Fernando Urbina [6] defines ecclesiastic life in the period
between 1939 and 1950 as a time the main characteristic of which was an attempt
towards total religious restoration. He describes dominant religious forms and
pastoral forms as we summarize below.
Within the dominant religious forms he distinguishes between what he
describes as "forms of popular religious practices" and
"practices of personal religiousness".
As for the forms of popular religious practices he embraces A A ORENSANZ's thesis[7] according to
which the popular missions are the most appropriate model for interpreting the religiousness of this period.
Other forms of mass popular religious practices would be: the
restoration of images and traditional celebrations, the repeated personal offerings
to the hearts of Jesus and Mary by dioceses and cities and finally, the popular
religious effect produced by the solemn parade of the Pilgrim Statue of Our
Lady of Fatima.
These elements of popular religious practices are interrelated and converge
in a search for an "orthodox" religious restoration following the
archetype that the 16th and 17th centuries may offer.
Processions, pilgrimage excursions, sanctuaries, brotherhoods and popular
missions are set up around the images, with religious visions being excessively
centred on the four last things.
On the other hand, the presence of figures of authority and high-ranking
persons consolidates the political and religious significance of these events
and implies the unity of an integral restoration project that would embrace the
social structure as a whole and convey a sacred significance.
Within all this is a clear
repetition of the pastoral approach during the
Counter-Reformation period, with its
emotional and triumphant integration of popular religious practices within the
pastoral moulds of the missions, public devotion, and parochial worship, and
its somewhat magnificent project to recover - even by force - the totalitarian
myth of "Christianity", as a complete and sacred area of
social life. Only that this attempt to repeat the pastoral models of the
Counter-Reformation period, and its "classical" spiritualism, will fail because of the
clear anachronism of the historic context. One cannot repeat now the forms that
were valid in the Counter-Reformation period, within an agrarian and incipient trading capitalist
context, that the modern world and its forces were developing fast, in
this case, the industrial and technical capitalism which came about since the
1950's[8].
In his conclusion to the section in which he analyses the forms of popular
religiousness, Urbina clarifies and also emphasises the positive aspect of this
type of religiousness, affirming that particularly the most traditional one contains
human, cultural and religious values which must not be despised. The negative
aspects of the historic moment that we are studying are not so much the
"content" of many of these popular traditions but the "way"
in which they were then reactivated in a triumphant context, supported by a
confusion in the period at an ecclesiastic and state level, added to a more
serious and profound approach towards of evangelization and faith education,
and being more realistic and respectful of the condition of a people just
emerging from a terrible civil war[9].
As regards the forms of personal religiousness, we distinguish,
according to Urbina two which may provide a full summary of the period we
discuss: Catholic Action and Spiritual Exercises.
Catholic Action is one of the religious forms that define the
structure of Church life during this period. In times before the Civil War it
appeared as strongly linked to various social action movements, with the
catholic unions and the Propagandists' National Catholic Action. Manuel
Aparici, national chairman of the young people's Catholic Action during the war
and post-war years until he was admitted into the Seminary in 1941, comes from
this association. Aparici gave the young people's Catholic Action movement in
the early post-war period a heroic and ascetic identity, which also matches the
heroic and triumphal context of the period, and which showed up in the two
pilgrimages, to Zaragoza in 1940 and to Santiago de Compostela in 1948, and in
a more profound way in the great number of religious and priesthood vocations
that emerged from Catholic Action[10].
As from
Catholic Action's structure during this period, which follows Monsignor
Zacarías de Vizcarra's ideological model[13],
presents a unitarian model with a pyramidal hierarchy, presenting the image of
a united and disciplined army. This arrangement is homologous to the Church's
vision upheld in the period led by Pius XI and Pius XII, as well as to the
dictatorial and pro-fascist political model, typical of the period.
A great connoisseur of the Catholic Action of this period as is Miguel
Benzo even affirms that as from 1939 Catholic Action followed a
"pastoral of authority". The dream of religious unanimity conquered
for good made him join the triumphal climate. Because of this, because in the
optimism of the moment it was thought that the Christian orientation of the
whole of Spanish society was assured, rather than trying to act as witnesses in
different surroundings, rather than attracting non-believers to the faith,
rather than the Christian inspiration of social structures, Catholic Action is
the laity's public proclamation of its belonging to and loyalty towards
"victorious Christianity". This is the meaning that badges, standards
and spectacular parades then acquire. Catholic Action seeks, rather than the
thorough training of its members, a presence in all of Spain's parishes in all
religious and even civil ceremonies[14].
