A Question of Faith

May 1, 2026

By Alton Pelowski

May 1, 2026

A clandestine Mass is celebrated in a safe house in Mexico City, circa 1927. (Photo provided by Archivo Manuel Ramos)

A dispatch published in the New York Morning World on Aug. 26, 1926, reported that Mexican government employees were being presented with a stark series of questions regarding their loyalty. The first: “Are you a Knight of Columbus?”

Earlier that year, nearly a decade after Mexico’s 1917 Constitution formally denied legal recognition to the Church and restricted its public life, President Plutarco Elías Calles moved to impose those provisions more strictly. In February 1926, he declared, “As long as I am president of the republic, the constitution of 1917 will be obeyed.” That summer, amid petitions, boycotts and demonstrations, he enacted the Calles Law — mandating strict nationwide enforcement, with severe penalties for priests who continued their ministry and for officials who failed to enforce it.

On July 31, 1926, Mexico’s bishops suspended public worship rather than submit to state control. Within days, sporadic uprisings marked the beginning of a rebellion known as the Cristiada, as the cry “¡Viva Cristo Rey!” (“Long live Christ the King”) spread across the country. The Knights of Columbus had become a visible lay force within the Church throughout Mexico, supporting the hierarchy and Catholic efforts, including the National League for the Defense of Religious Liberty.

It was at precisely this breaking point that the Order gathered for its 44th Supreme Convention, convened Aug. 4-6, 1926, in Philadelphia. The crisis in Mexico became central to the proceedings. Before thousands of delegates — including Knights and members of the clergy from Mexico — Supreme Knight James A. Flaherty addressed the persecution directly, placing the Order on record in opposition to the Mexican government’s campaign against the Church. He later wrote in Columbia: “The day of Knighthood is not over. There are still men on earth honorable enough to resent injustice, however disguised, and courageous enough to protest publicly against it.”

Indeed, the Knights’ response was immediate and organized. The Order established a $1 million fund and brought national attention to the persecution, including direct appeals to President Calvin Coolidge and other officials. In Mexico, the Order was driven underground, together with the Church; its headquarters was attacked and its activities suppressed. Membership itself became a liability.

Pope Pius XI, in his November 1926 encyclical Iniquis Afflictisque, praised Catholic organizations that stood by clergy and safeguarded churches amid the crisis. He singled out the Knights of Columbus for “their practical lives and open profession of the Faith, as well as by their zeal in assisting the Church” — especially through the Order’s promotion of Catholic family life, education and religious liberty. The Holy Father also did not omit the cost, noting that Knights were among those imprisoned, abused or killed. “Some of these young men,” he wrote, “have gladly met death, the rosary in their hands and the name of Christ the King on their lips.”

Among the Knights killed during the persecution are nine saints and blesseds, including six priest-martyrs commemorated May 21. A century later, their witness continues to inspire and to challenge us to defend the Church boldly and profess the faith without counting the cost. ¡Viva Cristo Rey! ¡Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!

*****

ALTON PELOWSKI is the editor of Columbia.

A Holy Names sister instructs students at St. Mary’s Academy & College in Portland, Ore., circa 1915.

A Question of Faith

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