David Roldán Lara

Roldán, along with the other 24 Martyrs of the Cristero War, was declared Venerable on 7 March 1992 by Pope John Paul II, with a decree of martyrdom. The group was beatified on 22 November 1992 by Pope John Paul II, and then canonized by him on 21 May 2000.

On 29 July 1926, the LNDNR hosted a meeting that drew a crowd of around 600 people, including its president, Manuel Moralez, Batiz, Roldán, and Salvador Lara Puente, his cousin and secretary of the organization. After the meeting, Batiz was arrested at his home by a group of soldiers. A few days later, the three LNDNR leaders, Moralez, Roldán, and Lara, met at Lara's home to discuss how to free Batiz through legal means. A group of soldiers broke into the home and arrested the three men, imprisoning them in the town hall, where they were beaten and tortured.

After several days of imprisonment, on 15 August 1926, Batiz, Moralez, Roldán, and Lara were taken out of their cells by a group of soldiers. At about noon of that day, the four men were loaded into two cars, and told that they were being taken to the state capital of Zacatecas City to explain their position to government officials. Instead of driving to the capital, the soldiers stopped the car in the mountains near Chalchihuites, and the prisoners were taken out. The soldiers accused the four men of conspiring to revolt against the government, and were offered freedom if they acknowledged the legitimacy of Mexican President Plutarco Elías Calles' anti-religious laws, which all four refused to do.

After leaving the seminary, Roldán became engaged, and worked at a local mine, where he was held in esteem by his fellow miners. He assisted the priest Luis Batiz Sáinz in directing Catholic Action of Mexican Youth, a group which he was president of until 1925. He was also vice president of the National League for the Defense of Religious Liberty (LNDNR).

David Roldán Lara (2 March 1902 – 15 August 1926) was a Mexican layman who was killed during the Cristero War. A pro-Catholic activist during the anticlerical period under President Plutarco Elías Calles, he was captured by government forces, and was executed for refusing to renounce his position. Roldán was canonized by Pope John Paul II on 21 May 2000 as one of 25 Martyrs of the Cristero War.