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Torture and Death

This Rock Volume 18, Number 7   September 2007     Reasons for Hope By Cherie Peacock   Letters   Keep It Together: Advice from the Trenches By Pete Vere, JCL   Further Reading   ¡Viva Cristo Rey!: The Cristeros versus the Mexican Revolution By Christopher Check   Mexico’s Tarcisius: José Sánchez del Río   Torture and Death   Further Reading   More Than a Feeling: What it Means to Follow Your Conscience By Leon J. Suprenant, Jr.   Have You Examined Your Conscience Lately?   Further Reading   God of Desire By Christopher Kaczor   Let Me Count the Ways   Further Reading   Something’s Wrong with John   Damascus Road An Unexpected Sequel By Leona Choy   By the Book Hail Mary, Conceived without Sin By Tim Staples   Eyes to See Let Your Face Shine on Us By Michael Schrauzer   Truth be Told An Inquisition Primer By Robert P. Lockwood   Quick Questions   Last Writes By Karl Keating    Subscribe    Permissions

While Cristeros often spared the lives of captured federal soldiers, the reverse was not true. Cristeros who were captured in battle were executed after undergoing torture designed to force the Catholic soldiers to reveal military secrets and to deny the faith. Electric shock, burning with blow torches, hanging by thumbs, and broken bones were common. It was also common to drag prisoners behind a horse and then quarter them alive. A widespread form of torture was to flay the soles of the feet and force the victim to walk on rock salt. Nonetheless, many Cristero prisoners died bravely, and the accounts of their deaths inspired their brothers-in-arms.

Priests captured by the Mexican government, whether they were actively serving with the Cristeros or had simply refused to register with the government, were hanged or shot. Among them was the sixty-two year old Fr. Mateo Correa Magallanes, who refused to tell federal officers what Cristero prisoners had told him in confession. Most famous of the martyred priests is Bl. Miguel Pro, unjustly implicated in a failed assassination attempt on Calles’ successor, Álvaro Obregón. Pro died before a firing squad with his arms outstretched like our Lord crucified, shouting "¡ Viva Cristo Rey!" Calles ordered the execution photographed, hoping that the grisly images would discourage Catholics supporting the Cristeros. But the photos had the opposite effect, and soon Calles was forbidding papers to print them. Although Fr. Pro himself was not part of any armed rebellion, his martyrdom inspired others to take up arms in support of the Cristeros.