Prayer to Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro — Cristero martyr

Mexican Jesuit priest, born in Guadalupe (Zacatecas) on 13 January 1891. He clandestinely ministered the sacraments during the religious persecution under the government of Plutarco Elías Calles, always living in disguise to escape arrest. Captured on a false charge of conspiracy, he was shot without trial on 23 November 1927, in the courtyard of the Belén prison in Mexico City. Before the volley, he knelt, forgave his executioners, refused the blindfold, opened his arms in the form of a cross with the crucifix in one hand and the rosary in the other, and cried out: “¡Viva Cristo Rey!” (“Long live Christ the King!”). Beatified by Pope St John Paul II on 25 September 1988, in odium fidei. Feast: 23 November.

Lord God, source of all strength, who filled your servant, Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro, with invincible courage and with so great a love for the Eucharist that he defied persecution to feed your people with Christ, and before the firing squad opened his arms in the form of a cross proclaiming the reign of your Son: grant us, through his intercession, the grace to live and to die with that same love for the Eucharistic Heart of Christ, and to proclaim, in every circumstance of life, “Long live Christ the King!”. Through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be.