07/31/2026
Heralding Faith, Hope in Jalisco
Knights from across Mexico convene in Guadalajara to remember the Mexican Martyrs
By Elisha Valladares-Cormier
July 29, 2026

Knights representing councils throughout Mexico carry banners into the Sanctuary of the Martyrs of Christ the King during the annual pilgrimage July 5 in observance of the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the Cristero War. (Photo by Carlos Elizondo)
In what has become an annual tradition, Knights and their families from across Mexico gathered at the Sanctuary of the Martyrs of Christ the King, just outside Guadalajara, Jalisco, for a pilgrimage commemorating the martyrs of the Cristero War on July 5.
As in previous years, the approximately 500 pilgrims prayed the rosary with fervor as they walked a short distance from a roadside memorial dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe and entered the shrine church, a towering, 230-foot-tall structure that will accommodate some 12,000 people when ongoing construction is completed.
“Making pilgrimages to shrines like this motivates us greatly,” said Mexico West State Deputy Gabriel Fonseca. “The Cristeros are our heroes. Their strength reminds us that, as Catholics living in the secular world, our faith must be defended.”
This year, however, the journey carried even greater spiritual weight. July 2 marked the 100th anniversary of the publication of the so-called Calles Law in the Mexican government’s official gazette. The anticlerical legislation, which took effect July 31, 1926, included sweeping measures to persecute the Catholic Church and criminalize the practice of the faith by priests and laypeople alike.
In response, the Mexican bishops protested the law by publicly suspending the religious “cult,” as the Church was defined by the Calles Law, and many priests — if they were not exiled — took to celebrating the sacraments in secret for the faithful.
Still, the government attempted to forcibly take control of churches, and tens of thousands of Catholics — including more than 70 Knights of Columbus — were killed in the years of persecution that followed. Forty of those killed, among them nine Knights, have since been named saints or blesseds.
“The Knights of Columbus martyrs gave their lives for their faith,” said Supreme Director Jorge Estrada, past state deputy of Mexico South. “[They] showed us the path we must follow, to redouble our efforts and be heralds of hope.”
DECADES OF SILENCE
Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco, and the surrounding region have deep ties to the Cristero conflict and its martyrs. The city, reportedly home to the third-largest Catholic population in Mexico at the time, was the site of one of the first spontaneous violent uprisings by laypeople after the Calles Law took effect, on Aug. 3, 1926. Jalisco, the largest Mexican state by population in the 1920s, remained a principal center of the rebellion, and more than half of the martyred saints and blesseds — including several Knights — gave their lives there.
Mexico West State Chaplain Father Eduardo Salcedo censes the relics of all the canonized and beatified Mexican martyrs — including six saints and three blesseds who were members of the Knights of Columbus — during Mass for the annual pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of the Martyrs of Christ the King in Guadalajara, Mexico, on July 5. (Photo by Carlos Elizondo)
Many Mexicans were raised with no knowledge of the Cristeros or the persecution that took place — the result of decades of official silence and omission from history textbooks. But State Deputy Fonseca grew up learning about the conflict from his great-grandfather, who fought as a member of a resistance group in Sahuayo, Michoacán.
“At home we always talked about the faith of the Cristeros,” he said. “When I joined the Knights of Columbus a little more than a decade ago, I saw the image of the martyrs and thought, ‘Ah, so these were the ones my great-grandfather used to talk about.’ It was an incredible joy to see that they, in fact, belonged to the Knights of Columbus.”
Jalisco’s historic connection to the Cristeros was the driving reason Cardinal Juan Sandoval Íñiguez, who served as archbishop of Guadalajara from 1994 to 2011, championed construction of the shrine as a pilgrimage site housing relics of every Cristero martyr.
Construction began in 2007, supported in part by major financial contributions from the Supreme Council. It is one of three sites associated with the martyrs nationwide — along with the Sanctuary of Christ the King in Silao, Guanajuato, and the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City — that Knights in Mexico visit on annual pilgrimages.
‘A MESSAGE OF HOPE’
Fonseca had attended the national pilgrimage to the Jalisco shrine before, but this was his first since assuming the office of state deputy July 1. Along with other fraternal leaders, he walked behind a Fourth Degree honor guard and relics of the martyrs being carried into the church. Just as he was about to enter the nave of the sanctuary, he turned and saw hundreds of Knights and family members lined up behind him to enter the church.
“At that moment, I realized the responsibility I now carry, to help lead these brothers to heaven,” Fonseca said. “That day, I entrusted all of us to the martyrs, that one day we might reach heaven with them.”
Fraternal leaders and family members pray the rosary before processing into the Sanctuary of the Martyrs of Christ the King. (Photo by Carlos Elizondo)
Once the council banners had been paraded into the church and everyone had entered, Mass began, with Father Eduardo Salcedo, Mexico West state chaplain, serving as principal celebrant and Father Joel De Anda concelebrating.
In his homily, Father Salcedo encouraged Knights to follow the martyrs’ example and surrender themselves, their families and their councils to the Lord.
“With a sense of responsibility imbued with love for Christ the King and Our Lady of Guadalupe,” Father Salcedo said of the martyrs, “they cared for the flock and faithfully fulfilled their pastoral duties; they were faithful because they embraced and bore the cross of their ministry with love.”
After Mass, attendees had the opportunity to venerate the relics of several martyrs. As Supreme Director Estrada and others attested, the living legacy of the Mexican martyrs is both a reminder of past persecution and a call never to allow it to happen again, in any form.
“The multiplying witness of Mexico’s martyrs is present here — you can feel it in this place,” Estrada said during the pilgrimage. “At the same time … thousands of families live with the pain of poverty, of absence, of violence, of insecurity … crying out for peace and a life of dignity.
“It is precisely here, in this difficult situation, that the Knights of Columbus must be present more than ever — to bring a message of hope, to let them know that they are not alone, that we will always be here to walk with them.”
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ELISHA VALLADARES-CORMIER is senior editor of Columbia magazine and a member of Fremont (Ohio) Council 591.
