Blessed Miguel Pro

Originally published in the bulletin of St. Vincent Ferrer Church, Delray Beach, FL on November 20, 2022.

You may know that Mexico is a very Catholic country. In fact, according to the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB.org), there are over 99 MILLION Catholics in Mexico, making them 91.89% of the population. But it is not so very long ago when the Catholic Church in Mexico was being persecuted. That story is part of the story of Blessed Miguel Pro.

José Ramón Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez was born on January 13, 1891 in Guadalupe, Mexico, the eldest son of Miguel Pro and Josefa Juarez. From an early age, he was known to be both very spiritual and very mischievousness, favoring humor, wit and practical jokes. In his teens, Miguel was popular and had good business prospects, but instead he renounced everything and entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1911.

Three years later, fierce anti-Catholicism in Mexico forced the novitiate to disband, and the seminarians fled, finally arriving at the Jesuit house in Los Gatos, California. Soon after that, Miguel was sent to Spain to finish his studied. In 1924, he left Spain, and was ordained a Jesuit priest the following year in Belgium.

Miguel suffered from stomach ulcers, and multiple surgeries did not improve his health. In 1926, he returned to Mexico, despite the grave persecution of the Church there. The churches were closed; priests went into hiding. Miguel spent the rest of his short life secretly ministering to the Catholics in Mexico City, celebrating Mass and the sacraments, and helping the poor. He used a variety of disguises to help him minister in secret, including dressing as a beggar to go door-to-door, and even visiting jail disguised as a police officer to bring the Eucharist to condemned Catholics.

On November 23, 1927, he was executed on the false charges of bombing and attempted assassination of a former Mexican President. No trial was held and no evidence shown to support the claim.  Miguel was beatified in Rome on September 25, 1988, by Pope John Paul II as a Catholic martyr, killed in odium fidei (in hatred of the faith). On the day of his execution, he forgave his executtioners, prayed, bravely refused the blindfold and died proclaiming, "Viva Cristo Rey", "Long live Christ the King!"