Martyrs’ Funerals and Contested Civic Space in the Cristero War, 1926–29

In November 1927, Padre Miguel Pro and three other men were executed in Mexico City. The government claimed they were part of a conspiracy of Catholic extremists who had tried to assassinate former President Obregón. This was far from the only conflict between believers and the state at this time. Between 1926 and 1929, thousands of Mexicans across the country rose up in rebellion against new secularization laws. The government ensured the execution of these men would be well publicized by inviting several journalists from national newspapers to cover the executions and crimes of the accused. If the government hoped this would cow its opponents into submission, it was mistaken. Pro’s funeral procession became a locus for political protest against the government, and large crowds walked with the coffin as it was carried to Pro’s family home. The Catholic press and activists printed lurid accounts of the funeral procession and distributed these narratives across the world. To a lesser extent, the funerals of the other executed men were similarly reported on.These accounts differed from one another in profound ways obscuring for historians what really occurred. This paper analyzes these accounts of the funerals, paying special attention to what they reveal about Catholic politics at the time. Accounts of these funerals focused on the diverse racial, gender, and class composition of those who walked with the coffins. While the accounts differ from one another in marked ways, they all emphasize the ability of the Catholic faith to overcome the political and social divisions of the country in the wake of the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). These accounts imagined martyr funerals as a hegemonic civic space in which Mexicans could begin to form a new society under Christ’s authority.