Tapestries depicting Mexican saints hang from the facade of St. Peter's at their canonization ceremony in 2000.

Counted among the martyrs of the Church are six Mexican priests, all Knights, who were killed during the persecution of the Church in Mexico during the 1920s and 1930s. They are: Fathers Miguel de la Mora, José María Robles Hurtado, Luis Batis Sainz, Mateo Correa Magallanes, Pedro de Jesús Maldonado Lucero and Rodrigo Aguilar Alemán.

The early growth of the Order in Mexico coincided with the increased outreach by the Church to the needs of the country's poor and illiterate. Mexican Knights helped the Church with these projects, and many priests and lay people were attracted to the Knights because of this work. By 1923, the Knights had 43 councils and 6,000 members in Mexico.

Despite this, periodic waves of anti-Catholic activity beset the country. During the late 1920s, when the six priests were engaged in fulfilling their priestly duties and ministering to their people, an outburst of this anti-Catholicism reached a crescendo. It is impossible to determine the extent to which the Church was persecuted then. News of anti-Catholic atrocities slowly filtered into the U.S. press and was reported on in Columbia magazine.

Ever sensitive to the cause of religious liberty, the Knights of Columbus, through the Supreme Council, denounced the persecution of the Church. Supreme Council officers met with U.S. government officials and members of the hierarchy to inform them on the condition of Catholics, including Knights, in Mexico.

In the United States, the Order launched a massive education campaign, including the printing and distribution of 5 million pamphlets, each including eyewitness reports on how the Church was being attacked by the government. Then-president Plutarco Elias Calles responded by having the Knights declared an illegal organization in Mexico.

In response to the government crackdown on the Church, a rebellion movement called the Cristeros was formed. Many hundreds of Knights joined the Cristeros. Dedicated to "Cristo Rey" (Christ the King), these laymen and priests made their battle cry, "¡Viva Cristo Rey!" Hundreds of Mexican Knights were killed fighting for the Cristeros. In 2000, Pope John Paul II proclaimed several of them saints, including the Knights profiled here:

A reliquary with relics of the six Knights was given to the Supreme Council by Mexico Knights.

Early on June 25,1927, while preparing for Mass, he was arrested by government soldiers. At midnight they marched him to his execution. Father Robles Hurtado knelt down and said one last prayer. He then blessed his parish, and forgave and blessed his murderers.

When soldiers invaded Ejutla on Oct. 27, 1927, Father Aguilar Alemán delayed his escape to destroy the seminary's student roll. When his captors asked him to identify himself, he replied, "I am a priest."

At midnight the next day Father Alemán was taken to the town square as he calmly prayed. After the soldiers hung a rope on a branch of a mango tree, Father Aguilar Alemán blessed the rope and loudly forgave his executioners. One shouted in his face: "Who lives?" He responded, "Christ the King and St. Mary of Guadalupe." The noose was pulled and the priest was suspended in the air. He was lowered so that the same question could be asked. His reply was the same. Pulled and lowered again, he gasped out the same words. He died when he was pulled up the third time.

On Aug. 15, 1926, the feast of the Assumption, he was arrested along with his closest aides, Manuel Morales, Salvador Lara and David Roldán. When Father Batis Sainz and Morales were to be killed, the priest pleaded with the executioners for his companion's life, reminding them that the latter had a wife and children. His entreaties were to no avail. The priest, with his usual kind smile, turned to his friend, gave him absolution and told him: "See you in heaven."

On Feb. 5, 1927, the general in charge ordered the priest to hear confessions of the other prisoners. Father Correa Magallanes heard the confessions and encouraged the men to approach death in a state of grace.

When he was done, the general said, "Now you are going to tell me everything those bandits told you in confession."

"I'll never do that," said the priest.

"I’ll have you executed by firing squad immediately!" the general replied.

"You can do it," the priest said. "You know well, General, that a priest must keep secret all he hears in confession… I am willing to die."

Father de la Mora was apprehended and taken to the military headquarters in Colima. Without a trial, he was ordered to walk to the horse stalls, where he began praying the rosary. On Aug. 7, 1927, the captain in charge of the guard fired the fatal shot, before the horrified eyes of the priest's brother Regino.

In 1934 he was arrested and exiled to El Paso, Texas, but soon returned to Mexico. On Ash Wednesday in 1937, Father Maldonado Lucero was distributing ashes when a group of armed men seized him.

At the city hall a political leader hit him with a pistol, punching a hole in his skull. Others hit him with rifles and left him almost lifeless in a pool of blood.

A group of women brought the priest to a hospital, where he received the last rites before dying early the next day. A simple headstone was designed with the inscription: "You Are A Priest."

Their stories also affirm the priesthood and the role of priest as servant, he added. "These men laid down their lives and are Knights of Columbus and priests, but also Knights who are serving the poor and trying to spread the faith at a time when Catholics were persecuted for their faith in Mexico… The story is gripping, because it's true. It's not like somebody had to make this up. These are people’s real lives."

Father Brunetta, chaplain of Father Michael J. McGivney Council 10705 at St. Mary's, believes the story of the martyred Knights can reach today’s young people. "Here we have men who lived the life that [Knights' founder] Father Michael J. McGivney laid out for the Knights," the priest said. "We need to spread devotion to these men who are Knights and saints."

Ken Davison, executive director of Catholic World Mission, based in Hamden, Conn., couldn't agree more. He saw an exhibit on the Mexican saints at the Knights of Columbus Museum and was so inspired that he created a bilingual English-Spanish coloring book and audiotape on the heroic life of St. José María Robles Hurtado.

Bishop Placido Rodriguez of Lubbock, Texas, former state chaplain and member of Lubbock Council 3008, is among those who have given the book, in particular, a strong endorsement. "The fact that it is a bilingual publication will make it extremely more usable throughout America for our Catholic faithful," said Bishop Rodriguez, a Claretian. "This small booklet presents a wonderful opportunity for the Catholic child — and adult — to learn about special patrons of our Church here in America."

Those patrons must become better known, said Pope John Paul II in Ecclesia in America, his 1999 apostolic letter on the Church in America. "Like a cloud of witnesses," the pope said, these Mexican saints "stir us up to take up fearlessly and fervently today's task of the new evangelization. Their example of boundless dedication to the cause of the Gospel must not only be saved from oblivion, but must become better and more widely known among the faithful of the continent."

And among their brother Knights of Columbus.

"Today there are only about 8,000 dedicated Knights in Mexico. With a Catholic population estimated at 122 million, the potential for the growth of the Knights is huge," says Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson. "In 2005 we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Columbianism in Mexico. It is our goal to double — if not triple — membership in Mexico with more new councils and through more charitable outreach.

"As I said at the time of my installation as supreme knight at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe: The history of the Knights of Columbus is forever united with the history of Mexico because of the sacrifice of these heroic priests. May the prayers of these saintly Knights provide sure guidance to our brother Knights in Mexico and to us all."

Judith Roberts, whose work appears regularly in the Catholic press, reported this story along with Columbia staff.