San Francisco de Asís is a town within the municipality of Atotonilco El Alto, located in the southeastern part of the state of Jalisco, Mexico. It is named after Saint Francis of Assisi, an Italian Catholic saint and founder of the Franciscan Order. According to the 2020 census, the town had a population of 5,167 inhabitants.
The town’s most notable features include the Shrine of Our Lady of Los Altos (Nuestra Señora de los Altos) and the presence of new tequila production facilities in the surrounding area.
The municipality of Atotonilco el Alto covers an area of 1,532.78 km² (591.81 sq mi). According to the 2005 census, it had a total population of 126,625 inhabitants. Since 2005, the municipality has experienced continued development, including residential expansion and the construction of new churches and schools.
Early Formation and Origins San Francisco de Asís, located in the Los Altos region of Jalisco, Mexico, developed gradually from scattered ranch settlements that were originally part of large colonial landholdings. The area was historically associated with Hacienda de San Ignacio Cerro Gordo (also known as La Trasquiela), which was later divided into smaller estates over time.
By the early 19th century, land in the region had been transferred and worked by several families, including Hernández and Fonseca, who managed livestock ranching under a sharecropping system. Much of the local economy was based on cattle raising and small-scale agricultural production.
During the late colonial and early national periods, settlement in the region remained dispersed across ranches and small communities. By the early 20th century, La Estanzuela, one of the early population centers served as the core settlement that would later become San Francisco de Asís.
Toponymy The name San Francisco de Asís refers to Francis of Assisi, a Catholic saint and founder of the Franciscan Order. The toponym is therefore of religious origin and is interpreted as meaning “Saint Francis of Assisi.”
The settlement was formally dedicated to its patron saint in 1917, when it was established as an ecclesiastical vicariate centered in the community of La Estanzuela. From this point onward, the name San Francisco de Asís was used as the official ecclesiastical designation of the locality.
Beginning in 1933, the Mexican federal government did not recognize the traditional name in official civil records, adopting instead the name “Francisco Javier Mina,” in honor of the insurgent leader Francisco Xavier Mina. Despite this administrative designation, the traditional name continued to be used in local, social, and ecclesiastical contexts. The original name was formally restored in 1995.
The municipality of Atotonilco el Alto forms part of the Los Altos de Jalisco region, an area historically characterized by dispersed rural settlements and former hacienda-based land tenure systems.
The foundation of San Francisco de Asís San Francisco de Asís is located in the heart of Los Altos de Jalisco, a region that was originally part of a single large hacienda system, mainly the Hacienda of San Ignacio Cerro Gordo (also called La Trasquiela).
According to tradition, this large estate was later divided by missionary friars, although there is no solid historical proof of this claim. From the 18th century onward, the land was gradually divided into smaller haciendas and ranches.
A Spanish landowner, Juan Noriega, later sold the property to the families Hernández and Fonseca, who managed the land mainly through sharecropping (aparcería), especially for cattle raising.
By the early 20th century:
Around 5,000 people lived scattered in about 35 ranching communities Most families worked as sharecroppers or ranch laborers Some were small landowners or artisans
The main families mentioned in the region were: Hernández (originally from La Soledad) Fonseca (originally from Salamanca, Guanajuato) Angulo (settled in La Soledad, originally from Puebla de Zaragoza) Navarro (originally from Tepatitlán de Morelos)
These families held most of the local land, but the system was not based on large plantations. Instead, it functioned through small ranches and sharecropping arrangements.
Early Settlement Pattern (La Estanzuela to San Francisco de Asís)
The original settlement was called La Estanzuela, with only a few houses (about five jacales initially). It was part of a rural network of rancherías (around 35 communities and scattered farms). Families lived from: cattle raising (especially dairy) small-scale agriculture sharecropping systems
Religious Foundation and Community Development In 1917, a local priest, Father J. Jesús Angulo, successfully petitioned ecclesiastical authorities in Guadalajara to establish La Estanzuela as a church vicariate. This ecclesiastical decision formally marked the foundation of San Francisco de Asís as a religious community.
Following this change, Father Angulo led efforts to organize the settlement, constructing a church, school, and municipal buildings. These projects were carried out largely through community labor, where residents contributed unpaid collective work to build infrastructure such as roads, public spaces, and religious buildings.
By the early 1920s, the settlement had developed into a small but organized town with streets, a central plaza, a church, and approximately one thousand inhabitants. The town became a local center for religious life, education, and social gathering.
Religious and civic foundation (1917–1922) In 1917, Father Angulo obtained permission from Archbishop Francisco Orozco y Jiménez to convert the small settlement of La Estanzuela (about five houses) into a church vicariate. From this decision, the community of San Francisco de Asís was officially born by ecclesiastical decree.
