Saint Christopher Magallanes and Companions

Priest and Companions, Martyrs

Feast Day

May 21

Life

1869–1927

Canonized

2000

Born

Totatiche, Jalisco, Mexico

Saint Cristobal Magallanes Jara was born at Totatiche, Jalisco, Mexico, on July 30, 1869. Ordained a priest in 1899, he served as parish priest of his native town and founded an auxiliary seminary there in 1915 after the closure of the seminary of Guadalajara during the Mexican Revolution.

The 1917 Mexican Constitution and subsequent legislation, especially the 1926 Calles Law, imposed severe restrictions on the Church: closure of religious schools, expulsion of foreign clergy, registration of priests with the civil government, and prohibition of public worship outside churches. Lay Catholics rose in armed resistance in what became the Cristero War (1926-1929).

Although Magallanes himself opposed armed rebellion, federal forces arrested him on May 21, 1927, while he was en route to celebrate Mass at a ranch. Without trial, he and Father Agustin Caloca were executed by firing squad at Colotitlan, Jalisco, on May 25, 1927. Magallanes's last recorded words were: I die innocent, and I ask God that my blood may serve for the union of my Mexican brothers.

Pope Saint John Paul II beatified Magallanes and twenty-four companions, twenty-two priests and three laymen, on November 22, 1992, and canonized them at Saint Peter's on May 21, 2000. The companions include the priest Saint Mateo Correa Magallanes, executed for refusing to violate the seal of confession. Their joint feast on May 21 is observed throughout the universal Church.