But if we want to be equitable, we must also emphasize the positive
aspects and which we could summarize in the numerous secular vocations of
priesthood which arose with an enhancement of the figure of the diocesan
priest, in the significant impulse that it meant for lay persons' social
conscience, and in the area of social and human expansion that it provided many
youths of the urban middle class in dark and difficult times brought about by
general social and fundamental problems of the period[15].
The second major form of personal religiousness is the Spiritual
Exercises. It is a mostly minority-orientated and personal form of
religiousness and pastoral action, especially if we talk about the carrying out
of Exercises following the Ignatian model referred to by those held in post-war
years. However, in this point there is a tendency there is also to quote high
figures, hinting at that "conquest of the whole", a phrase generally
used to define the religious, pastoral and social forms of the period[16].
How were exercises administered? The "golden age" of the
mass practice of the Spiritual Exercises, inspired in the Ignatian method, ended around 1952. The social
and religious context was starting to change rapidly: new forms of pastoral
practice such as the Cursillo in Christianity Movement, the Working Out of a
Better World, C.A.'s "impact weeks", the HOAC Cursillo Weekends, etc came on the scene, but
above all one could say that this mass form of administering Exercises fell into a crisis also due to
internal reasons. They were also put into question by an attempt towards
authenticity and a return to Ignatian origins. [...][17]
On assessing them together, Urbina's criticism is not centered on the Ignatian Exercises
themselves, a profoundly spiritual method, based on a respect for personal
liberty so that one may face, as clearly as possible, the Gospel and the
Spirit, but in the way in which they were carried out in that period which also
implied that carrying out the Exercises was valued in excess. [...] Today we can see better the faults
of a practice from the period of religious Restoration, with its so
questionable will to "conquer" and "universalize"[18].
There was also a disproportionate assessment of the Exercises, as if
they were something infallible, effective by themselves and capable of
converting whoever went within a few days. The excessive valuation of the time
dedicated to Exercises led to the logical detriment of the time dedicated to
"normal" life.
The influence of the Exercises in those years is not only calculated
from the number of persons who attended. They also influenced the religious
world of the people indirectly through the popular missions and books on
meditation, as either often depended on Ignatian meditations both in structure
and content[19].
In any case, the Spiritual Exercises of those times had very important values.
It would be wrong to judge them lightly from our vision of the 1990's.
Most Exercise preachers were men of strong virtue and solid training.
Logically, they depended on the exercisers' disposition, but they were of help
in rather difficult times. Then and now, some Exercises carried out properly
constitute a profound and constructive religious experience. The limitations
were due to its form rather than its basis, and came mainly from the
generalized isolation experienced in Spain at the time and which created a
narrowing of perspectives in every sense.
Having reviewed the dominant religious forms at a popular and personal
level, following Urbina's model as a whole[20], we shall now deal with the
pastoral forms in three aspects: the training of the clergy, priesthood
spiritualism and pastoral practice.
With regards to the training of the clergy, to help understand many
of the attitudes which arose later on, one must remember the situation of many
dioceses in the year 1939, where the contingents of priests required for the
development of pastoral activities had been greatly crippled as a consequence
of the cruel persecutions which occurred during the civil war[21].
We reach this situation due to certain wartime events that can only be
classified as religious persecution. Thus the generation of priests that lived
the war became greatly branded by those events; it is a question of
sensitivity. In any case, and with no intention of justifying anything, to have
this in mind will help us understand certain attitudes and expressions of this
period which at first glance could sound surprising but which within that
context turn out to be more "logical".
As regards to priesthood spiritualism, the physical and spiritual
background in which these children and adolescents found themselves when
entering the Seminary and Homes for religious training in those years
(1939-1950) was very unique[22]. Urbina quotes[23] an analysis carried out by F. Sopeña[24]
which summarizes the physical, intellectual and spiritual conditions of the
Vitoria Seminary, one of the most important of the period:
"At a physical level, a very inadequate nutrition which, in
addition, was not compensated by a healthy lifestyle or a certain possibility
of openness. A strict discipline and a somewhat sombre asceticism was added to
the hunger.
"At an intellectual level there was an similar emptiness. Training
was almost exclusively based on the neo-scholastic handbooks. Frequently there
was a ban on current literature and even newspapers.
"At a spiritual level there was a more positive picture. There is a
revitalization of spiritual life, which for many young people is the only area
for expansion in such altogether barren surroundings.
It is a spirituality of a highly heroic and ascetic tone, with a mystic
edge and lack of horizons at a social level and in a practical and pastoral
dimension and in what later on, in the 1950's, was known as "human
values". In this period, students to the
priesthood and religious people of apostolic life [...] seem to be trained to be monks rather than
apostles or pastors[25].
