Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro

Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro (1891–1927) was a Mexican Jesuit priest who was executed for his faith during the government persecution of the Church in the 1920s. Born in Guadalupe, Zacatecas, he was known from boyhood as a joker and a mimic, with a deep devotion underneath. He entered the Jesuits in 1911, but the revolution forced the novices to flee. He studied in California, Spain, Nicaragua and Belgium, where he was ordained a priest in 1925.

He returned home in 1926, just as President Calles's anti-Catholic laws took effect and churches across Mexico stopped public worship. Fr. Pro ministered in secret in Mexico City. Using disguises such as a mechanic, a beggar or a well-dressed businessman, he brought Communion to thousands, heard confessions, baptized, married couples and fed the poor.

In November 1927 he was falsely accused of an attempt on a former president's life and arrested. Without a trial he was led out to a firing squad on November 23. He forgave his executioners, stretched out his arms in the form of a cross, and cried, "¡Viva Cristo Rey!" — "Long live Christ the King!" Pope St. John Paul II beatified him in 1988.