I recall a prayer book in which St. Teresa of Ávila (1515-83) is referred to as the “Glory of Spain,” as she should be. She is a Doctor of the Church and, of course, a great mystic and Carmelite reformer.
The pope himself learned Spanish as a young man. He did so in order to read the writings of the other great Spanish Carmelite mystic and contemporary of Teresa, St. John of the Cross, in the original Spanish. In fact, John Paul II wrote his doctoral dissertation at the Angelicum University in Rome on St. John of the Cross, who is also a Doctor of the Church.
All of which brings me to the situation in Spain today and to what John Paul II has said about Spain in the past. A friend sent me a quote from one of the pope's trips to Spain in 1982 in which John Paul captures the significance of Spain in the Catholic and Christian world:
Praise be Jesus Christ! Thank you Spain!…From the first months of my election I thought with expectation about this trip; I come attracted by a history of fidelity and service to the Church: the most numerous portion of the Church of Christ today speaks and prays to God in Spanish. Thank you, Spain; thank you, Church of Spain for your fidelity to the Gospel.” (Eusebio Ferrer, “Por Tierras de Teresa de Ávila” (1982)” [In the Lands of Teresa of Ávila], in Pregonero de Verdad [Messenger of Truth] my translation)
And so it is that Spain gave us a christianized western hemisphere and the only Christian nation in Asia the Philippines. And today it is projected that some time in the not-too-distant future the majority of Catholics in the United States will be Hispanic. We are in an enviable position compared to Europe: Our wave of immigration is largely Catholic.
But today the Church in Spain finds herself in a very difficult position. As in the rest of Western Europe, pornography and other expressions of immorality are rampant. There has been a decline in the practice of the faith. Consumerism is also rampant. And, to top it off, there is now a radical Socialist government in power that has decided to pursue an agenda hostile to Catholic teaching on marriage and other moral issues.
And the Church in Spain has begun to speak up, to answer the new persecution fostered by the new Socialist government. If history is any guide, the Spanish Church will again flourish in the midst of persecution. Great treasures have come from Spain. The pope himself points to movements like the Neocatechumenate and Opus Dei that have brought renewal to the Church:
I also supported various new initiatives in which I could sense the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Only when I came to Rome did I encounter the Neocatechumenate. The same was true of Opus Dei, which I established as a personal prelature in 1982. They both originated in Spain, a country that so often throughout history has been the source of providential inspirations for spiritual renewal. (John Paul II, Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way, Warner Books, 2004, p. 117)
This providential role for Spain is also evident in the Hispanic nations south of us. You can't get further north in the United States than snowy Michigan, where I am. The next stop is Canada. And yet, as I sit here, there is nearby a new, thriving convent of largely Mexican nuns from a religious order started in Mexico. The Legionaries of Christ, which originated in Mexico, are quite active throughout the area. Miles Christi, a religious order from Argentina, is raising funds to build a new retreat center in the Detroit area. A recent diaconal ordination I attended in Detroit included a Puerto Rican candidate for the priesthood hailing from a Wisconsin diocese. The anecdotes add up to a statistical reality that is undeniable.
But should all of this really be so surprising? According to tradition, the Apostles James the Greater and Paul evangelized Spain. Near the end of his letter to the Romans, Paul speaks of his plans to go to Spain. St. Clement of Rome, writing in the first century, confirms that Paul indeed went to the “limits of the West.” Before the discovery of the New World by Columbus, Spain was it: There was nothing beyond. In fact, the Spanish coat of arms used to bear the Latin motto Ne Plus Ultra meaning “nothing more beyond.” After Columbus’s voyages under the flag of Spain, the motto was changed to Plus Ultra meaning “more beyond.” Just consider how the work those two Apostles started in ancient Spain centuries ago is affecting the United States in the twenty-first century.
Yes there is sad news: The Catholic Church is losing thousands of the sons and daughters of evangelizing Spain to Protestant communities. And now, again, there is persecution in Spain herself. But the Church in Spain has seen this before. Challenges to the faith and even persecution are but the night before the dawn.
© Copyright 2005 Catholic Exchange
Oswald Sobrino’s daily columns can be found at the Catholic Analysis website. He is a graduate lay student at Detroit’s Sacred Heart Major Seminary. He recently published Unpopular Catholic Truths, a collection of apologetic essays, available on the Internet here.