Congratulations! You have successfully made it to day two of Lent Madness 2021. If Lent Madness is part of your Lenten discipline this year - and we sincerely hope it is - you're doing great so far! Our competition continues today with an intriguing matchup between Miguel Pro and Constantine. You might say there are PROS and CONS to be weighed as you decide for whom to cast your vote.
In yesterday's opening matchup, Camillus de Lellis trounced Matthias in a Biblical beatdown 71% to 29% to advance to the Saintly Sixteen. If you'd like to see an updated bracket, you can simply visit the Bracket Tab each day. Bracket Czar Adam Thomas updates it daily for your viewing pleasure. He also shares links to each previous battle, which comes in handy when you seek a refresher in the later rounds.
Speaking of brackets, in case you missed the incredible peg doll video featuring all 32 saints in this year's bracket created by the talented team at the Cathedral of St. James in South Bend, Indiana, you can watch it here. Seriously. Do yourself a favor and revel in two minutes of joy that we could all surely use.
Finally, don't forget to tune in tomorrow for the ONLY Saturday matchup of Lent Madness as Tarcisius takes on Egeria.
Miguel Pro
José Ramón Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez was born in 1891 in Guadalupe, Zacatecas. After entering the Jesuit novitiate and completing theological studies in Europe, Miguel Pro returned to Veracruz in 1926. His ministry quickly went underground on account of the violent anti-Catholic repression, and he signed his letters with his childhood nickname of “Cocol” to obscure his identity.
Telling the story of Miguel Pro requires entering into a fraught period of Mexico’s history called the Cristero rebellion, when the Roman Catholic Church’s official and unofficial institutions engaged in a ten year, violent rebellion against the anti-Catholic regime.
For many Mexican Roman Catholics, including Miguel Pro, the Cristero Rebellion was the heroic story of the faithful engaging in overt and covert resistance against an extremely violent and repressive anti-Catholic effort. One of the most famous images is of railroad tracks in Jalisco lined by the executed bodies of Cristero rebels. The Cristeros are frequently presented by the Roman Catholic Church as heroes who took up arms against such repression.
In contrast, when I studied Mexico-U.S. border relations in el Tecnológico de Monterrey in Querétaro, Mexico, this period was presented as part of a broader set of internationally led efforts to undermine the 1917 Constitution, a socialist-inspired document whose agrarian reforms had aligned Mexico’s elite Roman Catholic families with U.S. interests. Indeed, America’s fingerprints are all over this conflict, from funneling money to the rebels to negotiating a peace agreement that led to the church’s withdrawal of support for the Cristeros.
In 1927, an innocent Miguel Pro was executed without trial for the attempted assassination of former Mexican president Álvaro Obregón; photos of his execution became a rallying point in the final years of the rebellion. Miguel Pro was pointedly beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1988, a period when the Roman Catholic Church was once again deeply engaged in resisting socialist and communist governments and Latin American liberation theology.
At his execution, Miguel Pro raised his arms in imitation of Christ and shouted ¨Viva Cristo Rey!” — “Long live Christ the King!”, the defying cry of the Cristeros.
Collect for Miguel Pro
Almighty God, who gave to your servant Miguel boldness to confess the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith: Grant that we may always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Constantine
Constantine the Great is a complex character in the history of Christianity. What is without debate is that he profoundly influenced the direction of Christianity. He is a saint in the Orthodox tradition.
Constantine was born in 272 ce in modern-day Serbia to one of Rome’s four emperors, Constantius. His mother, Helena, was not of noble birth and may have been simply Constantius’s concubine. She was a deeply pious Christian and, no doubt, shaped Constantine’s relationship to Christianity. Constantine excelled as a military leader and ultimately succeeded his father as the emperor of Britain, Gaul, and Spain. A series of power struggles and civil wars led to his consolidation of power as the sole emperor of the Roman Empire.
One of the most significant battles was with Maxentius, a rival to the throne, on the Milvian Bridge. Shortly before the battle, Constantine had a vision in which he (and purportedly also his army) saw a cross of light in the sky with the words, “In this conquer.” The following night, Christ appeared to him and told him to make his standards with the chi-rho Labarum ☧ (chi and rho are the first two letters of Christ in Greek). Constantine obliged and his army under that sign did indeed conquer.
Following this victory, one of Constantine’s first legislative acts was to issue the Edict of Milan, which brought about the universal toleration of Christianity and the return to Christians of all property that had been taken from them. Whatever his personal convictions, his preferential treatment of Christians was a hallmark of his reign. He helped guide the Christian church through major controversies, including the Arian debate for which he gathered the bishops from across the Roman Empire for the Council at Nicae—and funded the meeting entirely out of his coffers.
