Saint Cristobal Magallanes Jara's relatives in Peoria, Illinois

I wanted to share the fact that I was recently contacted by a priest in the Peoria, Illinois diocese for some help confirming the relationship of some men in the diocese to Saint Cristobal Magallanes Jara. He had found my database online and I was able to trace the men's mother's ancestry back to a shared common root to the Saint. Father Jared was kind enough to mention me in his article in the Catholic Post.

http://www.cdop.org/post/PostArticle.aspx?ID=218

Three Mendota families have a saint in their genealogical tree

MENDOTA — It’s not often that Catholics can say they have a canonized saint in the family, but three families of Holy Cross Parish are honored to call a Mexican priest and martyr of the 20th century “cousin.”

Two of the families are those of brothers: Rogelio Magallanes and his wife Herminia, and Jose Magallanes and his wife Martha and daughters Elizabeth and Lorena. The third family is that of Manuel Magallanes, cousin of Rogelio and Jose’s father.

Through their fathers, the three men are distant cousins of St. Cristóbal Magallanes Jara (1869-1927), one of a group of 25 Mexican martyrs canonized in 2000 by Pope John Paul II. However, Rogelio and Jose have an even closer kinship to St. Cristóbal on their mother’s side.

Jose has lived in the U.S. for 22 years, but Rogelio arrived here about 10 years earlier. They and Manuel are among the two-thirds of the Mexican immigrants living in Mendota who come from St. Cristóbal’s home town of Totatiche, located in the Central Mexican state of Jalisco, according to Father Fredi Gomez Torres, administrator of Holy Cross Parish.

Rogelio and Jose’s maternal grandmother Juana, or “Juanita,” was the granddaughter of St. Cristóbal’s first cousin, Albino Jara Araña. Juana’s kinship to the saint was confirmed by Arturo Ramos of Washington, D.C., a researcher who specializes in Northern Jalisco genealogy.

Juana made sure that her family was aware that Totatiche’s martyred pastor was their cousin, according to Rogelio.

While Rogelio and Jose do not attribute any specific graces or miracles in their lives to his intercession, they do believe that they benefit from his protection and guidance.

“We feel very, very happy and blessed to have him in the family,” Rogelio said.

“Devotion to St. Cristóbal is very popular in Mexico. The devotion is growing year by year. There are many pilgrims who visit from Guadalajara, capital of Jalisco,” about 150 miles from Totatiche, said Rogelio.

He added, “The faith of the people is growing and growing.”