The relics of six Mexican martyrs were not supposed to arrive at Our Lady of the Rosary of Talpa Church in Boyle Heights until after the summer.
But when the parish’s pastor, Father Miguel Ángel Ruiz, learned that the relics were going to show up early — coincidentally on the week that a wave of drug cartel violence suddenly rocked Mexico — he knew it was God’s providence when it was needed most.
“I said, ‘It’s God’s sign — let’s do it,’ ” Ruiz said. “Not only will we pray for peace, but we will also have the intercession of the martyrs through the presence of their relics.”
The parish, simply known as “Talpa” to most parishioners, held a week of prayer that kicked off Tuesday, Feb. 24, with a Mass for peace and veneration of the martyrs’ relics, temporarily gifted to the parish by the Knights of Columbus.
The relics of St. Miguel de la Mora de la Mora, St. José María Robles Hurtado, St. Mateo Correa Magallanes, St. Luis Batis Sáinz, St. Rodrigo Aguilar Alemán, and St. Pedro de Jesús Maldonado Lucero were priests killed during the Cristero War against the Catholic Church in Mexico during the 1920s. They were canonized by St. Pope John Paul II in 2000.
The Mass and relics come as Mexico deals with the aftermath of the killing of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, a prominent drug cartel leader, which sparked days of violence in the country, bringing fear and uncertainty to families on both sides of the border.
The violence hit close to home for many who attended the prayer service. Maria Rico attended the Mass with her daughter and said she has a sister and her family who had been “locked inside their home” since the violence began.
“They don’t know if they’ll be allowed to go out to work because she lives in Jalisco, near where the situation occurred,” Rico said in Spanish.
They prayed that Our Lady of Guadalupe would protect the country and its citizens, as she has many times before.
“We are here specifically to pray for peace in Mexico,” Rico said. “It breaks my heart to know what is happening, how many innocent people are dying.
“But I also believe that we have Mary — Our Lady of Guadalupe — there in Mexico. She came to visit us and has remained there for almost 500 years. So, I trust that her blessed hands will protect our Mexican people.”
Rico said she drew strength and hope from listening to Ruiz’s homily and seeing the relics.
“It was truly perfect timing. [The relics] came exactly at the moment when we needed it most emotionally.”
Her 22-year-old daughter, Maddi Bonilla, admitted she was not “aware of the political status of Mexico,” but that seeing what her family is experiencing made the crisis feel personal and left her uneasy.
“It makes me feel unsettled. I’m a psychology major, and that kind of impacts the way I think about the situation,” she said.
Sara González has attended Talpa since 1985, even after moving to Whittier. She, too, has family in Mexico and has been affected by the violence.
“Whenever something important happens here [at the church], I always come back,” González said in Spanish.
“I’ve told everyone to take care of themselves, may God bless them, and if they have to stay home, to stay safe — and hopefully all of this will be over soon.”
González, whose mother was born in 1927, was raised by a first-person witness to the faith shown by the Mexican martyrs.
“She used to tell me about it and how they couldn’t baptize her,” González added. “They had to baptize her in the basement because they couldn’t perform baptisms at the time she was born.”
That made it difficult for her family to obtain the necessary documents later.
In his homily, Ruiz pointed to the martyrs’ example of solidarity and faith in the face of adversity.
“The presence of the martyrs today reminds us that we’re not alone — that our people who are suffering in Mexico are not alone,” Ruiz said. “Whoever has family members in danger and may not be able to visit them right now can find comfort in knowing that they are not alone.”
