The anti-clerical Mexican Constitution of 1917 and the persecution of the Catholic Church under Mexican presidents Venustiano Carranza and Plutarco Elías Calles resulted in an influx of priests and religious crossing back and forth between El Paso and Juárez to serve the needs of Catholics in Mexico during the Cristero War. Bishop Schuler ordained Father Pedro de Jesus Maldonado Lucero, from Chihuahua City, in St. Patrick Cathedral in 1918 to serve the needs of the faithful in the state of Chihuahua. Fr Maldonado was beaten to death in Santa Isabel, Chihuahua by town authorities in 1937 and was raised to sainthood as one of the Saints of the Cristero War canonised by Pope John Paul II in 2000. A memorial commemorating the ordination of St. Peter of Jesus Maldonado was erected in St. Patrick Cathedral in 2005.