Constantine was also a major patron of the church—he gifted a villa that would become the foundation of St. John Lateran, he gifted the Vatican fields, and in Jerusalem he supported the construction of the important Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Church of the Holy Nativity. In 321, Constantine legislated that Sunday be a day of rest.
Constantine was baptized on his deathbed in May 337. Throughout the Middle Ages, he was revered as both a godly man and as a model ruler.
Collect for Constantine
Almighty God, you have surrounded us with a great cloud of witnesses: Grant that we, encouraged by the good example of your servant Constantine, may persevere in running the race that is set before us, until at last we may with him attain to your eternal joy; through Jesus Christ, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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180 comments on “Miguel Pro vs. Constantine”
My thought is that Constantine forever warped the church by making Christianity a public based faith. I believe it's the starting point Christian Nationalism. Miguel Pro fought to keep faith alive, so I'm voting for Pro. But that's just me.
Today, I abstain. Neither of these people seem, on the evidence presented, particularly saintly to me. Both Pro and Constantine used violence against their opponents--not particularly Christlike in my view.
I also had a hard time selecting a figure to back today knowing one from history and nothing of the other. Miguel was killed for attempting to assassinate - that stopped me during my second reading. Seems that is not something I can feel makes a saint. And then Constantine did work on unifying the man made branches of Christianity.... although that didn't last for all time it was worthy.
There was no evidence, though! He was innocent!
Sweet Miss Susan! So glad to see you here!
Likewise, Dr. C!
What an unfair and biased write-up of Miguel Pro.
Tapping out on both these choices.
Can’t vote
The beginning of Lent Madness is disappointing this year
Miguel was falsely accused of the attempted assassination and executed without a trial. I recall Dietrich Bonhoeffer receiving a Golden Halo though he supported an assassination attempt. Miguel Pro took great risks to continue to minister to the needs of others. I agree with those who did some additional research- that changed my mind. Thanks for the example and witness of Miguel Pro.
My thoughts exactly. I also voted for Miguel Pro.
I voted for Constantine. Love him or hate him, he heavily influenced the church as it currently exists, world-wide. Consider this: Constantine was the guy who helped bring us the Nicene Creed. We are influenced by him daily. Was he completely righteous? No. Well, yesterday I voted for a gambler. Everybody's got sins. That's why we need Jesus in the first place.
I may not vote here.
Miguel in English is Michael. When I think of Michael in this setting I think of the Archangel Michael. When I think of the word Ark, it recalls the big boat Noah built. I have an affinity for boats, they were always made of wood, and wood floats. I seek to float above the politics. Let the waters rise! Go Miguel. Besides I used to sail with a mate named Miguel.
I would have liked to have more information about Miguel Pro's innocence in the assassination attempt. The write-up left a great deal to the imagination. Is this disputed? Unknown? Proven false after the fact?
I’m going to start reading replies before I vote.
Constantine got my vote today due to lack of knowledge about his competition.
We haven’t had Holy Eucharist in so long I almost forgot the Nicene Creed that uses
We not I for corporate worship but I like the power of the Holy Spirit in it & am glad Constantine got everyone together.
I had not heard of Blessed José Ramón Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez before and based on some remarks in the comments above, I decided to look up more information about him. And I found some more information about this Jesuit priest on his Wikipedia page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Pro .
I found this quote of his, "How can I explain to you the sweet grace of the Holy Spirit, which invades my poor miner's soul with such heavenly joys? I could not hold back the tears on the day of my ordination, above all at the moment when I pronounced, together with the bishop, the words of the consecration. After the ceremony the new priests gave their first blessing to their parents. I went to my room, laid out all the photographs of my family on the table, and then blessed them from the bottom of my heart."
And this quote about him from John Paul II on the occasion of Pro's beatification, "Neither suffering nor serious illness, nor the exhausting ministerial activity, frequently carried out in difficult and dangerous circumstances, could stifle the radiating and contagious joy which he brought to his life for Christ and which nothing could take away. Indeed, the deepest root of self-sacrificing surrender for the lowly was his passionate love for Jesus Christ and his ardent desire to be conformed to him, even unto death."
It is said his last request was to kneel and pray. Then, "Declining a blindfold, he faced his executioners with a crucifix in one hand and a rosary in the other and held his arms out in imitation of the crucified Christ and shouted out, "May God have mercy on you! May God bless you! Lord, Thou knowest that I am innocent! With all my heart I forgive my enemies!" Before the firing squad was ordered to shoot, Pro raised his arms in imitation of Christ and shouted the defiant cry of the Cristeros, "Viva Cristo Rey!" – "Long live Christ the King!"'"
Viva Christo Rey indeed.
[Also, one thing that bothers me about Constantine is that he waited until he was on his deathbed to get baptized. Talk about procrastination.]
I have to admit, if it had been left to me to get baptized, I still might not be. But maybe I would, in which case, for me it would have been a much more meaningful experience than my actual one as a baby.
