The Boy of Faith

Mass on Presidio in an unoccupied classroom...
But the ashes are the same regardless!  

This year the date of this saint falls on Ash Wednesday...the day set aside to remember that we are all sinners and need to seek God's mercy.  We have ashes placed on our foreheads and hear the words,

"Remember you are dust,
and to dust you shall return."

For today's saint, these words must have been a comfort knowing that he would not only return to dust but be raised to heaven as a martyr for the Lord he loved.

Blessed Jose Luis Sanchez del Rio

Feast Day: February 10
Born: 1913
Death: 1928
Mexico

Jose was born during a tumultuous time for his country.  The Christians of Mexico were being persecuted by the newly formed Communist government.  The Cristero Wars had begun and young Jose did not know life without the struggles for the faith.

From a young age Jose had a great love and enthusiasm for the Blessed Sacrament, and encouraged his friends to have more devotion to Our Lord and Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Whenever Jose heard of the glorious battles of the Cristeros, which his two brothers were engaged in, his desire to join the holy army grew.  Finally, Jose wrote a letter to one of the Cristero Generals, Prudencio Mendoza, pleading to be allowed to fight. The general finally agreed...Jose was only 14 years old.

During a battle, Jose was rushing to bring a fellow soldier a new supply of ammo.  Just then, he caught sight of the General whose horse had been shot dead.  On foot, without a horse, the General was extremely vulnerable.  Making a sacrifice that would ultimately cost him his life, Jose freely gave the general his own horse.  Moments later, Jose was caught by the federalists and locked up in a church sacristy that had been turned into a prison.

Jose, knowing he would die for the faith, secretly asked for the Eucharist to be brought to him to strengthen his soul for martyrdom.

On the way to execution, soldiers struck him savagely with sharp machetes.  With every blow, the young boy cried out, "Viva Cristo Rey!"  When he got to the cemetery, he was bleeding heavily.  His torturers had also cut off the soles of his feet and forced him to walk on salt.  The boy screamed with pain but would not give in.  As the road was nothing but rocks and dirt, the stones where he had walked were soaked in his blood.  The soldiers said:  "If you shout, ‘Death to Christ the King’, we will spare your life."  He only answered: "Long live Christ the King! Long live Our Lady of Guadalupe!"

The commander ordered the soldiers to bayonet Jose.  They pierced his body.   But with every stab he only shouted louder and louder: "Viva Cristo Rey!"  The commander was so enraged that he pulled out his pistol and on February 10, 1928 killed Blessed Jose on the spot.

The martyrdom was witnessed by two children, one of seven years and the other nine, who later became founders of religious congregations. One of them is the Rev. Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ.  The other witness to the events was the nine year old Enrique Amezcua Medina, founder of the Priestly Confraternity of the Operators of the Kingdom of Christ.

He was declared a martyr and beatified in 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI. People have given him the title of The Martyr of Sahuayo and The Martyr of Christ the King.

For some, you might remember the appearance of Jose in the recent movie about the Cristero Wars, For Greater Glory (2012).  However dramatic the movie made his death, the true story is so much more...and the ability to unify the faithful after his death was monumental.  We have actually enjoyed the story of his life told by Glory Stories (listen on line!), which also includes a testimony from the young boys who witnessed his death.