Beginning of Cathal Gallagher and Fred Martinez Fernando Play

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Aug 13, 2009 — Other plays Gallagher has produced include “Viva Cristo Rey,” about the Mexican Jesuit martyr Blessed Miguel Pro... 

[Email to Fred Martinez:] Thought you might be interested in this review from Jesse Romero.

Cathal (Cal) Gallagher

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Angel Duran Subject: just got this blurb from Jesse Romero
Jesse Romero:"No book compares with watching the [Viva Cristo Rey!] play... [It's]absolutely riveting"

Here is one of the blurbs I just recieved for a new letter I am creating. I am waiting for more, but this one is great!


"Although I have read the story of Fr Miguel Pro and his martyrdom, no book compares with watching the play perfomed by the GK Chesterton Theatre Company. Absolutely riveting, I was on the edge of my seat. When it was all said and done, my faith was renewed, revived and taken to another level. This play transported me back in time and I felt like I was there. What a roller coaster ride!"
Jesse Romero- Radio Talk Show Host and Catholic Lay Evangelist

Angel Duran
Director/Producer Viva Cristo Rey - Live Stage Theatre Production
Executive Board Member
The GK Chesterton Theatre Company


Play this weekend in Long Beach about Blessed Miguel Pro, martyr of Cristero War

In the 1920s, Mexico entered a dark period of religious persecution known as the Cristero War, during which 40 priests were killed and hundreds of others fled the country.

Among the Cristero martyrs was Bl. Miguel Pro, a Jesuit priest executed by firing squad on Nov. 23, 1927. Just before he was shot dead, the 37-year-old priest shouted Viva Cristo Rey! (“Long live Christ the King!”)

This Saturday, Dec. 3, at Holy Innocents Catholic Church in Long Beach, there will be two performances of the play “Viva Cristo Rey,” which presents the story of Bl. Miguel Pro, a beloved Mexican hero of the faith.

The play, written by Cathal Gallagher and Fred Martinez and directed by Angel Duran, will be presented by the GK Chesterton Theatre Co. - On last play by Gallagher and Martinez

FERNANDO 

ACT 1, SCENE 1

QUEEN ISABELLA, downstage, addresses the theatre audience. She wears a floor lenght
costume, circa 1492. The stage is empty except for a table, chairs and a scrim upstage.

ISABELLA: Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen. I understand we have a number of students
in the audience. I would like to begin with a question? Who was the person or persons who
liberated Spain from the Moors?

AUDIENCE: (Shouts from the audience) "Ferdinand and Isabella. "?

ISABELLA: Not true. Ferdinand and Isabella. They took part in the re-conquest and freed
Granada. There was a Prince in Castile who paved the way for the re- conquest. He would
become known as Fernando the Third. He liberated the rest of Spain more than two hundred
years prior to Granada.

(HUBBUB in the audience.

ISABELLA: Who was this young Prince? Born in 1199 the son of King Alfonso the 9th of
of Leon and Dona Berenguera of Castile. Lady Berenguera's brother was heir to the throne
of Castile, but he died. That meant Lady Berenguera, who is my distant cousin, would
become Queen of Castile....ah, there's Lady Berenguera now and family friend, Archbisop
Jimenez.

( Enter DONA BERENGUERA and ARCHBISHOP JIMENEZ.. ISABELLA exits)

ACT ONE

SCENE ONE

                    (BERENGUERA escorts A/B GIMINEZ to a table.  He sits)

GIMINEZ.  Your Highness, I got your message just before...

                  (BERENGUERA raises hand for silence.  She crosses the stage, opens a curtain,

                  looks furtively about, shuts curtain, takes a seat close to A/B GIMINEZ)

BERENGUERA.  One can never be too careful Archbishop.

GIMINEZ.  A sign of the times,

BERENGUERA.  The death of Enrique has revealed the hearts of men, ambitious men.

GIMINEZ.  Like a few Nobles of Castile.

BERENGUERA.  A few.  That is the question?

GIMINEZ.  Madam, Why this concern.   You have overwhelming support of the Cortez.  

BERENGUERA.  (Low voice) I was not thinking of myself.  

GIMINEZ.   (Long pause)  Fernando?

BERENGUERA.  Been on my mind for some time.