Father Angulo:
Built a church and a school Organized a municipal building Improved local roads and infrastructure Encouraged collective unpaid labor known as “faena”
By 1922, the town already had:
Streets A plaza A church Around 1,000 inhabitants
Most of this work was done through community labor without payment, where families contributed work collectively.
Town of San Francisco de Asís during the Cristero War (January 9, 1927) According to historian Jean Meyer, San Francisco de Asís, in the Los Altos region of Jalisco, played an important role in the beginning of the Cristero War. The town rose in mass on January 9, 1927, marking its active participation in the religious conflict known as the Cristiada.
The priest Angulo (José de Jesús Angulo del Valle y Navarro) The parish priest at that time was Father Angulo, a young priest born in the region. According to Meyer:
He tried to prevent the armed uprising He attempted to stop his parishioners from joining the rebellion He had previously had conflicts with the governor of Jalisco He was quickly labeled by authorities as a “warrior priest”
However, the official version claiming that he personally led the armed attack on the La Barca train (April 19, 1927) has been widely repeated in many books, but Meyer states that this version is completely incorrect.
In reality, Father Angulo opposed the violent uprising in San Francisco de Asís and wrote critically about armed priest Reyes Vega, whom he strongly disapproved of.
This shows that:Father Angulo was not a military leader of the Cristeros, but rather a parish priest caught between his community, Church authority, and government pressure.
Cristero uprising in San Francisco de Asís (1927) The document states that on January 9, 1927, the town became one of the first centers of armed resistance in Los Altos de Jalisco.
San Francisco de Asís became what Meyer describes as:The “crater” of the volcanic eruption of the Cristero movement in the region.From there, armed resistance spread through Los Altos, and the region became known nationally and internationally for its Catholic uprising.
However, the document also emphasizes that:
The priest did not fully support the armed rebellion The uprising came from the population itself The movement reflected strong local religious identity
Legacy The Cristero War left a lasting impact on San Francisco de Asís and surrounding ranches. Many families were displaced, persecuted, or forced into migration. Despite this, the community preserved:
Strong Catholic identity Family-based ranch culture Oral historical memory of the Cristero period Migration connections to other parts of Mexico and the United States
The Martyrdom of Blessed Miguel Gómez Loza (March 21, 1928) Situated roughly 1.5 miles southeast of the main Shrine at geographic coordinates 20.57932, -102.546137 is El Lindero Ranch (nearby San Francisco de Asís). Today, a commemorative stone arch marks this precise point, honoring the location where Blessed Miguel Gómez Loza, the appointed Civil Governor of the Cristero movement, was killed by federal forces on March 21, 1928.
The Ambush at the Farmhouse Earlier that month, addressing a critical administrative emergency, Governor Gómez Loza packed sensitive war intelligence documents into a worn leather briefcase and evacuated his base in Palmitos. He was accompanied by two trusted aides: Macario Hernández (the local civil chief of Atotonilco El Alto) and his personal secretary, José Dionicio “Nicho” Vázquez Fonseca.
Attempting to bypass fortified military checkpoints, the three men took a winding southerly route toward Guadalajara. They stopped to rest their horses at a rural farmhouse on the El Lindero property that had been abandoned due to the government's forced reconcentración decrees. Suddenly, a federal cavalry of at least twenty mounted soldiers under the command of Division General Jesús María Ferreira Knappe (1889–1938) advanced on the neighboring farm. These federal troops, operating more like marauding thieves, brought along cargo donkeys to pillage and carry away local corn harvests.
The Sacrifice of the Briefcase Because they were completely cut off from their tied horses, Gómez Loza ordered an immediate tactical retreat into the surrounding brush, telling his men to scatter. While his assistants fled, Miguel delayed his own escape to secure the leather briefcase, choosing to manually protect the secret identities of covert civilian operatives and hidden rebel base positions rather than save his own life.
While Macario Hernández successfully concealed himself inside a nearby plumbago bush and watched the encounter, Governor Gómez Loza and "Nicho" Vázquez were captured by the cavalry. The soldiers brutally beat the civil governor, bound him by his limbs with a lasso to a saddle horn, and dragged him violently across the rocky pastures and hillsides. When the mount finally stopped, Gómez Loza lay dead face down in the dirt, still wearing a small metal medal of Our Lady pinned over his heart.
The Witness of "Nicho" Vázquez Though Governor Gómez Loza was martyred that day, his personal secretary, José Dionicio "Nicho" Vázquez Fonseca, survived the captivity and the war to become the essential historical gatekeeper for the region. Decades later, in the year 2000, "Nicho" worked directly under the canonical direction of Bishop Javier Navarro to compile these eyewitness accounts and formalize the Vatican causes for canonization for his fallen comrades, ensuring the legacy of what transpired at the Adobes River and El Lindero would be permanently preserved.
The Martyrs of Silence (The Los Adobes Massacre August 12, 1928)