#traditional mass
Mexican federal forces of the 78th Regiment under General Espiridión Rodríguez Escobar arrived at San Julián on 15 March 1927. Cristero soldiers under Victoriano Ramírez and the General-priest José Reyes Vega put up a defense of the town, but the hordes of the Mexican government were superior and were overwhelming the Cristeros. During the battle, federal forces looted homes, raped women, and tortured Cristero prisoners to death.
More federal forces arrived to support Rodríguez Escobar, but around the same time, Cristero reinforcements under General Miguel Hernández came to the rescue. Hernández had his men attack the federal forces in three columns, one from the south and west, one from the east and north, and the last from the southeast which he personally commanded. With Hernández’s advance, most of the federal soldiers were killed or captured (and then executed via firing squad). The battle ended in a Cristero victory and a shameful defeat for the government, especially for General Rodríguez Escobar, who survived fleeing the town disguised as a woman.
The defeat made President Plutarco Elías Calles recognize the Cristeros as a genuine threat to his anti-catholic government.
In the picture below, Cristeros celebrating the successful defense of San Julián.
¡Viva Cristo Rey y Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe!
When the Church in Mexico was persecuted by the judeo-masonic government of Plutarco Elías Calles, Father Álvarez, a humble parish priest, began celebrating Holy Mass in the nearby farms and baptizing in the mountain streams in total secret. When he became aware that his brother priests were being persecuted throughout the country, he did not believe himself worthy of martyrdom.
One day, Father Álvarez was captured by Federal forces when he was traveling to a ranch to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. He was immediately sent to the prison of San Julián, Jalisco, where the priest was subjected to cruel torture.
Four days later, Father Álvarez stood before the firing squad. He was martyred for the “crime” of being a priest, not before forgiving his executioners. The soldiers then left the martyr’s body in a garbage dump as an insult, but the faithful rescued it and buried it in the parish temple.
Nowadays, Father Julio Álvarez Mendoza is recognized by the Church as a Saint, and many Mexicans go in pilgrimage to the sites where he was imprisoned, martyred, and to his parish of Mechoacanejo where his relics can be venerated.
¡Viva Cristo Rey y sus Mártires!
First, the regular Mexican Army.
After the Mexican Revolution, most federal soldiers were poor peasants with no education nor discipline who followed regional strong leaders and warlords. They were uniformed and armed—sometimes with modern weapons bought from the United States—but lacked a military honour code, and most truly hated the Faith; all this led to many atrocities and crimes worthy of barbarians.
Despite this, it is recorded that sometimes after a battle the Cristeros found that some federal soldiers wore sacramentals, such as scapulars or medals of saints; these were Catholics persecuting Catholics!
These misled soldiers were an exception, as the great majority of the army did not protest the bloodshed and persecution of the Church and her faithful.
In the picture below, Mexican soldiers posing before a captured temple.
Then we have the Agraristas.
The government’s favorite cannon fodder. These armed militias were very similar in equipment to the Cristeros, as most of them were peasants that fought for the “Agrarian reforms” promised by the revolutionaries. Actually, these reforms meant taking the land owned by Cristero families, innocent Catholics,critics of the Revolution, and even some foreigners, to unjustly give them to the Agraristas.
As they did not have modern weapons nor the strategy of the federal army, the Agraristas suffered heavy losses during the war.
In the picture below, Plutarco Elías Calles himself posing with some Agraristas.
Lastly, urban communist groups, like workers’ unions and the Red Shirts.
The labor unions and syndicates organized by government agents served as shock troops in big cities where industry recovered and flourished from the disaster of the Revolution. The Red Shirts was a communist youth group founded by the demonic Tomás Garrido Canabal to serve him and enforce his ideas.
Of the three “armies”, these urban communists were the worst, as its members were motivated by an ideology: a communism that was not only atheistic but also anti-catholic, and that led them to commit many sacrileges, profanations, general persecution, and even crowned with martyrdom men and women we now venerate as Saints.
In the picture below, a demonstration of the anti-catholic CROM (Regional Confederation of Mexican Workers).