Back then a lot of people waited until they were near dying to be baptized. It had nothing to do with a lack of faith or belief in God and Jesus. It was because they believed, courtesy of the church, that baptism was to achieve forgiveness of sins. Since it only happened one, they were not inclined to risk sinning again after baptism, so they waited until there was no chance they could sin again.
This is why I read Lent Madness..I learn so much. All these posts Pro & Con...and I will continue to read them.
For those who will stop, well sorry I won’t. Because for those of us who don’t know this history, we need to too and his else do we learn? Don’t stop doing what ya do Tim & Scott. Variety is the spice of life. Love the changes this year!
Frozen in TX
Amen to that, Robyn!
Educational, anyway! I had to go look at Wikipedia on Pro, the Christos Rebellion, and the Mexican Revolution, to try to figure out what exactly was going on! Looks like the persecution of Catholics was tied to anger at ‘colonialism’, for lack of a better word—the same evil that killed/repressed The indigenous peoples of North America. But clearly overstepped, by putting such anti-Catholic laws in the Constitution. Pro himself seems to have been a clear example of Christ, if stuck in the middle of a conflict that should never have had to exist. Thank you, SEC and Miguel Escobar, for starting my education about Mexico: clearly an enormous hole that must bear some blame for the generally lousy US attitude towards our near neighbour.
Gracias a Miguel Escobar for introducing me to a part of history I never heard of. I was going to vote for Constantine because his effects on the church were so huge, but Miguel Pro's tiny role in resisting government suppression of the church was very moving. Wikipedia says the Ku Klux Klan offered 10 million dollars to the Mexican government to help crush the Cristeros. I don't know how far Miguel will get in LM but he's way ahead Upstairs.
Miguel Pro gets my vote. I, too, did some more reading since he was new to me. No matter the political corruptions and compromises of either man's time in human history, there's a vast difference between "In this sign, conquer" and "Long live Christ the King!" For Constantine, it's about political power and personal gain. For Miguel, it's about Jesus, above all and no matter what.
Constantine did many good things for the early Church -- indeed, we would not perhaps even be having this dialogue today if not for him -- but I'm pretty sure Jesus did not aspire to found a faith approved by the government establishment. And ever shrewd, Constantine hedged his bets until his deathbed baptism.
Miguel, on the other hand, was a faithful follower of Jesus and priest in a time and place where that was dangerous -- and ended up being martyred on false charges. I imagine his reward is great in heaven -- and I hope it will be in our brackets. too!
I voted for Miguel Pro. Like an earlier responder, his story resonates with today's political demonization of socialism. The history of US intervention in Central American affairs lasts to this day. Other Roman Catholics have died throughout the decades for their stance against imperialistic forces in church and state.
I voted for Miguel Pro because he died as a martyr for his faith. Constantine was no doubt a great man, but I couldn't consider him a saint. No doubt he had a huge effect on the Church, but he was also cruel and murderous . His influence on the church, despite some positives, had many negative consequences, some of which still endure to this day. I have attended the Orthodox liturgy on the Feast of Sts. Constantine and Helena, with lifesize icons of the two displayed on the bema for the veneration of the faithful. I found the juxtaposition troubling.
I read the Wikipedia article about Miguel Pro. Assuming that info is accurate, Pro was actually executed for ministering as a Roman Catholic priest at a time when doing so had been made illegal. They blamed him falsely for the assassination attempt - the same way Alexei Navalny faces trumped up charges today. The way he died was courageous and inspiring. He gets my vote.
After Christ himself, Mary M. and the Apostles, Constantine really set the footing for what would become the Church as it developed. Visions aside, he knew what he was doing. Many of his soldiers were already Christians as were many of those opposing him on the Milvian Bridge. Imagine what it was for them to see the symbol of Christ leading the army they were about to fight. They would have said, "I don't like it and I won't do it!"
Constantine aligning himself and the empire with the church was one of the biggest mistakes in church history. Miguel fir thecein!
With Constantine, power became a huge aspect of Christianity and is responsible for so much tragedy. I cannot vote for him, Nicene Creed or not.
Fr. Miguel Pro reminds us how precious our freedom of religion - and our freedom to worship as we choose - really is.
This didn't happen in some "foreign country" centuries ago - it happened right here, next door, during the "modern" 20th century. The geopolitics of the situation certainly made for some strange bedfellows, but the day-to-day truth is that the Catholic Church was effectively banned - people had to risk their lives to receive the Sacraments (Baptism, Burial, Marriage) and had to risk their lives to celebrate the Eaucharist in secret. Yet very few people in the US have ever heard of this - even though it was less than 100 years ago. I have friends and neighbors who grew up hearing about the Cristero War first-hand from people who were smuggled out of Mexico to safety in the U.S.
