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Toribio Romo: From Cristero martyr to migrant patron saint

Toribio Romo: De mártir cristero a santo patrón de los migrantes

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Abstract

In this article, I discuss the Toribio Romo phenomenon. Toribio Romo was recognized as the patron saint of immigrants. I reveal how the devotion to this patron saint has expanded through historical and migratory processes. I describe the relationship between the devotional practices related to Cristero martyrs and the process of immigration. Via interviews and document analysis, I develop how Toribio Romo’s image carries with it a strong cultural and religious significance that shapes the migratory process. I argue that devotion to Santo Toribio Romo has evolved into a transnational phenomenon, spreading to different regions in Mexico and the United States and providing migrants a connection to their homeland as well as a sense of belonging in the United States.

Resumen

En este artículo se discute el fenómeno de Toribio Romo, reconocido como santo patrono de los inmigrantes. Se revela cómo la devoción a este santo patrono se ha extendido por medio de procesos históricos y migratorios. Se describe la relación entre las prácticas devocionales relacionadas con los mártires cristeros y el proceso de inmigración. A partir de entrevistas y análisis de documentos, se abunda en la manera en que la imagen de Toribio Romo acarrea un fuerte significado cultural y religioso que influye en el proceso migratorio. Finalmente, se argumenta que la devoción a Santo Toribio Romo ha evolucionado hasta convertirse en un fenómeno transnacional difundido en distintas regiones de México y los Estados Unidos, el cual ofrece a los migrantes una conexión con su tierra natal así como un sentido de pertinencia en los Estados Unidos.

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Fig. 1

Source created based on Díaz (1979), Guzmán (2002), Meyer (1980), and Young (2015)

Fig. 2

Source created based on Orozco (1992)

Fig. 3

Source Jáuregui (2014)

Fig. 4

Source created based on Durand (2017)

Fig. 5

Source created based on Durand (2017)

Fig. 6

Source picture taken in the field, 2016

Fig. 7

Source photo taken in fieldwork, October 2016

Fig. 8

Source created based on Jauregui (2014) and on field interviews, October 2016

Fig. 9

Source created based on Jauregui (2014) and on field interviews, October 2017–August 2018

Fig. 10

Source photo taken in fieldwork, February 2018

Fig. 11

Source photo taken in fieldwork, February 2018

Fig. 12

Source photo taken in fieldwork, May 2018

Fig. 13

Source photo taken in fieldwork, May 2018

Fig. 14

Source photo taken in fieldwork, May 2018

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Data availability

The information presented in this publication was obtained personally through fieldwork and the bibliographic review cited in the references section.

Notes

  1. Related to the Guerra de los Cristeros or Cristiada, the Cristero War was a civil war that ran from 1926 to 1929 between devout religious Catholics and the Mexican Government.

  2. The Kingdom of New Galicia was an administrative and territorial entity within New Spain, which today is Mexico.

  3. These uprisings during the 1930s were known as La Segunda Cristiada.

  4. In the Roman Catholic Church, a declaration by the Pope that a dead person is in a state of bliss constituted a first step toward canonization and permitted public veneration.

  5. In the process of beatification and canonization of the Cristero saints, John Paul II declared,

    During the hard trials that God allowed his Church in Mexico to undergo some decades ago, these martyrs knew how to remain faithful to the Lord, to their ecclesial communities and to the long Catholic tradition of the Mexican people. With unshakable faith they recognized Jesus Christ as the only sovereign, because with lively hope they awaited a time when the unity of their children and families would return to the Mexican nation.

    Notably, in the processes of beatification, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints proved that none of these martyrs that the Pope had canonized had taken up arms or been killed for political reasons but had been murdered explicitly for “hatred of the faith” (Zárate 2002; see also the Homily of The Holy Father John Paul II, 22 November 1992), https://www.vatican.va/content/johnpaulii/es/homilies/1992/documents/hf_jpii_hom_19921122_beatificazioni.html.

  6. In the Roman Catholic Church, the official admission of a dead person into sainthood.

  7. Known in English as wetback, which is a derogatory term referring to undocumented immigrants in United States.

  8. Information obtained in fieldwork in California 2017–2018.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dr. Enrique Propin Frejomil for his support, as he was instrumental in helping me develop this article with his comments and reviews. Likewise, I would like to thank all the participants for their contributions to this study; it would be impossible to name them all. Special thanks to Dr. Daniel Ramirez for his support during my fieldwork and data collection. I want to also thank Ericka Victoria Velasquez Alfaro for her support during the mapping process, as well as Dr. Maria Morales and Dr. Alonzo Campos for their review and feedback to this article. Finally, I would like to also express my sincerest gratitude to Latino Studies for the opportunity to share my work.

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  1. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Ciudad de México, México

    César Eduardo Medina Gallo

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Correspondence to César Eduardo Medina Gallo.

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Medina Gallo, C.E. Toribio Romo: From Cristero martyr to migrant patron saint. Lat Stud 21, 211–237 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41276-022-00404-0

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