributing Holy Communion, officiating weddings, and providing comfort to the oppressed and downtrodden people in Mexico. On one occasion he distributed Holy Communion to fifteen-hundred souls in one day. His orders were to avoid anything political, and to focus on ministry. He wrote: ‘My disguise as a student affords me much liberty, I buzz about on my bicycle day and night and do much good.’

Imprisoned

Confusion over the failed assassination attempt of General Álvaro Obregón landed Pro in prison, his brother used to own the car that was used. The connection was merely incidental, but it gave authorities the pretence they needed. While incarcerated, Pro calmly answered his interrogators, giving his personal information and showing that he had no connection to the conspiracy. Nevertheless, Pro was to be an example to catholics all around Mexico.

“Viva Cristo Rey, Long Live Christ the King”

Father Pro was executed without a trial by firing squad on 23 November 1927. Newspaper photographers were invited to extensively document the event, and to make it a warning. His last words, ‘Viva Cristo Rey, Long Live Christ the King!’ rang out all over Mexico. Normal people, even those who had taken no definite stance on the persecutions, saw Father Pro in their newspapers standing resolute, his arms outstretched in the form of a cross, and support for the catholic cause grew overnight. Forty-thousand thronged the streets for the funeral procession, twenty-thousand more crowded the cemetery. No priest was allowed at the gravesite, but Pro’s own father said the commendation. Pro’s cause cried out to heaven and was given a swift answer. The government struggled to quell support for Mexico’s catholic faith, and gradually anticlerical laws were repealed.