Fr. Pro willingly suffered and and risked his life to minister to the ordinary people of Mexico - he ***chose*** to do so. When the day of his execution came, his last request was to pray. He forgave the men on his firing squad. His was the first martyrdom captured on film. And his final words - ¡Que viva Cristo Rey! - Long Live Christ the King! - are a reminder of who our true ruler is.
P.S. if you'd like a bit more inspiration - and a terrific theme song to get your blood going - check out the trailer of "For Greater Glory" - check out the Spanish version for the song and some great imagery: https://youtu.be/YrgOiOzFIEo
Miguel Pro for the Golden Halo!
Pobre Mexico, tan lejos de Dios y tan cerca de los Estados Unidos. It is no contest for me today. I voted for Miguel Agustin Pro. Constantine may have been a great deployer of troops, but his "Christianity" opened the door to co-optation of the Jesus sect by all the forces and temptations of worldly powers. What the new religion lost in spiritual connection to its founder it certainly gained in "tracts of land," to use the Monty Python expression. On the other hand, Padre Miguel points to a current political and religious struggle, dominant since the 20th century, of US hegemony over the western hemisphere and violent intervention in the self-governance of South and Central Americas. And to this end, the Catholic church has regularly been reviled as associated with socialism, all efforts to use democratic governance to alleviate systemically the lot of the poor resisted by corporate and militaristic powers devoted to Mammon. In the wonderful movie "Two Popes," Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (aka Pope Francis), played by Jonathan Pryce, gives a public address in a slum in Buenos Aires, Argentina, telling the people that "it seems unfair to leave all the efforts to improve the world to the Virgin Mary, our blessed mother; we should be helping her out." Padre Miguel represents all the efforts by Liberation theologists and Dorothy Day workers and Christian activists in all denominations to combat global climate change, bring literacy to the people, and organize labor and land collectives to achieve autonomy and self-governance, dignity and reliable sustenance. Below is a Wikipedia entry with a brief account including photos of the "road to Golgotha" along the railroad tracks and the execution of Padre Miguel. I note with interest that the Ku Klux Klan hated Catholics; my vote for Miguel Pro today is also a vote against the continuation of white supremacy in the US. Vivan los Cristeros.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristero_War
My God, I always love following your streams of logic!
What you said, Saint Celia!
While no great fan of Constantine, as a resident of Mexico, I can’t bring myself to support Miguel. Though he saw himself following Christ, he was in fact supporting a vicious oppression of the poor. So for me, Connie it is.
Tough choice, but if Constantine hadn't allowed Christianity to spread, what would Miguel have had to die for?
I generally don't read the replies until after I vote: today might alter that behavior. Thank you all for these critically considered thoughts and opinions. Through the years I have learned so much through these forums, and see now that my vote for Constantine might not have been well enough considered.
Having lived for decades in Latin America, I am very well aware of the tendency of the Church hierarchy to ally themselves with the wealthy, and especially with U.S. imperialists, while the faithful laypeople and their long-suffering priests hold different views about what it means to be Christian in their world. So I have great sympathy for Miguel Pro. On the other hand, I have always said that if I had a time machine the one thing I would want to do was go back and assassinate Constantine before he made Christianity a state religion. So guess who I voted for?
Thanks for making that point about the hierarchy compared with the faithful & the priests who serve them.
It was Theodosius I who made Christianity the sole legal religion of the Roman Empire, not Constantine. Constantine made Christianity legal--but then did begin to invest state money in subsidizing Christianity (not to mention heading the Council of Nicaea before he was even baptized).
https://www.jesuit.org.uk/remembering-miguel-pro
I implore you to go to this website and others to read a fuller account of Miguel Pro’s life and priestly ministry. The write-up provided by LM is sorely lacking and has misled readers to think he was a part of the assassination plot, which he was not. How can he possibly go up against an Emperor without a proper defense? As in real life, Miguel Pro goes down without resistance, forgiving his LM biographer. Viva Cristo Rey!
"If I meet any long-faced saints in heaven, I will perform for them a Mexican hat dance!"
Thank you for the link. An excellent telling of his life! Yes, I'm voting for Miguel Pro! So much was missing in today's post about the man himself and his good works.
Can someone post the link to the video which explains how the Episcopal church declares Saints? I’m sure I saw this yesterday....can’t find it now. Thx!
I always get a lot from reading the comments of others.
And I learn about people I had never heard of or did not know much about by participating in Lent Madness.
I hope to read about some Episcopalians or folks from other denominations besides RC soon.
Looking through the lineup this year, there are only two non-Catholics this year - though this is partly because most of the nominees predate the Reformation. Absalom Jones and Catherine Booth represent the Episcopal Church and the Salvation Army respectively.
You hit it right on, we learn a lot about people we either know vaguely or have never heard of each Lent!