Kings, Bad Guys, and Propaganda Misfires

At Mass yesterday, Father recalled the recent feast of St. Miguel Pro, and remarked on the relation between that priest’s martyrdom and the present feast of Christ the King.  It was Fr. Pro who, sent up before a firing squad, stretched his hands in a cross and cried out ¡Viva Cristo Rey! (“Long live Christ the King!”).

And last week the (thankfully-not-permanent) deacon’s homily treated of the same martyr.  Deacon observed that this is a rare situation in which we have photographic evidence of the events—a fact of which I had long been aware.  The deacon supplied the reason for the photograph’s existence, and made me shake my head at myself for my long-time incuriosity on the topic.  Apparently Mexican President Plutarco Elías Calles wanted evidence of the cowardice that he was sure Pro would show while being shot, as a way of discrediting Catholics and Catholic clergy.  Instead, the world got this:

There are many other pictures as well, 
but they are not for the faint of heart.

Reportedly, Calles tried to recall the photographs, but they had already been released to international news organizations.  Pro’s display of heroism—and his reminder that no government can claim to hold sway over Christ’s kingdom—was a matter of historical record.

As was another reminder, to the rest of us.  One writer (whose piece on Pro is well worth reading in full) relates seeing a depiction of the martyrdom in a church:

Not being an especially pious fellow, my first thought when I saw this wonderful window was: “Can you imagine being the guy with the gun? I don’t suppose he thought, ‘I’m going to be in a beautiful stained-glass window some day for doing this—as the bad guy!’” This should give us all pause about things we’re ordered to do.

Can you imagine, decades later, one of those soldiers showing the famous images to his grandchildren, pointing exuberantly, and saying: “You see that rifleman third from the left? That’s me! Look; there’s your grandpa shooting a saint down in cold blood!” Not likely.

I’m not sure I can improve on all these insights, so I’m just going to leave this right here.