Mateo Correa Magallanes

Mateo Correa Magallanes was a Mexican Catholic priest who became a martyr during the Cristero War. Born on July 23, 1866, in Tepechitlán, Zacatecas, Mexico, he pursued his studies at the seminary in Zacatecas on a scholarship. He was ordained a priest in 1893 at the age of 27. Early in his ministry, he administered first communion to Miguel Pro, who would also become a priest and later a martyr.

Correa served as a parish priest in Concepción del Oro starting in 1898, and then in Colotlán in 1908. Following the government's repression of the Catholic Church in 1910, he was forced into hiding. He was later assigned to Valparaíso in 1926.

Martyrdom

In 1927, amidst continued persecution of the church, Correa was arrested by soldiers while on his way to administer Viaticum to an invalid woman. He was accused of involvement with the armed Cristero defense and imprisoned in Zacatecas and then Durango. On February 5, 1927, General Eulogio Ortiz ordered Correa to hear the confessions of imprisoned Cristeros, an uprising against the persecution led by President Plutarco Elias Calles. Correa complied, but when Ortiz demanded to know the contents of the confessions, Correa refused. Ortiz threatened him with death, but Correa remained steadfast. At dawn on February 6, 1927, he was taken to the cemetery on the outskirts of Durango and shot through the head.

Canonization

Mateo Correa Magallanes was canonized as a saint by Pope John Paul II on May 21, 2000, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. The ceremony was attended by thousands of pilgrims. Pope John Paul II praised Saint Mateo Correa Magallanes for his heroic witness of faith and love, and his willingness to give his life for the Gospel, urging the faithful to follow his example.