Juan Navarrete y Guerrero papers

Juan Navarrete y Guerrero was born in 1886 in Oaxaca, Mexico. He began his studies at the Seminary Church of León, Guanajuato. In 1904 he traveled to Rome to continue his studies at the Colegio Pío Latino Americano de Roma. He earned his doctorate of theology in 1909 from the Pontificia Universidad Gregoriana. That same year he returned to Aguascalientes, Mexico an ordained priest. In 1916 he founded various Catholic organizations including the Acción Católica de la Juventud Mexicana (A.C.J.M.) which was later active in the Cristero Movement. In 1919 he was ordained bishop of Sonora at only 32 years of age, becoming the world's youngest bishop.

In 1926 Navarrete y Guerrero was exiled to Arizona as a result of the anti-Catholic persecution implemented by President Plutarco Calles. During this time he became involved in the Cristero Movement which was a rebellion against the anti-Catholic stance of the Mexican government. Navarrete y Guerrero returned to Sonora in 1929 but three years later, in 1932, a warrant was issued for his arrest and he was subsequently exiled again for five years. In 1937 he returned to Sonora after the new governor granted him amnesty.

Upon his return to the Sonoran Diocese, he began to help rebuild the Catholic community that had suffered during the Cristero Movement. Throughout the 1940s to the 1960s he was instrumental in founding hospitals, orphanages, and over fifty Catholic schools. In 1959 the Diocese of Sonora was divided in two: the Diocese of Hermosillo and the Diocese of Cuidad Obregón and in 1964, Navarrete y Guerrero was appointed the first archbishop of Hermosillo. He retired four years later and was soon after appointed Titular Archbishop of Vulturaria. He died in February of 1982, at the age of ninety-five.