Cristobal was born to a farming family in Totatiche, Jalisco in Mexico. As a young man, he was a shepherd; at the age of 19, he entered the seminary. Cristobal was very devoted to our Blessed Mother and to the rosary. He was first assigned as a school chaplain in Guadalajara and then as a parish priest. He cared for the indigenous population and was fervent in helping his parishioners learn to pray and aided them in their difficulties with work. He had a heart for seminarians and the formation of priests. He opened multiple seminaries which were each in turn closed in the onslaught of the Mexican Revolution. He instructed his people against an armed revolution but was himself taken captive while on route to celebrate Mass at a local farm. He gave his last possessions to his captors, offered to give them absolution and was then executed on May 25, 1927. Saint Cristobal Magallanes encouraged one of his 24 companion martyrs with these words at the moment of death: “ Be at peace, my son; just a minute more and then we’ll be in heaven.”