DETROIT —
A first-class relic of St. Toribio Romo González will be given a permanent place in a new shrine to the martyred Mexican priest at Holy Redeemer Church in southwest Detroit.
The relic will be received at a 5 p.m. Mass this Sunday, Nov. 21, the feast of Christ the King — a day with special significance, given St. Toribio’s story.
St. Toribio was one of the martyrs of Mexico’s 1926-29 Cristero War, when Catholics in some parts of the country rebelled against the persecution of the Church under President Plutarcho Elias Calles, who was a militant atheist.
The Cristeros’ battle cry was “Long live Christ the King! Long live the Virgin of Guadalupe!” (“Viva Cristo Rey! Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!”).
St. Toribio was a young priest who was murdered in 1928 by Mexican government troops, but he has gained a reputation in recent decades as unofficial patron saint of undocumented migrant workers.
Since the early 1970s there have been reports by Mexicans who have crossed the U.S. border surreptitiously that a young man has helped them in times of distress, providing water or other assistance.
They have said that the man has identified himself as Toribio Romo from Santa Ana de Guadalupe in Jalisco State, and told them they should look him up if they ever go there. Those who have tried to do that have been shown the martyred priest’s picture in the local church.
The relic — a bone chip — has been taken around to a number of parishes with large Hispanic memberships for public veneration since its arrival in the Archdiocese of Detroit.
Archbishop Allen Vigneron, who received the relic at a Nov. 3 Evening Prayer service at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit, said he thought of St. Toribio “as our companion, a true brother to all of us.”
The archbishop praised St. Toribio’s willingness “to die for the love of Christ,” and held him up as an example to all priests.
Before it began its visits to local churches, the relic was taken to the Monroe studio of iconographer Sr. Nancy Lee Smith, IHM, who is doing the icon of St. Toribio that will adorn the shrine at Holy Redeemer, so that she might venerate it and pray with it.
Veneration of relics is a Christian custom that dates back to the early Church, when believers would show reverence to the remains of martyrs.
Among those who came to the Nov. 3 service at the cathedral to venerate the relic was Eliseo G. Luna, grand knight of St. Toribio Romo Council 14187 of the Knights of Columbus.
The council, based at Holy Redeemer Parish, adopted the martyred priest as its namesake when it was formed in 2006, Luna explained.
“I’m originally from Texas, but about 75 percent of the people at Holy Redeemer are from Jalisco,” he said.
St. Toribio is important to Mexican-Americans because he “gives hope to migrant workers,” Luna said.
While Holy Redeemer has long been a major center for ministry to Hispanics in the archdiocese, the list of churches the icon has been visiting shows that Hispanics can be found in urban, suburban and rural areas.
Yesterday, Thursday, Nov. 18, the relic was at Our Lady Queen of Angels in Detroit, but previous visits included not only other city parishes such as St. Stephen/Mary Mother of the Church, Most Holy Trinity, Ste. Anne de Detroit and St. Gabriel, but also St. Alfred in Taylor, St. Damien of Molokai in Pontiac, Holy Family in Novi, St. Nicholas in Capac and St. Francis of Assisi/St. Maximilian Kolbe in Ray Township.
Holy Redeemer Church is at 1721 Junction Ave. at West Vernor Highway in southwest Detroit. For more information, call (313) 842-3450.
