OZONE PARK — Father Baltazar Sanchez-Alonzo recalled how, about a decade ago, he walked a 500-meter path, nearly a third of a mile, taken in 1928 by a teenager with bloody feet. 

This took place in Sahuayo, Michoacán, Mexico, the hometown of José Luis Sánchez del Río — the 14-year-old boy who was beaten and threatened with death if he did not comply with the federal government’s orders to deny Jesus Christ. 

He refused, so the torturers slashed the soles of his feet and forced him to march to the city’s cemetery. 

Father Sanchez-Alonzo, pastor of St. Mary Gate of Heaven Parish in Ozone Park, said he made the side trip to Sahuayo while visiting his family in Zacatecas, about 225 miles to the north. He said it was a powerful experience to trace the death march of José, who became a martyr and a saint. 

“All the way, you can imagine the pain and the blood as he was going up,” he said. 

Father Sanchez-Alonzo is coordinator of the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Mexican Apostolate. 

He said St. José Sanchez del Rio was one of the thousands of Mexican Catholics who opposed Mexico’s federal government in the Cristero Rebellion, 1926-1929. 

At issue, he explained, was the country’s new constitution, which declared religions to be subversive in 1917. A decade later, promoters of the new constitution, led by Mexican President Plutarco Elías Calles, deemed the Roman Catholic faith as a foreign provocateur meddling in Mexican affairs. 

“This president,” Father Sanchez-Alonzo said, “tried to apply a law that was against the Church, because the country had been declared as not professing any religion. But it’s something contradictory.” 

That is because most of the nation at that time was nearly 100% Catholic, Father Sanchez-Alonzo explained. “In front of this political-social situation, the Catholics protested,” he continued. “And this is when there was a civil war in Mexico.” 

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President Calles ordered the seizure of church property, the shuttering of religious schools and convents, and the exile and even execution of many priests. Father Sanchez-Alonzo said Catholics chose between two groups — peaceful protestors and “protestors who were taking up guns.” 

José wanted to join his two older brothers in the armed camp led by Gen. Prudencio Mendoza Alcazar, but his mother objected, saying he was too young to fight. According to the Vatican’s biography of the saint, José replied, “Mama, do not let me lose the opportunity to gain Heaven so easily and so soon.” 

José eventually reached the headquarters of Gen. Mendoza, who also objected to his age. However, the boy pressed his desire to serve Christ, so the general relented.  

He assigned José to carry the unit’s flag, which bore the slogan, “¡Viva Cristo Rey y Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe! (Long live Christ the King and Our Lady of Guadalupe!) 

In January of 1928, Gen. Mendoza’s cavalry fought near Sahuayo, but federal troops captured José, who had given his horse to another Cristero. 

Father Sanchez said the church where José was baptized was turned into a military prison, and the boy was held in the sacristy. 

Government troops demanded he renounce Christ. He refused, and torture ensued. On Feb. 10, they slashed the bottom of his feet and forced him to march toward the city’s cemetery. 

After the agonizing trek, José was given one last chance to deny Christ. 

His response: “¡Viva Cristo Rey! ¡Viva Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe!” 

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For that defiance, the teenager was martyred. And in 2016, he was canonized as a saint. He joined 25 other Cristero martyrs, most of whom were priests, who were canonized together in 2000.  

Father Sanchez said he is not aware of any local youth activity related to St. “Joselito.” Still, he does speak about him when he addresses the vibrant “Guadalupana” groups in the diocese. He counts the young Mexican saint among important examples for youth, including the recently canonized St. Carlo Acutis. 

“I think that teenagers need models their own age,” he said. “Because most of the time, they think that religion is for the old. So, when we present young guys who have given their life for Jesus, we say, ‘Here are people like you that lived their faith and gave their lives for the Gospel.’ ”  

Among the saint’s modern admirers is John Meyo, 15, an altar server at St. Mary Gate of Heaven Parish. 

“Just hearing the story reminds me of how Catholics fight for what’s right with the faith,” John said. “I believe that God has given us everything, so therefore, he deserves something back. 

“Maybe it’s not as big a sacrifice, like the way José died, but it’s big if it’s pure in our hearts.”