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State engaged in the crucial stage of a long-time struggle to determine whether the former would be independent of or sub-ordinate to the latter. This thesis analyzes Church-State relations during this five year period and stresses the activ-ities of President Plutarco-Elias Calles, the Roman Catholic hierarchy, and more fanatic Mexican Catholics. The study is organized on a chronological basis. The first chapter traces the history of the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico from the colonial period to the 1920!s. Plutarco Ellas Calles--his early life, his presidential campaign, and his actions against the Church up to 1926 — 1s the focal point of the second chapter * Chapter III discusses the factors behind the clerical withdrawal in the summer of 1926 and the immediate consequences of this act, The early phases of the Cristero Rebellion, the end of Calles * term in office, th