Viva Cristo Rey - The Cristero Rebellion and the Church-State Conflict in Mexico PDF
Preview Viva Cristo Rey - The Cristero Rebellion and the Church-State Conflict in Mexico
¡Viva Cristo Rey! THE CRISTERO REBELLION AND THE CHURCH-STATE CONFLICT IN MEXICO TEXAS PAN AMERICAN SERIES ¡Viva Cristo Rey! The Cristero Rebellion and the Church-State Conflict in Mexico By DAVID C. BAILEY UNIVER SITY OF TEXAS PRESS, AUSTIN AND LONDON The Texas Pan American Series is published with the assistance of a revolving publication fund established by the Pan American Sulphur Company. The publication of this book was assisted by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Bailey, David C 1930– Viva Cristo Rey! (Texas pan American series) Bibliography: p. 1. Cristero Rebellion, 1926–1929. 2. Church and state in Mexico. I. Title. II. Title: The Cristero rebellion and the church-state conflict in Mexico. F1234.B175 972.08'2 73-17119 ISBN 0-292-78700-6 Copyright © 1974 by David C. Bailey All Rights Reserved Printed in the United States of America Composition by G&S Typesetters, Austin Printing by The University of Texas Printing Division, Austin Binding by Universal Bookbindery, San Antonio ISBN 978-0-292-75633-5 (e-book) ISBN 978-0-292-75634-2 (individual e-book) To Don and Dot, and Sherry, Sandy, Scott, and Sindy CONTENTS Preface 1. The Ancestry of a Conflict 2. A New and Fertile Bloom 3. Of Men and Laws 4. “Mexico Needs a Tradition of Blood” 5. Cristo Rey and Capistrán Garza 6. Stalemate 7. The Ambassador and the Priest 8. The Ways of Frustration 9. An Arrangement of Sorts 10. Trial by Peace Appendix. The June 21, 1929, Agreement Bibliographical Essay Materials Cited Index ILLUSTRATIONS PICTURE SECTION Serafín Cimino and José Mora y del Río Firemen Dispersing Rioters at La Soledad René Capistrán Garza José María González Valencia Francisco Orozco y Jiménez José de Jesús Manríquez y Zárate Cristeros Attending a Field Mass Madre Conchita and José de León Toral Execution of Father Miguel Pro Pascual Díaz and Leopoldo Ruiz y Flores Provisional President Emilio Portes Gil Dwight W. Morrow and President Plutarco Elías Calles MAP Mexico in the Cristero Rebellion PREFACE Between 1926 and 1929 thousands of Mexicans fought and died in an attempt to overthrow the government of their country, a government which itself had come to power through violence. They were the Cristeros, so called because of their battle cry, ¡Viva Cristo Rey!—Long live Christ the King! Their saga is the central focus of this book, but the Cristero rebellion’s significance lies in its relation to two other conflicts broader in scope and implication than the warfare that devastated large areas of Mexico during those tragic years. The first was the longstanding enmity between Mexican Catholicism and the Mexican state, which in 1926 reached a climax that triggered insurrection. The second was the division within the Mexican church caused by the determination of Catholic militants to destroy the regime created by the 1910 revolution. These two conflicts, rather than military exploits, form the major part of this work. United States intervention in the struggle, official and unofficial, also receives detailed attention. It decisively influenced events, and I have tried to clarify the nature of that involvement. I am indebted to a number of people who helped make this study possible. My deepest gratitude is to the late Charles C. Cumberland, in one of whose graduate courses my interest in the Mexican religious question was first aroused. I wish to thank Paul V. Murray of Mexico City, who provided leads on locating materials and allowed me to use his magnificent personal library. Antonio Ríus Facius, Mexico’s foremost student of the Cristeros, made available a variety of items from his private files and contributed to my understanding by sharing his thoughts with me and reacting to mine. Antonio Pompa y Pompa and his staff at the library of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia were unfailingly helpful in facilitating my work in their collection. Father Daniel Olmedo, S.J., of the Jesuit Casa de Estudios in Mexico City, kindly allowed me to consult the Mariano Cuevas library, so important to anyone who studies Mexican ecclesiastical history. The skilled personnel of the Foreign Affairs and Modern Military Records Divisions at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., helped make my research there both profitable and pleasant. Their Mexican counterparts in the Archivo General de la Nación were equally generous with their time and courtesy. The directors and staffs of other repositories also deserve thanks. These include the Robert Frost Library at Amherst College, the archive of the state of Coahuila, the Biblioteca Nacional and Hemeroteca Nacional in Mexico City, the Catholic archives of Texas in Austin, the library of the University of Nuevo León in Monterrey, the Latin American Collection at the University of Texas, and the archives of the University of Notre Dame. Many individuals in addition to those already mentioned supplied information or insights for which I am grateful. The names of all would fill pages, but special thanks must go to Felipe Brondo Alvarez, Father Bernard Doyon, O.M.I., Michael C. Meyer, the Most Reverend Luis Guízar Barragán, Jean A. Meyer, Sara Cooney, Lic. Salvador Reynoso, María Ana Murillo Peralta, and Father José Bravo Ugarte, S.J. Perhaps few of the people who helped will be completely satisfied with the result, but they deserve much of the credit for whatever merit it may have. The responsibility for the choice of data used and the conclusions reached is mine alone, and the shortcomings can be shared with no one else. My friend Professor Joseph P. Hobbs read the manuscript with his expert and merciless editorial eye. Thanks to him it has less verbiage and more continuity than it would have otherwise. I acknowledge with gratitude a Ford Foundation grant awarded under the auspices of the Latin American Studies Center at Michigan State University, as well as some timely financial assistance from the M.S.U. All-University Research Fund and the Faculty Research and Professional Development Fund at North Carolina State University. D. C. B.
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