Suggest an Edit — Luis Magaña Servín

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Biography

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Luis Magaña Servín was a Mexican Catholic layman and martyr of the religious persecution that accompanied the Cristero conflict in west-central Mexico. He was born on 24 August 1902 in Arandas, in the state of Jalisco. Raised in a devout household in a strongly Catholic region, he worked in commerce as a young man and took part in ordinary parish life. He belonged to the Asociación Católica de la Juventud Mexicana (Catholic Association of Mexican Youth), a lay organization that promoted Catholic formation and social action among young people. He was not a member of a religious order; his witness was that of a married layman.

In 1926 he married Elvira Camarena Méndez. The couple had a child, and at the time of his death his wife was expecting another. Their marriage coincided with the intensification of the Mexican state's anti-clerical campaign under President Plutarco Elías Calles. The Calles Law of 1926 sharply restricted public worship, closed churches and religious schools, and drove many Catholics in Jalisco and neighboring states into the Cristero War of 1926–1929. Magaña Servín is not recorded as an armed combatant. He continued to practice and promote his faith despite the legal prohibitions, which made him suspect to the civil and military authorities.

On 9 February 1928, federal soldiers came to Arandas searching for him because of his Catholic activities. According to the accounts gathered for his cause, he was not at home when they first arrived. When he learned that they were looking for him, he chose to present himself rather than hide, saying that he was not a criminal. He was seized and shortly afterward executed by firing squad in Arandas. Before he died he is reported to have sent a message of love and Christian hope to his wife and to have professed his faith in Christ. He was twenty-five years old.

He was beatified on 20 November 2005 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, by authority of Pope Benedict XVI, in a ceremony for thirteen Mexican martyrs of the Cristero period. He was numbered among the companions of the lay leader Anacleto González Flores. He has not been canonized and remains a Blessed of the Catholic Church. His individual memorial is associated with the date of his death, 9 February. He is remembered especially in Jalisco as an example of lay fidelity during the Mexican religious persecution of the 1920s.

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