GIMINEZ.  How?

BERENGUERA.  Abdicate in favor of my son.  

GIMINEZ.  (Rises). All right, I shall be candid.   Ever since Las Navas, Spain has sought

               a new El Cid.  A man destined to end Islamic rule in Iberia. I have seen him. 

               One day he will rule Castile. Until that day, Queen Berenguera will accede to 

               the throne and be sworn in at the Cortez on Monday.

BERENGUERA.  No, my Lord Archbishop, no. The ruler of Castile must build an army.

Forge an alliance with Nobles, Knights, and Military Orders like...

FERNANDO.  (ENTERS)   Like the Order of Santiago, the Order of Caltrava,

BERENGUERA.  A difficult task for a woman.

GIMINEZ.   How do you propose to recruit such historic orders?

FERNANDO.  Send an emissary they trust.  Some Churchman.  A high ranking Churchman.

GIMINEZ.  I see.  Excuse me Madam.  I need to chat with a young Prince from the Kingdom

of Castile.     

                              ( FERNANDO and ARCHBISHOP GIMINEZ EXIT

                               BERENGUERA puts the chairs back in place)

ACT 1, SCENE 2.   Archbishop Giminez at his desk in the Chancery Office.  He

is writing on a ledger.  After a while Nobleman Don Tomas of Navarre enters.

GIMINEZ.  (Rises). Good of you to come Senor Tomas.

TOMAS.  I got your message Archbishop.  I came ad soon I could.

GIMINEZ.  Thank you.  As you know my task is to document  the proceedings

of the recent Cortez.  

TOMAS.  And who supported the new...King.

GIMINEZ.  And who did not.  There was a dissenting faction.

TOMAS.  I am not privy to any faction.  I'll come directly to the point.

I did not support the Prince because he is a callow youth of 18 years.

GIMINEZ.  As you were Senor, before you made your mark at the battle of Las Navas.

TOMAS.  I was not raised at Court by servants, Maids, and tutors.   

GIMINEZ.  Its a question of Miliary prowess.?

TOMAS.  A question of character. of courage, of laying a foundation for battle...

GIMINEZ.  Come with me.  Giminez opens door.  Look out there, tell me what you see.

ACT 1, SCENE 2   (Continued)

GIMINEZ.  (To TOMAS). Look out there and tell me what you see.

TOMAS.  A Shrine, the Madonna and a boy kneeling in prayer.

GIMINEZ.  Almost everyday since he had a life threatening illness as 

a youngster. He has prayed to Jesus and the Madonna.

TOMAS.  All right, Excellency, our boy King has faith.  So do many of the 

Knights of Castile and Leon.

GIMINEZ.  No ordinary faith, Senor.  Fernando believes we can free 

every Kingdom in Iberia--if we put our trust in God, not men.

TOMAS.  Every Kingdom.  Through prayer we can win every battle, 

in Iberia.  (Laughs)

GIMINEZ.  Fernando believes that God will be with us in every battle,

and he will answer our prayers.  If we have a setback or retreat from 

the field, the Good Lord will provide something greater.

TOMAS.  Your Excellency.  I am a soldier.  I have seen many battles. I

never seen an army retreat--and receive something greater.

ACT 1, SCENE 2   (Continued)

FERNANDO: (Knelling to mother) My Queen and mother.

BERENQUERA:(Berenguera lifts up Fernando) My Lord and son. I've just relinquish my title so you are king. The Cortes just named you king.

FERNADO: I'm only 18 years old. How could you do this?

BERENQUERA: I put this burden on you because by God's providence only your sword can drive out the traitor Alvaro's armies and drive out the demon driving your father's army this way. 

FFERNADO: So as I expel the Alvaro's hordes, I am going to expel the demon driving my father.

BERENQUERA: Remember that it is Jesus who expels the demon, If you wins these wars then your greatest battle is with yourself.

TOMAS: As you ordered. We attacked three of Count Alvaro's strongholds and they quickly surrendered. What of your father?

FERNANDO: My father can wait since he is not here yet, I see red when I think of the murderer Alvaro who insulted and persecuted my mother.

BERENQUERA: Your army has captured Alvaro. They bring him to you at this moment.

FERNANDO: He deserves death!

BERENQUERA: Many deserve death, but...

