Today is the Feast of Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro (1891 – 1927), a Mexican Jesuit priest executed for his faithfulness to Jesus Christ and his Holy Church by an anti-Catholic Mexican regime which pursued, what the English writer Graham Greene described as, the “fiercest persecution of religion anywhere since the reign of Elizabeth”. Happy feast day!
After years in exile due to the persecution of the Masonic-led government, Padre Pro arrived back to Mexico in 1926 to a country in which crucifixes had been ripped off the walls, religious statues had been smashed, Catholic publications had been closed, and many other priests had left the country fearing for their lives.
Being one of the few priests at that time in Mexico, Blessed Miguel devoted his life to bringing hope to the people who were being oppressed by a government who were openly saying that they hated Jesus Christ and his Holy Church.
Blessed Miguel was sentenced to death amid the Cristero War (1926–29), which broke out in response to that brutal persecution of Catholics. While facing his firing squad, he forgave his persecutors before raising his arms in imitation of Christ and crying out, “Viva Cristo Rey!” That is, "Long live Christ the King!”
Blessed Miguel Pro was beatified in Rome on September 25, 1988, by Pope St. John Paul II as a Catholic martyr. Blessed Miguel Pro, pray for us! Viva Cristo Rey!