From Sonora to Heaven

This book purports to be, not a history of the Cristiada, but a biography of an extraordinary priest, Ignacio de la Torre, who had an important, positive influence on Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. It puts his life in the context of his family of origin and their struggle to maintain the practice of the Catholic faith during the bloody and vicious 1926-1929 persecution of the Church in Mexico under President Plutarco Elías Calles, and in 1935 in Sonora under his nephew, the Governor Rodolfo Elías Calles. The book treats the Cristero armed resistance in both persecutions briefly but in an informative way. The de la Torre family and Padre Ignacio, on whom most of the book focuses, emerge as admirable and inspiring. The book describes his murder in 1979 is related, but leaves the motive undetermined. Oral tradition has it that he was killed for preaching, even in those days, against the state government's involvement in drug trafficking and that the Governor of Sonora was forced to resign because of the assassination. The text has been translated from the Spanish. The English is sometimes poor. Chronologically the book goes back and forth without making this clear. Nevertheless the information and inspiration conveyed by this short work far outweigh these imperfections.

This book represents itself as dealing with the Cristero rebellion in Sonora. It has almost nothing to do with the Cristero rebellion but instead is a puff of Father Ignacio De La Torre and his work in New Mexico..While the padre led an interesting life, he had nothing to do with the Cristeros either in New Mexico or Sonora.The book is advertised as dealing with the Cristero rebellion and it does not. If the Cristeros are your interest, do not purchase this book