Anacleto González Flores (July 13, 1888 – April 1, 1927) was a Mexican Catholic layman and lawyer who was tortured and executed during the persecution of the Catholic Church under Mexican President Plutarco Elías Calles. González was beatified by Benedict XVI as a martyr on 20 2005.

Background

When González was killed, Mexico was under the rule of President Plutarco Elías Calles, who was fiercely anticlerical and anti-Catholic. Mexico was undergoing what the British author Graham Greene called the "fiercest persecution of religion anywhere since the reign of Elizabeth."

Early life

The second of twelve children born to the poor family of Valentín González Sánchez and María Flores Navarro, Anacleto González Flores was baptized the day after his birth. A Roman Catholic priest who was a friend of the family recognized Gonzáles's intelligence and recommended him for the minor seminary. There, Gonzáles excelled and earned the nickname "Maestro." After deciding that he did not have the calling to Holy Orders, González began the study of law at Escuela Libre de Derecho in Guadalajara and became an attorney in 1922. He married María Concepción Guerrero, and they had two children. González attended Mass daily and engaged in numerous works of charity, including visiting prisoners and teaching the

catechism A catechism (; from grc, κατηχέω, "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult c ...

Career

González became an activist, led the Catholic Association of Mexican Youth (ACJM), and founded the magazine ''La Palabra'', which attacked the anticlerical and anti-Catholic articles of the Constitution of 1917. He was the founder and president of the Popular Union (UP), which organized Catholics to resist the persecution of the church. Originally, González supported passive resistance against the government since he had studied the methods of Gandhi. However, in 1926, he learned of the murder of four members of the Catholic Association of Mexican Youth, joined the

National League for the Defense of Religious Freedom National League for the Defense of Religious Liberty ( es, Liga Nacional Defensora de la Libertad Religiosa – LNDLR) was a Mexican Catholic religious civil rights organization formed in March 1925 that played a crucial role in the Cristero War ...

, and supported the coming rebellion.José Anacleto González Flores and eight Companions
Vatican News Services November 20, 2005 He wrote, "the country is a jail for the Catholic Church.... We are not worried about defending our material interests because these come and go; but our spiritual interests, these we will defend because they are necessary to obtain our salvation." In January 1927, after they had endured

religious persecution Religious persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or a group of individuals as a response to their religion, religious beliefs or affiliations or their irreligion, lack thereof. The tendency of societies or groups within soc ...

and state atheism, Mexican Catholics took up arms and set off the Cristero War. González did not take up arms but gave speeches that encouraged Catholics to support the Cristeros with money, food, accommodation, and clothing. He wrote pamphlets and gave speeches that supported his opposition to the anticlerical government. Seeking to crush the rebellion, the government sought to capture the leaders of the Popular Union and the National League for the Defence of Religious Freedom. González was captured and framed with charges that he murdered an American, Edgar Wilkens, but the government knew that Wilkens had been killed by a robber, Guadalupe Zuno.

Martyrdom

González was tortured, including being hung by his thumbs pulling them out of their sockets, having his shoulder fractured with a rifle butt, and having the bottom of his feet slashed. On April 1, 1927, he was executed by firing squad. Echoing the words of the assassinated Ecuadorian President Gabriel García Moreno, who defied the forces seeking to suppress his faith, González's last words were "Hear Americas for the second time: I die but God does not! ''Viva Cristo Rey''!" Wilkens's widow, who knew that González had been framed, wrote a letter of protest to Washington, DC, which exonerated him. A letter staying his execution arrived shortly after he had been shot.

In popular culture

González was portrayed by the actor Eduardo Verástegui in the film '' For Greater Glory'' (Spanish: ''Cristada''), which also starred Andy Garcia, Eva Longoria, and

Peter O'Toole Peter Seamus O'Toole (; 2 August 1932 – 14 December 2013) was a British stage and film actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old Vic ...

.Cristiada (2011)
IMDb, accessed October 8, 2010

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez Flores, Anacleto 1888 births 1927 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic martyrs 20th-century venerated Christians Beatifications by Pope Benedict XVI Cristero War People from Guadalajara, Jalisco Executed Mexican people People executed by Mexico by firing squad Mexican torture victims Victims of anti-Catholic violence in Mexico Mexican activists Mexican beatified people Religious persecution