The Archdiocese of San Antonio, Texas (United States), will carry out A celebration in Spanish and English On Sunday, July 13 for the 137 years of the birth of Blessed Anacleto González Flores, a martyr of the religious persecution that Mexico lived in the first half of the 20th century and patron of the Mexican laity.
Anacleto González Flores was born in Tepatitlán, Jalisco (Mexico), on July 13, 1888. He was an outstanding layman, lawyer and catechist, recognized for his deep faith and leadership during religious persecution in Mexico in the 1920s. He founded associations for Christian formation and defended the rights of the Church, promoting peaceful resistance before the anti -clerical resistance of the government.
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For his commitment to faith and justice, he was arrested, tortured and finally murdered on April 1, 1927. Pope Benedict XVI approved his beatification on November 15, 2005. In 2019 he was appointed Patron of the Mexican lay people.
The celebration of the Archdiocese of San Antonio will begin at noon (local time) on Sunday, July 13 with the celebration of Mass in the Church of San Andrés in Pleasenton, Texas.
At 1:15 pm a talk in English will be held on the presence of Cristeros in San Antonio, and then the bilingual presentation of the book will be held Anacleto González Flores, from the floor to social transformation.
The celebration will conclude with the veneration of first -degree relics of Blessed Anacleto from 2:15 pm
The help of the Archdiocese of San Antonio to the Church persecuted in Mexico
During the years of the religious persecution that Mexico lived, various dioceses and Catholic institutions in the United States gave different types of help to bishops, priests and Mexican laity.
This is the case of the Archdiocese of San Antonio. Fr. Rafael Becerra, a priest organizing the celebration, shared with ACI Press that there are records that “some of the houses of the houses of the Josefinas sisters became a space for refugee priests.”
Also in the town of Castroville “a seminar for seminarians of Mexico was built and founded during the time of religious persecution.”
“It is known that from 13 different dioceses from Mexico came seminarians to study that seminar,” he said, recalling that there were 59 presbyters who were ordered after forming in that seminar.
Among other institutions, Fr. Becerra recalled the important help of the Knights of Colón, the largest Catholic fraternal service organization in the world and also experienced the martyrdom of six of its members during the Cristero War.
“Here in San Antonio it is also known that there were several priests. A number of about 40 refugees, some Claretians and other priests and some bishops such as José Mora are counted,” he said.
Among other Mexican prelates who also passed through the archdiocese of San Antonio during the years of the persecution were San Rafael Guízar and Valencia – today’s employer of the bishops of Mexico – and his brother, Antonio, who was Archbishop of Chihuahua.
These and other historical materials will be presented this Sunday, July 13, in the framework of the celebration of the Archdiocese of San Antonio.
For more information on how to participate in the celebration of the 137 years of the birth of Blessed Anacleto González Flores in the Archdiocese of San Antonio, you can enter HERE.
David Ramos
Graduate in Communication Sciences by the Private University of the North in Trujillo, Peru. With more than 12 years of experience in Catholic journalism working in ACI Press, I am based in Mexico since 2018. I have covered the trips of Pope Francis to Ecuador, Paraguay, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Panama.