Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Matthew 10: 39
Eighty years ago the Spanish Civil War ended in victory for the Nationalist Forces under Francisco Franco. During the Spanish Civil War the following members of the clergy were murdered by Republican forces and mobs, most at the beginning of the War: 13 bishops, 4,172 diocesan priests and seminarians, 2,364 monks and friars and 283 nuns. Of these 6, 832 victims to a hatred of the Faith that was truly demonic, the Church has thus far beatified 1,915 with eleven of these being canonized. For 2,000 of the remainder, the beatification process is underway. We have Christ’s own words that those who die for Him will have their eternal reward with Him. Most of the Spanish martyrs met their deaths with exemplary courage in the most appalling circumstances. The victories of Satan are ever brief and the victories of Christ are ever eternal.
[…] Profound Suffering To Embrace The Catholic Faith – Francis Phillips at Catholic Herald Saint of the Day Quote: Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War – Donald R. McClarey, J.D., at The American Catholic Live Perpetual Adoration Of The Blessed […]
I wish people would stop calling them “Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War”. This tends to minimize the evil of their murders; people think “hey, in wars, lots of people die.” In fact nearly all of them were killed BEFORE the war or at the very start of it, the war being launched precisely because of most Spaniards’ horror at the persecution of Catholics. They should be called “Martyrs of the Stalinist regime in Spain, 1931-1936”.
Very timely. I visited with both sons at Dulles airport this afternoon. On their return from Spain to TX and CA each had a layover of several hours. They had spent a week in Cordoba Andulucia SP visiting my older son’s girl friend and her family.
Apparently the grandmother looked at the older son and pointed to the ring finger of her hand. He thought grandmother was asking if his younger brother was a bachelor. Sigh. I don’t think that’s what she was asking.
They should be called “Martyrs of the Stalinist regime in Spain, 1931-1936”.
Except that the the extreme Left did not control Spain during that entire period. From November 1933-January 1936 the conservatives were in control, as much as any political groups could be in control of a nation descending into violent chaos. Even after the attempted military rising that started the Spanish Civil War, the Seocond Republic was a mosaic, with democracy in the areas controlled by the Basque, and with the rest of the Republic ruled, if that term can be used for semi-organized chaos, in uneasy and unstable coalitions of Leftist parties and the Anarchists. The Anarchists did much of the killing of the Catholic clergy. Ironically the Communists tended to be among the moderates during the Spanish Civil War. They were looking forward to building a Stalinist state, but they were always in a minority and they realized the war had to be won first, and this required a disciplined Army and less political and social upheaval in the rear areas. Most of the Anarchists believed this was their time to build an Anarchist utopia by killing all who opposed them. Most groups on the right in Nationalist Spain were increasingly violent and had little compunction about slaughtering their opponents. A better tomorrow through killing was the one thing most political parties in Spain during the Spanish Civil War could agree on.
“In fact nearly all of them were killed BEFORE the war”
Very few were killed before the War. Those who were, were mainly killed in the Asturian uprising of 1934, the dress rehearsal for the Spanish Civil War.
This is one aspect of Spanish history that I don’t know much about and should look into further. I think that Franco isn’t quite the evil incarnate certain sectors (e.g., George Will) have made him.oot to be, nor is he quite the hero some RadTrads believe, either.
Below is my take on Franco, sans horns or halo:
https://the-american-catholic.com/2011/02/26/el-cid-and-francisco-franco/
This is one aspect of Spanish history that I don’t know much about and should look into further. I think that Franco isn’t quite the evil incarnate certain sectors (e.g., George Will) have made him.oot to be, nor is he quite the hero some RadTrads believe, either.
I don’t recall Will has been a critic of Franco.
It was the view of Ramon Serrano Suner, the chief ideologist of the Falangist movement, that parliamentary institutions were not bad per se, but ill-adapted to Spain’s political society. In regards to Spain at that particular moment in time, he was right. The Nationalist forces committed discrete crimes during the war and immediately after and the Franco regime, refused to grant Spain’s antique minorities proper courtesies, and pursued some bad economic policies. However, the Nationalist’s was the better cause.
Ramon Serrano Suner
Franco’s brother in law. The most important figure in Spain after Franco for three years after the conclusion of the civil war. Franco gave him the heave ho in 1942 for, among other reasons, being too fond of Spain entering World War II on behalf of the Axis. Franco could already sense a change in the wind towards the Allies, and getting rid of Suner was symbolic of the new tilt towards the Allies. Suner lived till 2003, dying at age 101, the last major political figure from World War II.
Franco’s widow died in 1988 and their daughter and only child died in 2017 at 91. She had six kids.