Saint Cristóbal Magallanes Jara, also known as Christopher Magallanes, was born in Totatiche, Jalisco, Mexico. He worked as a shepherd in his youth and enrolled in the Conciliar Seminary of San José in Guadalajara at the age of 19.
Saint Cristóbal Magallanes Jara was ordained at the age of 30 at Santa Teresa in Guadalajara in 1899 and served as chaplain of the School of Arts and Works of the Holy Spirit in Guadalajara. He was then designated as the parish priest for his hometown of Totatiche, where he helped found schools and carpentry shops and assisted in planning for hydrological works, including the dam of La Candelaria.
He took special interest in the evangelization of the local indigenous Huichol people and was instrumental in the foundation of the mission in the indigenous town of Azqueltán. In July 1915, he opened the Auxiliary Seminary of Totatiche, which achieved a student body of 17 students by the following year and was recognized by the Archbishop of Guadalajara, José Francisco Orozco y Jiménez, who appointed a precept and two professors to the seminary.
Saint Cristóbal Magallanes Jara wrote and preached against armed rebellion, but was falsely accused of promoting the Cristero Rebellion in the area. He was martyred, being killed without trial on the way to say Mass during the Cristero War.
