The narrative of the Cristero War

Abstract

The article provides a broad and critical analysis of Mexican narrative about the Cristero War, emphasizing how novels, short stories, testimonies and memoirs contribute to a complex and often contradictory historical memory of the conflict. Using a historical-literary methodology based on works published from the 1930s to the late twentieth century, the author identifies two major strands: Cristero novels and regional short fiction from western Mexico. The study examines foundational works such as Héctor by Jorge Gram, La Virgen de los cristeros by Fernando Robles, Los cristeros and Los bragados by José Guadalupe de Anda, La guerra santa by Aurelio Robles Castillo and Pensativa by José Goytortúa Santos, analyzing their ideological positions, rhetorical strategies and literary limitations. It also considers significant short stories by José Gudiño Villanueva, Alfredo Leal, Luis Sandoval Godoy, Augusto Orea and Adalberto González, which reveal firsthand or inherited experiences of violence, fear, fanaticism, betrayal, silence and distrust that shaped entire communities. The article’s objective is to show that Cristero narrative does not function as direct historical documentation but as a symbolic reconstruction of the war through diverse perspectives—pamphleteering, critical, costumbrista or testimonial—offering a richer understanding of the conflict’s social experience. The study concludes that the Cristero War was less a heroic crusade than a civil tragedy whose emotional and cultural consequences endured for generations.