Blessed Miguel Pro dons costumes to minister in a time of Catholic persecution in Mexico
When we think of church leaders, there’s often this image of mild-mannered pontiffs, carrying about their duties with a soft voice and direct earnestness. It’s not often that we think of a mischievous risk-taker, wearing costumes and ministering in the shadows. But then again, most church leaders do not face arrest for practicing their religion.
Such was not the case for the Blessed Miguel Pro.
Early 20th century Mexico saw the birth of a new nation following a revolution, and in 1917, the enactment of a new constitution. The framers of this constitution, however, took a hostile approach to the concept of separating church from state: Catholic churches were banned outright.
Only a few years prior to this, a young Miguel “Cocol” Pro from Guadalupe had taken his pastoral vows. Described as having “sparkling” wit by his elders, and as a voracious joke-player by his family, the young man would be forced to escape to Spain in order to complete his transition to priesthood. He achieved priesthood in Belgium in 1925, during the reign of a fiercely anti-Catholic Mexican president, Plutarco Elías Calles. Calles instituted five years imprisonment for those caught practicing religion. In spite of this, Miguel Pro felt the calling to return to Mexico.
Miguel Pro became known throughout Mexico City for dressing like a beggar and coming in the middle of the night to conduct various Catholic rites, including baptisms. He would disguise himself as a police officer in order to sneak into the jail and deliver sacrament to prisoners facing execution.
The rebel priest was constantly under surveillance following a 1926 arrest and release. The failed assassination of another public official in 1927, however, gave the president the pretense to have Pro and his brother arrested. The man accused of the attempted assassination testified to Pro’s lack of involvement. In spite of this, and without a trial, Miguel Pro was executed by firing squad. Accounts said that he declined a blindfold, faced his firing squad and, in the moment before his death, held his arms in a Christ-like pose and shouted “Viva Cristo Rey!” (“Long live Christ the King”).
Pictures of Pro’s execution, ordered by President Calle, ran in the papers the next day. Though Calle anticipated the execution would serve as a warning to the violent pro-Catholic insurgency, it instead served as a wake up call to those fighting to practice.
By 1988, the time of Pro’s beatification, open practice of Catholicism had fully returned to Mexico. A visit from the Pope John Paul II included a publicly-held mass and, in a speech at that mass, he said this about the late Pro:
“[Pro] is a new glory for the beloved Mexican nation, as well as for the Society of Jesus. His life of sacrificing and intrepid apostolate was always inspired by a tireless evangelizing effort. Neither suffering nor serious illness, neither the exhausting ministerial activity, frequently carried out in difficult and dangerous circumstances, could stifle the radiating and contagious joy which he brought to his life for Christ and which nothing could take away (see John 16:22). Indeed, the deepest root of self-sacrificing surrender for the lowly was his passionate love for Jesus Christ and his ardent desire to be conformed to him, even unto death.”
Editor’s note: In conjunction with the Month of the Holy Souls, the St. Charles Herald-Guide has featured a profile of a Catholic saint each week throughout November.
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