The Holy Jester: A story of martyrdom in Revolutionary Mexico

Marisol Lopez-Menendez

Marisol Lopez-Menendez

Abstract

In 1927, amidst a bloody religious conflict between Catholic partisans and the Mexican state, a 36-year-old priest, Father Miguel Pro, was charged with plotting against the President-Elect at the time, Alvaro Obregon. After a hastily carried out investigation, he was executed. The present paper analyzes some of the ways in which Pro has been memorialized, linking these processes with the socio-historical conditions prevalent at different times in twentieth century Mexico. Discussion then moves to some of the modes in which a narrative of martyrdom is made to infuse death with meaning, and how it changes over time to fit different social necessities.

References

Bailey, D.C. (1974). Viva Cristo Rey! The Cristero Rebellion and the Church State Conflict in Mexico. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Bowersock, G.W. (1995). Martyrdom and Rome. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press

Boyarin, D. (1999). Dying for God. Martyrdom and the Making of Christianity and Judaism. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Brown, P. (1981). The Cult of The Saints. Chicago: Chicago Press.

Dragon, A.S.J. (1930). Miguel Agustin Pro of the Society

of Jesus: martyr of Christ the King. Montreal: The Messenger Press.

Dragon, A. (1961). Vida Íntima Del Padre Pro. Mexico: Editorial Jus.

Durkheim, E. (1979). Suicide. A study in Sociology. Edited with an introduction by George Simpson. New York: The Free Press.

Fields, R. (2004). Martyrdom. The Psychology, Theology, and Politics of Self-Sacrifice. Contemporary Psychology. Westport Connecticut and London: Praeger.

Frend, W.H.C. (1967). Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church. A Study of a Conflict from the Maccabees to Donatus. New York: New York University Press.

González, F.M. (2001). Matar y morir por Cristo Rey. Aspectos de la Cristiada. México: Plaza y Valdés.

Lifshitz, F. (2002). The martyr, the Tomb, and the Matron: Constructing the (“Masculine”) Past as a Female Power Base in Althoff, Gerd (Editor) Medieval Concepts of the Past. Ritual, Memory, Historiography. Cambridge: German Historical Institute and Cambridge University Press.

Meyer, J. (1974). La Cristiada. Vol. 1 Mexico: Siglo XXI editores. Norman, G. (1930). God’s Jester. New York: Benziger Bros.

Palomar y Vizcarra, M. (1945). Anotación a la Obra “Apuntes Históricos” escrita por la Señora Doña María Toral de De León, Madre del Magno Ti ranicida Cristiano Ejecutor del Déspota Álvaro Obregón, “con el objeto de que la memoria de José de León Toral se perpetúe entre sus descen dientes y que su verdadera historia pase intacta a la posteridad” Unpublished manuscript.

Parsons, W. (1936). Mexican Martyrdom. New York: MacMillan Company.

Reich, P. (1997). The Mexican Catholic Church and Constitutional Change since 1929 The Historian, Vol. 60 (1) 77-86.

Slane, C. (2004) Bonhoeffer as Martyr. Social Responsibility and Modern Christian Commitment. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press.

Van Henten, J.W. & Avemarie, F. (2002). Martyrdom and Noble Death. Selected text from Graeco-Roman, Jewish and Christian antiquity. London: Routledge.

Weiner, E. & Weiner, A. (2002). The Martyr’s Conviction. A Sociological Analysis. Lanham: University Press of America.

Weinstein, D. & Bell, R.M. (1982). Saints & Society. The Two Worlds of Western Christendom 1000-1700. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Woodward, K.L. (1990). Making Saints. How the Catholic Church Determines Who Becomes a Saint, Who Doesn’t, and Why. New York: Simon and Schuster.