Mexican Exodus: Emigrants, Exiles, and Refugees of the Cristero War by Julia G. Young (review)

The Cristero War (1926–1929) was the culmination of a long history of tension between the state and the Catholic Church in Mexico. After the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920), official anticlericalism entered a more radical phase, with extensive constraints on religious practice and the exile of many Catholic clergy, especially those of foreign birth. During the presidency of Plútarco Elías Calles (1924–1928), the federal government’s campaigns and armed resistance from Catholics led to the outbreak of open warfare. Much of this fighting took place in the conservative strongholds of west-central Mexico. Julia Young’s Mexican Exodus examines the transnational dimensions of this conflict as exiled clergy and lay dissidents in the United States organized to support the Cristero cause. A number of militant Cristero exiles strove to finance and arm Cristero rebels; more broadly, Mexican emigrants worked to gain attention for the plight of their compatriots from American Catholic hierarchs and institutions such as the Knights of Columbus. Exiles also promoted organizations such as the National League for the Defense of Religious Liberty, or “La Liga,” in order to coordinate support for the Cristero cause.

Many American Catholics condemned antireligious repression in Mexico, and the larger church eventually recognized the martyrdom of significant resistance figures such as Saint Toribio Romo. Cristero exiles also thwarted Mexico’s official efforts to instill support for anticlerical policies among emigrant communities and, in the process, further “politicized” Mexican American Catholicism. However, few U.S. Catholics outside of the ethnic Mexican community provided direct aid to the Cristero’s military campaign. In one telling example, a fundraising effort by the Liga aimed to collect $100,000 from American supporters; it only collected $3,260 after canvassing cities from Texas to New England. Efforts to smuggle arms received even less support and faced U.S. government opposition. American Catholics during this era were highly sensitive to nativist attacks during the 1920s and were wary of extending support to foreign militants, despite their antipathy toward the Calles regime. Young finds that exiles such as Capistrán Garza, a militant and leader of the Catholic Association of Mexican Youth, had more success in creating diplomatic channels and gaining political backing from influential American Catholics with interests in Mexico such as the oil magnate William F. Buckley, Sr. This persuasion created the climate for a peace agreement that ended the Cristero War in 1929.

Young’s wide variety of sources such as personal correspondence, the emigrant press, and oral interviews with exile families creates the underpinnings of this far-ranging, yet concise treatment. The author examines many communities through the United States and does not fall into the common trap of viewing the ethnic Mexicans of any one city or state as broadly representative of larger experiences. Young makes a very convincing case for the impact of exiled clergy on religious life for the larger Mexican American population; while many priests and nuns returned to Mexico after the peace agreement of 1930, significant numbers of clergy and their institutions remained. New spaces for Mexican American Catholicism, such as the Tepeyac Council of the Knights of Columbus in Los Angeles and the San Felipe Neri National Mexican Seminary in Castroville, Texas fostered education and community service. The activities of Cristero exiles enabled the emergence of a truly nationwide and transnational movement of Mexican Americans Catholics.

However, the author’s close focus on Catholic exiles does not include any discussion of how these networks informed contemporary efforts by the League of United Latin American Citizens, established in Corpus Christi in 1929, and other significant forms of Mexican American activism during this critical period. Nevertheless, this study provides a valuable contribution for academic and general readers who wish to understand the Cristero War better. More broadly, Young clearly delineates the complex interactions between Mexican and American Catholicism that emerged during the 1920s, a topic that continues to have enormous significance for the...