Blessed Miguel Pro

Blessed Miguel Pro (1891-1927)

I always like to share with you some of the recently canonized or beatified saints, and among them is Blessed Miguel Pro, a young priest martyred in Mexico. Born on January 13, 1891, in Guadalupe, Mexico, Miguel Agostin Pro was the first child of Miguel Pro and Josefa Suarez. Known as Miguelito, he was a very devout boy, but he also was famous for his pranks he did on his family. When his sister became a nun, he started thinking about the priesthood, even though many Mexican señoritas had their eyes on him. However, he left the girls and entered the Jesuit seminary in Michoacan. He kept studying until 1914 when a wave of anti-Catholicism invaded Mexico, and so Miguel and his friends had to escape through Texas and New Mexico until they arrived at the Jesuit Seminary in Los Gatos, California. In 1915, he was sent to Spain and then Belgium, where he was ordained a priest in 1925. When he was ordained his famaily could not be with him, and so when all the other newly-ordained priests were blessing their families, he went to his room, and spread the photos of his family and relatives on the bed, and gave them a blessing, as if they were present with him on that special day. Miguel developed some health problems and had three operations on his stomach, and was sent back to Mexico, in spite of the persecutions still going on there. Churches were attacked and closed down, but Miguel continued to work undercover among the poor. He would dress up as a poor man to baptize, marry and celebrate Mass. He would go to prison dressed as a soldier to give communion to those on death row. He remained faithful to his faith and his duties and to Christ the King, to whom he was very much devoted. In 1927, he was accused with his two brothers as an accomplice to kill the ex-President and was condemned to death, without a trial. He was killed on November 23, 1927, after he forgave his killers. Miguel refused to be blindfolded during his execution, and died holding a crucifix in one hand and the rosary in the other hand, standing with arms outstretched, while he kept reciting ‘Viva Cristo Rey’ - Long Live Christ the King.