On May 21, 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized a group of 25 saints and martyrs who had died in the Mexican Cristero War.

The vast majority are Catholic priests who were executed for carrying out their ministry despite the suppression under the anti-clerical laws of Plutarco Elías Calles after the revolution in the 1920s.

These saints were also canonized on 21 May 2000 but were not martyred in the Cristero War: Luis Bátiz Sainz was born on September 13, 1870.

He worked as spiritual director of the seminary and as parish priest in Chalchihuites, Zacatecas, and was a member of the Knights of Columbus.

Bátiz spent a great part of his time on the catechesis of children and adults, and was very fervent in his Eucharistic adoration.

Before the closure of the churches in 1926, a meeting of the National League for the Defense of Religious Liberty discussed the possibility of armed rebellion to overthrow the government.

The next day, on the pretext of transferring him to Zacatecas, soldiers took him and three members of the Mexican Association for Catholic Youth, putting them in a car for transport.

After a warrant was issued for his arrest, he took refuge at the Colegio de San Ignacio in Ejutla, where he continued to celebrate Mass and administer the sacraments.

[8] On October 28, 1927, the day after his arrest, Father Alemán was led to the main plaza of Ejutla for execution by hanging.

After placing the noose on his neck from the rope hanging on a mango tree, they repeatedly asked him, "Who lives?"

Instead he shouted the Cristero motto: "Long live Christ the King and Blessed Mary of Guadalupe!"

He attended the seminary in Guadalajara, Jalisco, but was sent back to his family when the building was sacked during the Mexican Revolution.

[16] General Goñi ordered his transfer to Colotlán, where Caloca was executed by firing squad in the burned city hall building on May 25, 1927.

He worked as a ranch hand for his family until the parents decided to send him to Teocaltiche to learn to read and write.

There, on June 29, 1928, he joined his pastor, Justino Orona Madrigal, and they prayed and discussed the situation in their parish.

Father Miguel de la Mora of Colima was a member of the Knights of Columbus, Council 2140.

He was soon arrested and, with his brother Regino looking on, he was executed without a trial by a single shot from a military officer as he prayed his rosary on Aug. 7, 1927.