This description is not precisely flattering overall, but in that period
some spiritual movements containing unquestionable values were established. The
most important of these, both because of its profoundness and its significance
in the rest of Spain, originated
in the Vitoria Seminary and was principally inspired by Rufino Aldabalde. A
union was achieved between the Ignatian and Sulpician spirits, bringing
together the apostolic tone and the more liturgical dimension. He also united
action and contemplation, opening it up to even social problems, within the
possibilities of the period[26].
Comillas became the second centre from which priesthood spiritualism
irradiated. Comillas was a Pontifical University, an intellectual training
centre par excellence.
But a very unique personality stood out from within, setting a concrete
style, Fr Nieto. A man of fire, strong and profound, full of ardour and
kindness at the same time. Beside the strongly contemplative identity that Fr
Nieto gave it, the apostolic dimension is assembled and matured. Comillas was
the cradle of many future spiritual directors throughout Spain in the different
apostolic movements[27].
Thirdly, we must mention Avila as a source of spiritual renovation. Fr
Baldomero Jiménez Duque was the chief promoter of this renovation and boost of
Carmelite spirituality, and to him, together with Fr Alonso Querejazu, we also owe the Gredos Discussions, various interesting meetings
between intellectuals who worked in the quest for a union between spiritual
religiousness and modern philosophical thought[28].
Finally, we have to identify Malaga as an interesting focus of
priesthood renewal. As a principal catalyst we have Fr Soto. He tried to build
up a spirituality of priesthood around the figure of Saint John of Avila. This
was a spiritualism of strong asceticism and demand[29].
This movement still maintains a certain structure.
When it comes to assessing the movements of priesthood spiritualism, one
must highlight as a positive note an attempt towards and the achievement of an
intense spiritualism of an ascetic identity, with heroic tones, and above all
with reference to the great masters of the Spanish Golden Age. In addition, one
must also highlight the authentic religious experience of many people who knew
how to integrate faith and life with realism and sense[30].
Many of the priests being ordained in those years were fortified with a solid
piety incarnated from reality, and have given splendid pastoral fruits as time
went by.
On the negative side we must identify as limitations the obsession for
sin, above all in the matter of sex, a sombre asceticism, the dissociation
between life and spirit due to there being very little contact with the outside
world, and also the fact that spiritualism was a repetition lacking a creation
or synthesis valid for the period[31].
Finally, pastoral practice has a dialectic connection with
dominant religious forms and is also linked to the kind of training received by
pastors. The activity of the Church in this period is centered on the parochial
pastoral that maintains its traditional forms of an agrarian origin[32].
That is to say, in practice it is limited to administering the sacraments and
preaching the word at the level of children's ordinary catechism and great
sermons in extraordinary occasions.
The fundamental catechumenal preaching for adults (popular missions and
Lenten preaching) in those years is very restricted to the ideology of the
"First Exercise Week", as preparation for a "good death",
it leads to "confession and communion", kept totally apart from a
sense of "Christian transformation of life" as a lifelong social
undertaking[33].
Catholic Action's official magazine, "Ecclesia", exudes a
certain triumphalism in those years' issues when dealing with the matters
analyzed above. A triumphalism which was not shared by many rural and urban
priests who lived from day to day with a more prosaic reality[34]
amongst a people with its recent wounds still open and a superficial religious
practice.
We find Dr José Miralles Sbert as diocesan pastor of Majorca in the
1940's. He arrives from Barcelona on the 13th March 1930. In issue
96 of "Proa" magazine, of
November 1946, there is an article - its editorial on its 32nd
episcopal anniversary bearing a significant paragraph:
And his preferences and choices were for us - the Young People of
Catholic Action - if any there were. We know of his words of consolation and
inspiration; we know of his condescension and hopes. He was never short
of a minute for us; because he has always taken care of even the minutes of his
long existence as sower of seeds[35]. At the bottom of the page appears
a photo in which he is seen as venerable and patriarchal, surrounded by young
people
Dr Miralles entrusted the Spiritual Direction of the Young People of
Catholic Action to Fr José Dameto, a constant, dedicated and faithful man, who carried out
his duties from 1941 to
Dr Hervàs arrived in Majorca on the 1st May 1947 as assistant
bishop to alleviate the workload of the elderly patriarch Millares and to
succeed him after his death. This succession did not take long to happen as on
the 22nd December of the same year he died after a long and
exemplary life. Monsignor Juan Hervàs arrives with the fame of being a young
bishop. In fact, when he is consecrated in January 1944 he is the youngest
bishop in Spain and, once appointed auxiliary bishop of Valencia, he promotes
the legend "The bishop of the young people". The young people of
Catholic Action of Majorca, knowing his post and before he arrived in the
island already proclaim that if Monsignor Hervàs is the Bishop of the young
people, we shall be the young people of the Bishop[37]
(37). On the other hand, he is quite a specialist in matters regarding the
Secular Apostolate and Catholic Action, both due to his studies and his active
experience[38] (38). Monsignor Hervàs surprised everyone with his
direct style, his ability to communicate with young people, his enthusiasm for
regarding every project. He knew how to win the hearts of those young people
who awaited him with eagerness, and had Fr Sebastián Gayà as his main
collaborator.
