The Cristero Rebellion
The Mexican People Between Church and State 1926–1929

The Cristero movement is an essential part of the Mexican Revolution.

Jean A. Meyer (Author)

9780521102056, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 18 December 2008

276 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.6 cm, 0.35 kg

The Cristero movement is an essential part of the Mexican Revolution. When in 1926 relations between Church and state, old enemies and old partners, eventually broke down, when the churches closed and the liturgy was suspended, Rome, Washington and Mexico, without ever losing their heads, embarked upon a long game of chess. These years were crucial, because they saw the setting up of the contemporary political system. The state established its omnipotence, supported by a bureaucratic apparatus and a strong privileged class. Just at the moment when the state thought that it was finally supreme, at the moment at which it decided to take control of the Church, the Cristero movement arose, a spontaneous mass movement, particularly of peasants, unique in its spread, its duration, and its popular character. For obvious reasons, the existing literature has both denied its reality and slandered it.

Part I. The Conflict between Church and State: 1. The Metamorphoses of the Conflict
2. The Roots of the Problem
3. The Conflict between the Two Swords, 1925–1926
4. The Conflict between the Two Swords, 1926–1929
Part II. The Cristeros: 5. Church Folk and Townsfolk
6. The Recruitment of the Cristeros
7. The Cristero Army
8. Cristero Government
9. The War
10. Culture and Religion, Faith and Ideology
Part III. After the Peace: 11. Ten Years Later
12. General Perspective.

Subject Areas: General & world history [HBG]