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BLESSED
MIGUEL PRO
His
Birth
His Childhood
At the Jesuit Noviciate
Anti-Catholic Regime of Mexico
During the Persecution
His Imprisonment
Fr. Pro's Death
Miguel was born on January 13,1891, at Guadalupe, Zacatecas, near the center of one Mexico’s richest silver mining areas. He was the third child and the first son of Don Miguel Pro and his wife Josefa Juarez. He was baptized three days after his birth in the Franciscan Monastery’s Napoles Chapel. He was given the lengthy and impressive name Jose Ramon Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez.
When
Miguel was still a baby, the family moved to Mexico. There, his
investigative impulses and incessant physical activity constantly drew him
into mischief. A shy Aztec woman became a particular favorite of Miguel
often played with him. One day a woman brought a treat to Miguel a small
fruit called “tojocotes”. This caused some types of poisoning to
Miguel and he became violently ill and seemed into danger of death. His
Aztec friend sat sorrowfully to his bed, anguished at what her gift had
wrought and pleading with the Virgin of Guadalupe for the child’s life
and Miguel’s fever’s left. Many times his life was put into danger but
because of the strong faith and great devotion of his parents to Our Lady
of Guadalupe he was restored to full health.
TOP
From childhood, laughter and high spirits were hallmarks of Miguel’s personality. He was a born-clown, blessed with a sunny disposition and a playfulness that enriched the family’s nightly gatherings. When he entered into the school of Santillo, a city much closer to home. Miguel discovered that the school had an Anti-Catholic bias and he was prohibited to attend the mass. He was asked to attend the Protestant services but he refused it and rebelled. So the headmaster punished him, he was locked on the room. When the Pro family heard about the situation of Miguel in Santillo, they withdrew their son from the school.
At the age 14, Miguel helped his father in the office. One time
Miguel attended a mission in a nearby town with some visiting Jesuits who
were friends of his family, he dressed himself with a cassock and went out
to preach to the neighboring ranchos. The people didn’t recognized that
he is a faked, so when a real priest saw him, the priest didn’t exposed
him as a fake because of his good preaching instead they dragged him back
to their quarters. TOP
Miguel
entered the Jesuit Novitiate at the Hacienda El Llano in Michoacan on
August 10, 1911. On August 15, 1933, he made his vows, becoming a
professed member of the Society of Jesus. Miguel was ordained priest in
Belgium on August 13, 1925. On arriving to Guadalajara, Miguel was
brokenhearted to see his family’s poverty but overwhelmed at the heroic
faith of his uncomplaining mother. Because of the situation of the group
of seminarians, they move from one country to another country.
Miguel
was ordained priest in Belgium on August 31, 1925. His only sadness was
that none of his family members could be there with him, but being a
priest for him is enough. He made his first blessings for his family by
the photographs he kept on the room. When he wrote to his classmates he
said, “At first I felt rather embarrassed, but after the consecration I
felt nothing but heavenly peace and joy…the only petition I made to Our
Blessed Lord is to be useful to souls.
Miguel always feel the pain of his stomach, so to relieve the pain he just make funny faces just to overcome the grimace pain, but it turn to worst that even the superiors ordered an operation for him. His first operation was grief stricken for him because he receives news of his mother’s death but he had an intuition that his mother was already in heaven. They made three operations for Fr. Pro but his health still not improving, so his Belgian superior decided to send him back to Mexico, perhaps it will improve his health or if not he had also the consolation of dying near to his love ones. It is probable that Fr. Pro’s superior did not realize how severe the Mexican political situation was. TOP
ANTI-CATHOLIC
REGIME OF MEXICO
Mexico was controlled by Calles who is an Anti-Catholic when Fr.
Pro came and it was God’s will that he was admitted to his country not
knowing that he is a priest because he will going to be deported and they
didn’t even inspect the baggage of Fr. Pro. At that time Calles issued a
provision “ Constitution of Queretero ”, infamous 33 articles which
dissolves religious orders, forbade priest to criticize government and
public worship will under the supervision of secular powers. So it is very
impossible for the priest to continue their ministry so they withdrew from
the country with the authorization of Pope Pius XI.
But
even there is a Roman persecution, Fr. Pro stayed in Mexico because he was
not known as a priest in his country so he is able to continue the
ministry and preaching to several parishes. Fr. Pro was given a special
privilege by the Holy See that only essential parts of the Mass can be
said, any bread can be used as host and even a common glass can be used as
chalice, but it had to be broke in respect to the Precious Blood.
In order to give conferences and preaching he often adopt to
disguise like for instance to dressed as a mechanic to preach to a
Chauffeur (cab and bus drivers). But there is a danger one day when the
policemen heard of the ministry, Fr. Pro manages to escape from them. When
he saw a girl walking, he linked arms with her and tells the girl that he
is a priest, the girl is also a Catholic so he reacted immediately and
perfectly. When the policemen passed they thought that the two are
“lovers”. Fr. Pro made many disguises to continue his ministry and to
escape from the policemen. He used bicycle to give communions, wearing a
scraggly mustache with a cigarette on his lips and others.
Miguel’s brother Humberto was
an active supporter of the League for the Defense of Religious Liberty and
they called themselves Cristeros or “soldiers of Christ”, so Humberto
had fallen into police suspicion. Humberto was never allied to any but the
civic and religious activities of the League and testified to this under
the oath shortly before his death. TOP
The danger increases and many assassinations had happen to
politician and Catholics were robbed, tortured and killed. And time came
that Fr. Pro and his brother Humberto was captured because Calles accused
them that they are the bombers who tried to kill General Obregon but they
were innocent. Despite of Fr. Pro’s solid alibi for the time of
assassination on General Obregon, he was guilty in the eyes of Calles of
even worse crime – he was a catholic priest. They were thrown into cells
and while on the cells they decorated the walls with their favorite
slogans “Viva Cristo Rey” and “Viva La Virgen de Guadalupe”, and
they sing and prayed the rosary.
Calles ordered the execution on the 23th of November 1927. Fr. Pro
was the first led out to the cells and Calles want the execution to be
witnessed by many persons – the representatives of government, the
government secretariat, the press and photographers. Fr. Pro walked for
his execution with his crucifix and with his rosary escorted by the group
of policemen and some photographers around him.
Fr.
Pro was allowed to pray before his execution for just two minutes. On his
execution he rejected to be blindfolded and stood with his arms
outstretched in the form of a cross and facing the firing squad. And he
spoke his last words, “Viva Cristo Rey”- Long Live Christ the King,
and the guns were fired and met his martyrdom calmly and heroically. But
the firing squad did not kill the courageous priest. Though mortally
wounded, he still breathed. One of the soldiers walked over and fired a
bullet into his head, delivering the coup
de grace. A last phone call from the Argentine minister to Mexico save
the life of Roberto Pro, who was later exiled to the United States.
TOP
The death of Fr. Miguel Pro were known worldwide and this is the
thing that Calles didn’t realized, and it is too late when he tried to
stop the publication of the photographs of the execution. Thousands of
people came all over the City. Many brought crucifixes and rosaries to
pray for Fr. Pro and his brother. Although Calles had forbidden any public
demonstration, the people acted in open defiance, knowing that there were
no enough jails in Mexico to hold all who wished to pay homage to the
saintly priest and his martyred brother. Over thousands of peoples
attended the funeral and over 500 cars were in the funeral procession.
Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez was beatified in Rome by Pope John Paul II on September 25, 1988 and his remains were in the church of the Holy Family in Colonia Roma .
SECULAR NEWS
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