What the Executioner Saw: The Death of Blessed Miguel Pro, by Dawn Beutner

When the five members of his firing squad took aim at José Ramón Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez on November 23, 1927, what did they see? What would a Mexican soldier have noticed about the man now known as Blessed Miguel Pro?

It is very rare for a Catholic saint to be photographed in the final moments of his life. While the journalists and photographers who showed up to watch Miguel’s execution were simply hoping for something newsworthy for the front pages of their newspapers, the Mexican authorities were hoping for something else. They wanted the Cristeros rebels throughout Mexico to find out what would happen to anyone who tried to assassinate their former president, Álvaro Obregón Salido, or otherwise oppose the actions of their anti-Catholic government. They probably also hoped that the Catholic men being executed would grovel in fear before the cameras, proving the weakness of the Christian faith to newspaper readers all over the world. …