Jose Sanchez del Rio (28 March 1913 – 10 February 1928) was a Mexican altar boy who joined the Cristeros during the Cristero War and was executed by the Mexican Army for refusing to renounce his Catholic faith. He was later canonized by the Catholic Church.
Biography[]
Jose Sanchez del Rio was born in Sahuayo, Michoacan, Mexico in 1913, and, in 1926, his father forced him to perform menial work around Father Christopher's church after Del Rio threw fruit at the priest as a prank which coincided with the passage of Plutarco Elias Calles's anti-Catholic laws. He later came to embrace Catholicism under the Father, and, after the priest's brutal murder by the Mexican Federal Police, Sanchez joined the Cristeros out of anger and rage. He served under General Prudencio Mendoza, serving as his flagbearer. Sanchez sacrificed himself by giving his horse to Mendoza to escape a losing battle against the Mexican Army, which then captured Sanchez. The soldiers attempted to force Sanchez to renounce his Catholic faith, and he prayed the Rosary daily while in prison and wrote an emotional letter to his mother which stated that he was ready to give his life for Jesus Christ. His father failed to raise a ransom payment for his son, who was killed with machetes on 10 February 1928. On 16 October 2016, Pope Francis canonized Sanchez.