A priest in Catholic Mexico, Saint Joseph Isabel Flores offered his life for his flock, like the Good Shepherd. He lived and died for Jesus, like the holy Patriarch, whose name he bore.
by Corrado Vari
NIn the early decades of the twentieth century, the government of Mexico fell into the hands of Freemasons and anticlericals, who unleashed a violent persecution against the Church, with the aim of destroying its presence in a country where the vast majority of the population professed the Catholic faith.
The hardest period began in 1926: after the Church had been deprived of all spaces of presence and had suspended all public worship, resistance groups were formed in the country to react against the increasingly harsh violence that was affecting Mexican Catholics and their pastors. Organized almost like a real popular army, they even managed to take control of some regions. They were the cristeros, so called because they fought under the banner of Christ the King (a solemnity instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925) and of Our Lady of Guadalupe. «Live Christ the King", was their battle cry and they were also the last words of those who were shot by the government. The Mexican Church and the Holy See, while supporting the protests (the Pope intervened publicly several times) never openly approved the armed struggle, working to pacify the country and reach agreements with the government.
With alternating fortunes, the persecution lasted until the 21s; even priests and lay people who did not take an active part in the revolt were victims, killed only because they were Christians and ministers of the Catholic religion. Several of these have been elevated to the honors of the altars as martyrs; among these is the saint named Joseph who we remember on June XNUMX, the day of his martyrdom.
José Isabel Flores Varela was born in 1866 in Santa Maria de la Paz, archdiocese of Guadalajara, into a poor and humble family but animated by deep faith. When she began to manifest her religious vocation, her parents supported her with conviction, despite the prospect of losing two valid hands for their work as modest ranchers.
José was ordained a priest in Guadalajara on July 26, 1896. After working in various parishes in that diocese, in November 1900 he began his ministry as rector of the Chapel of Matatlán, belonging to the parish of Zapotlanejo, where he would remain for twenty-six years. He lived in poverty among his people, accompanying their journey with the simplest gestures of Christian tradition: the community recitation of the Rosary, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the prayer of theAngelus, in addition of course to the Holy Mass, the heart and culmination of the community's life,
His eyes were often seen filling with tears during the Eucharistic celebration. A man of forgiveness and reconciliation, always serene in every circumstance, he promoted sacred singing and catechism among the faithful, was close to the sick and people in difficulty, working for the spiritual and material good of those entrusted to him. His priestly motto was Truth and justice. He had excellent abilities and great intellectual gifts, but also great humility; he never sought recognition or opportunities to advance his career and was always obedient to his superiors.
During the persecution, Father José did not join the armed struggle of the cristeros, but like many other priests he did not want to abandon his flock, continuing to celebrate the Eucharist and administer the Sacraments as he could, sometimes even going around disguised as a soldier. To those who advised him not to take risks, he replied: "If I hide, I will no longer have the possibility of taking care of you or your children, or your sick, nor will I be able to marry your boys. Do not be afraid, if they catch me, what will happen: will they cut off my head? And then, if Christ died for me, I too will willingly die for him."
This is what happened in June 1927, as recounted in the records of the beatification process. As had happened to the one to whom he had consecrated himself, at the beginning there was a betrayal: that of a former seminarian whom Father José considered a friend. Drunk, at the end of a lunch he revealed the priest's movements to the head of the local municipality, a violent and unscrupulous character, who decided to have him captured. On June 18, Father José was surprised while he was going to celebrate Mass on a farm and was immediately locked up in a fetid and unhealthy place. Many asked for his release, but nothing was enough to move his persecutors.
To make his already painful situation worse, they placed heavy stones under his armpits, but one of the soldiers – a new Cyrenian – relieved him of that torture, disobeying his superiors. With refined cruelty, his torturers demanded submission by making him listen to music and telling him: "Listen to this beautiful music, all you need is to sign to be free". But he replied: "In heaven I will listen to better music".
When his execution was decided, Father José gave his personal effects to the soldiers, who divided them among themselves, as had happened with Jesus' clothes under the cross. They tried to kill the priest by hanging him, but failed. Then they ordered him to be shot, but one of the soldiers, recognizing him as the priest who had baptized him, refused to shoot. Threatened with death, the soldier replied: "It doesn't matter, I'll die with him", and was killed instantly by his commander. We like to think that this gesture earned him immediate entry to Heaven, as happened to the good thief. Finally, another soldier killed Father José by cutting his throat with a machete. It was June 21, 1927.
José Isabel Flores Varela was beatified along with twenty-four other martyrs of the Mexican Church on November 22, 1992 – the solemnity of Christ the King – and canonized on May 21, 2000, under the pontificate of Saint John Paul II.