"Proa" magazine is a supplement of the Official Bulletin of
the Bishopric of Majorca, which was edited and composed by the young people of
that diocese. Reviewing the issues corresponding to the 1940's it is necessary
to conclude that if there well are points of contact with the environment,
style, problems, limitations… in the rest of Spain, there is also a life full
of high spirits, with some characteristic and to a large extent differential
notes.
In the field of the Young People of Catholic Action, there is a
particular climate of non-conformism, dissatisfaction, quest and it all points
towards the pilgrimage to Santiago. We can conclude with Fr Cesáreo Gil that in
the years 1946-1950 the young people of Majorca were a model for young people
all over Spain. In the YPCAM there stood out a large group of very well trained
youths. It stands out due to their clear dissatisfaction with the past and
their undisguised non-conformism with the present[39].
As a precedent one must note that the Majorcan Young People of Catholic
Action started to operate in 1932 as an association. In the difficult pre-war
years the number of centres in the island grows to almost one hundred.
Following the wartime break they quickly re-organized themselves thanks to the
Cursillo Weekends organized by the Young People of Spanish Catholic Action[40].
[6] Cf. F. Urbina, Formas de vida de la Iglesia en España (Forms of Life in the Spanish Church): 1939-1975, in Iglesia y sociedad en España (Church and Society in Spain): 1939-1975, Madrid 1975, pp. 12-26.
[7] Cf. A. A. Orensanz, Religiosidad popular española (Spanish Popular Religiousness) 1940-1965, Madrid 1974.
[8] F. Urbina, l. c., p.17. cf. J. Vilaró, Notes a les veus episcopals en la Catalunya de la postguerra, i la seva circumstància (Notes to the Episcopal Voices in Catalonia in the Post-war Period, and their Circumstances), in "Qüestions de vida cristiana", n. 75-76, (1975), pp. 9-33.
[9] Ibid. p.18.
[10] Ibid. p.19.
[11] Cf. Ibid., p.19, the highlighting
is ours.
[12] Cf. Ibid. , p.19; taken from J.
M. de Córdoba, Notas para una
posible historia de la Acción Católica española, "Pastoral Misionera” (Notes for a Possible History of the
Spanish Catholic Action, "Missionary Pastoral" 6 (1969), pp.
681-688.
[13] Monsignor Zacarías de Vizcarra was
the first General Spiritual Director of the Technical Board; Cf. Ibid. , p.20.
[14] M.
Benzo, Pastoral
and Laity, in "Ecclesia ",
[15] Cf. F. Urbina, op. cit.,
p.21.
[16] Ibid. pp. 21-22.
[17] Ibid. p. 24.
[18] Ibid. p. 25.
[19] Cf. Ibid. p. 26.
[20] Cf. Ibid. pp. 26-40.
[21] Ibid. pp. 26-27.
[22] Ibid. p. 30.
[23] Cf. Ibid. pp. 30-31.
[24] Cf. F. Sopeña, En defensa de una generación (In Defence of a Generation), Madrid 1969.
[25] F. Urbina, op. cit., p. 30.
[26] Cf. Ibid. p. 31.
[27] Cf. Ibid. p. 32.
[28] Cf. Ibid. p. 32.
[29] Cf. Ibid. p. 32.
[30] Cf. Ibid. p. 33.
[31] Cf. Ibid. pp. 33-34.
[32] Ibid. p. 36.
[33] Ibid. p. 39.
[34] Cf. Ibid. p. 40.
[35] "Proa", no. 96, November of 1946, p. 2.
[36] Cf. "Proa", no. 108, November of 1947, p. 1.
[37] "Proa", no. 96, November of 1946, p. 3.
[39] C. Gil, El Movimiento de Cursillos de Cristiandad (MCC), en Historia de la Iglesia (The Cursillo Movement (CM), in The History of the Church), Fliche - Martin, vol. XXXI, 1 complement, Valencia 1981, p. 550.
[40] Cf. Ibid. p. 550.