FERNANDO: Did he not hang your innocent messenger? Did he not besiege you at Autillo?

FERNANDO: (Knells in silence for a moment and after a few moments stands facing his mother) In the depths of my soul I heard, "You will not sin against justice if you condemn him; but I, on the Cross, forgave." I'm not happy, but if it is God's will I'll show him mercy.

TOMAS: If you do this sire, everyone will view your benevolence as the weakness of youth.

FERNANDO: I do not fear my enemies as long as my God is on my side. I vanquish my passions, that my enemies be vanquished.

GIMINEZ: Sire, your father army is at the gate.

FERNANDO: (Writes on a piece of paper and hands it to the Archbishop as he says) I know Holy Mary will help me with him. Archbishop you are to go immediately to my father to negotiate peace.

ACT 1 SCENE 3

GIMINEZ: (To Fernando's father) Sire, it certain that if you enter in battle with your son, God will be on the side of the innocent.

KING ALFONSO: You have great courage to talk to me like this. If Alvaro were in my place he would hang you.

GIMINEZ: Your son wrote this letter for you. "This is a message to you my father from Holy Mary and me. I can not strike you because you are my father and my lord. So, I'm prepared to sit here and suffer with my troops until you come to your senses."

ALFONSO: (With a deep frowns silently for a few moments with first an expression of anger then looks down almost trembling then says with a disagreeable voice) Tell the King of Castile the war is due our kingdom not being paid 10,000 maravedis that Fernando's father never paid us for the stronghold of Santibanez.

GIMINEZ: There will be no difficulty if this will bring the peace.

Note: More to come.

Pray an Our Father now for reparation for the sins committed because of Francis’s Amoris Laetitia and for the restoration of the Church.

Stop for a moment of silence, ask Jesus Christ what He wants you to do now and next. In this silence remember God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost – Three Divine Persons yet One God, has an ordered universe where you can know truth and falsehood as well as never forget that He wants you to have eternal happiness with Him as his son or daughter by grace. Make this a practice. By doing this you are doing more good than reading anything here or anywhere else on the Internet.

The Catholic Monitor

The Catholic Monitor

https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com

I ask all The Catholic Monitor readers to also pray for the end of this war. Watch "Trump Calls Putin To Get Iran War Offramp! w/ Scott Ritter" on YouTube: ...Read more Please Pray for Trump to end the Iran War: Watch "Trump Calls Putin To Get Iran War Offramp! w/ Scott Ritter" on YouTubeFranklin & Graham calls on Christians to pray for 'end to the bloodshed' ahead of Trump-Putin summit...7mo

Please Pray for Trump to end the Iran War: Watch "Trump Calls Putin To ... Daily news from a Catholic perspective on issues relating to current events in the Catholic Church, world politi...

Conclave Notes:

Has the Trad Media fallen into a COVID-like mass formation with Leo XVI? While it's humorous to see the former anti-Francis Trad pundits suddenly acting like teen age girls infatuated with Leo, it could lead to a Trojan Horse effect

It appears that a group of Bishops or Cardinals needs to give Leo XIV Dubia questions on if he still supports "Invalid and Sacrilegious" Confession

"Prevost’s reported support...allowing divorced & civilly 'remarried'...to receive Holy Communion": “Whoever…helps...promulgation of heresy…is suspected of heresy.” - The Catholic Monitor

-- Open letter urges Pope Leo XIV to correct ‘scandalous incoherence’ in Amoris Laetitia...[Wow! Even notorious Popesplainer Fr.] Harrison warns that Pope Francis taught a ‘dangerous self-contradiction’ on Communion for the divorced and ‘remarried,’ petitioning Pope Leo to correct the record. [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2025/08/open-letter-urges-pope-leo-xiv-to.html]

--  Dr. Seifert, regarded as one of the greatest living Catholic philosophers, founding Rector of the International Academy of Philosopher & friend of John Paul II, to Cardinals: INVESTIGATE FRANCIS' HERESIES, VALIDITY BEFORE THE CONCLAVE.."If Francis is found guilty of heresy or apostasy, then: - His cardinal appointments would be invalid" [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2025/04/dr-seifert-philosopher-personal-friend.html] 

