The most cynical persecution fell over Mexico. The temples were turned into military barracks; the sacred vessels and chalices were for getting sloshed on tequila. Many priests and the faithful were killed while shouting " Live Christ the King" The priests had to disguise themselves to administer the sacraments, moving from one private home to another to say Mass. Thousands of petitions signed by the faithful could not budge the rigidity of the government determined to do away with the Church.

     On June 1926, Plutarco Elías Calles promulgated his famous Law of the streets (Ley Calles) that permitted the expulsion of foreign priests, and made obligatory the registration of Catholic priests. Public ministry in the churches was banned and priests, religious and nuns were prohibited from participation in schools, hospitals, and homes for the aging or orphaned. Catholic literature was banned and all Church properties- convents, rectories, seminaries, schools and other buildings were expropriated.

     Facing the dangerous threat to the Church, the bishops convened and, they ordered the suspension of public worship. Monsignor Guizar decided to move his seminarians to a private home in Mexico City, in the center of Coyoacan. Hardly had they settled in when the authorities ordered them to evacuate the house. In 1927, the bishop moved the hope of the Church -one hundred fifty seminarians, to an abandoned building that had once served as a movie theatre. No one would suspect that within this old building thrived the only seminary in the country!

     Not all Mexican Christians were so well disposed to accept this religious persecution. Some rebelled and rose to armed defense. The bishop of Veracruz, Monsignor Guizar, disagreed. On the contrary, he thought this would make matters worse. Nevertheless, he was unable to impose his viewpoint on the entire flock. He tried to convince all the members of his diocese with his habitual kindness, did not always meet with success.

     So it was, in the spring of 1927, when some Christians attacked two passenger trains. Tejeda responded in a likewise brutal manner. He immediately summoned the bishops of Mexico, Michoacán, Aguascalientes, Chiapas, Cuernavaca and Saltillo, holding them responsible for the events and sent them into exile to the United States. Finally, Monsignor Guizar also had to leave for Texas. Before departing, he entrusted direction of the seminary, the apple of his eye, to Father Justino de la Mora.

    The bishop of Veracruz remained outside the country for two years. When he returned to Mexico in 1929, he thought that relations between Church and government had improved. But just a short time later, in July, General Obregón, President-elect of the Republic was assassinated. In August, Alberto Tejeda was chosen governor of Veracruz and Emilio Bearings Gil, provisional president. An uneasy truce emerged after several meetings between government representatives and the Mexican bishops. The renewal of public worship in the churches was celebrated in August, especially in Veracruz and Xalapa. But the Calvary tribulation was far from over.

     In fact, on the 6th of March 1931, an explosion in the cathedral of Xalapa opened a new period of high voltage tension. The 10th of the same month, Tejada decided to restrict the number of priests. For Veracruz, it meant one priest for each one hundred thousand inhabitants. As Veracruz had a population of one million three hundred inhabitants, only thirteen priests could exert their ministry! It was an open declaration of new war.

     The priests had to return to secret ministry. Monsignor Guizar published a pastoral letter that strongly rejected this unconstitutional and tyrannical law and that tends, he said, to make slaves of the Catholic community. The persecutions returned and in force. The civilian authorities beat several priests, for example Fathers Daniel Mesa and Jose Maria Cervantes and Father Jose Jesus Cano who died as a result of his wounds. Meanwhile, Tejeda tried to prop up a parallel false Church, sending letters to priests requesting to them to join with him. No one accepted his offers. It was in this climate of fierce tension in Mexico that Dario lived out his final days in the seminary.

Exorcism

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