-- Are the Cardinals who will participate in the upcoming conclave authentically appointed & morally justified in voting, or will the shadow of Francis's possible illegitimacy cast itself over the next papacy?  [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2025/04/are-cardinals-who-will-participate-in.html]

-- 5 Dubia Questions for 1P5's Steve Skojec & All faithful Catholics especially Francis is definitely Pope Cardinals, Bishops & pundits [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2019/06/5-dubia-questions-for-steve-skojec.html]

Francis Notes:

l– Doctor of the Church St. Francis de Sales totally confirmed beyond any doubt the possibility of a heretical pope and what must be done by the Church in such a situation:

“[T]he Pope… WHEN he is EXPLICITLY a heretic, he falls ipso facto from his dignity and out of the Church, and the Church MUST either deprive him, or, as some say, declare him deprived, of his Apostolic See.”
(The Catholic Controversy, by St. Francis de Sales, Pages 305-306)

Saint Robert Bellarmine, also, said “the Pope heretic is not deposed ipso facto, but must be declared deposed by the Church.”
[https://archive.org/stream/SilveiraImplicationsOfNewMissaeAndHereticPopes/Silveira%20Implications%20of%20New%20Missae%20and%20Heretic%20Popes_djvu.txt]

– “If Francis is a Heretic, What should Canonically happen to him?”: http://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2020/12/if-francis-is-heretic-what-should.html

– “Could Francis be a Antipope even though the Majority of Cardinals claim he is Pope?”: http://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2019/03/could-francis-be-antipope-even-though.html

– If Francis betrays Benedict XVI & the”Roman Rite Communities” like he betrayed the Chinese Catholics we must respond like St. Athanasius, the Saintly English Bishop Robert Grosseteste & “Eminent Canonists and Theologians” by “Resist[ing]” him: https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2021/12/if-francis-betrays-benedict-xvi.html 

 –  LifeSiteNews, “Confusion explodes as Pope Francis throws magisterial weight behind communion for adulterers,” December 4, 2017:

The AAS guidelines explicitly allows “sexually active adulterous couples facing ‘complex circumstances’ to ‘access the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.'”

–  On February 2018, in Rorate Caeli, Catholic theologian Dr. John Lamont:

“The AAS statement… establishes that Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia has affirmed propositions that are heretical in the strict sense.”

– On December 2, 2017, Bishop Rene Gracida:

“Francis’ heterodoxy is now official. He has published his letter to the Argentina bishops in Acta Apostlica Series making those letters magisterial documents.”

Pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Church by the bishops by the grace of God.

Election Notes: 

– Intel Cryptanalyst-Mathematician on Biden Steal: “212Million Registered Voters & 66.2% Voting,140.344 M Voted…Trump got 74 M, that leaves only 66.344 M for Biden” [http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2020/12/intel-cryptanalyst-mathematician-on.html?m=1]

– Will US be Venezuela?: Ex-CIA Official told Epoch Times “Chávez started to Focus on [Smartmatic] Voting Machines to Ensure Victory as early as 2003”: http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2020/12/will-us-be-venezuela-ex-cia-official.html

– Tucker Carlson’s Conservatism Inc. Biden Steal Betrayal is explained by “One of the Greatest Columns ever Written” according to Rush: http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2021/01/tucker-carlsons-conservatism-inc-biden.html?m=1

– A Hour which will Live in Infamy: 10:01pm November 3, 2020:
http://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2021/01/a-hour-which-will-live-in-infamy-1001pm.html?m=1

What is needed right now to save America from those who would destroy our God given rights is to pray at home or in church and if called to even go to outdoor prayer rallies in every town and city across the United States for God to pour out His grace on our country to save us from those who would use a Reichstag Fire-like incident to destroy our civil liberties. [Is the [J6] DC Capitol Incident Comparable to the Nazi Reichstag Fire Incident where the German People Lost their Civil Liberties?: http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2021/01/is-dc-capital-incident-comparable-to.html?m=1 and Epoch Times Show Crossroads on Capitol Incident: “Anitfa ‘Agent Provocateurs‘”:
http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2021/01/epoch-times-show-crossroads-on-capital.html?m=1] 

Pray an Our Father now for the grace to know God’s Will and to do it.

Pray an Our Father now for America.

Pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Church as well as the Triumph of the Kingdom of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.