ATROCITIES IN SPAIN
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[Correspondents are requested to keep their letters as brief as is reasonably possible. The most suitable length is that of one of our " News of the Week" paragraphs. Signed letters are given a preference over those bearing a pseudonym, and the latter must be accompanied by the name and address of the author, which will be treated as confidential.—Ed. THE Spricreroa.] [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Sin,.—No Spanish Catholic, and we are, thank God, many millions, can read without protest a letter on the Spanish Clergy such as that signed by Mr. G. A. Frank Knight and printed on page 1043 in The Spectator of December 11th.
In the first place its contents are trite and mouldy. I remember reading the story of the itinerant Bible seller about to be burned in an oven, apparently a sequel to Alice in Wonderland, and something like Mr. Govan's diatribe against Spanish priests, nearly word for word, about 1929. A diligent search in the back numbers of the newspapers specialising in this line might bring them back to the light again.
In the second place, they are gross and scurrilous. I refer more particularly to the Govan paragraph. To use the word " cura " or " euras " as a generic term is perhaps common among carpet-baggers or lesser people in Spain. In polite society it is eschewed as a token of ill-breeding. Well edu- cated children are taught to avoid it, as in France the expression les cures. It is more or less as if you or I were to employ the word " bounder " in a letter to the Press, no matter under what provocation or however fitting the cap. This is, of course, unthinkable in the case of either of us.
Thirdly, it is false to say or imply that the Spanish Clergy either in a proportion of 90 per cent. or less is immoral or drinks to excess, or that a celibate Clergy in Spain is a weird mockery.
In view of past examples of this kind of obloquy I have on two separate occasions gone into this question and can safely affirm that the Spanish Catholic Clergy as a whole live up to a high standard of morality, self-denial, and charity in spite of being compelled as a rule to exercise their ministry on a small pittance barely sufficient to keep body and soul together. Exceptions proving the rule there may be in a country with such a numerous population as Spain. This holds good of the Ministers of other forms of worship also, as witness certain unsavoury items to be read from time to time in the London newspapers. Such exceptions are generally to be found nowadays siding with Communists and Anarchists in Spain. Formerly they often sought refuge under the aegis of other religions and nations.
There cannot be much evil about a Clergy whom great modem Spanish secular authors publicly extol, such as Ferran Caballero, Manuel de 'Alarcon. Juan Valeta, Pereda, Armando Palacio Valdes, the poet Ramonde Campoamor, and in your own country Professor Arteaga of Oxford.
Personally I take off my hat to a class of which some 14,000-have known how to die bravely for their Faith in the present year alone.
With reference to Mr. Knight's last words, I would in conclusion say that the Protestant Clergyman at Valladolid is at this moment conducting his Sunday services without let or hindrance. I have it on good British evidence. This disposes of the silly forecast about the sweeping away of Protestant pastors by the Nationalists. The few who have got into trouble were all detected in collusion with the Communists and Anarchists. Surely it is not suggested that an active revolutionary should be exempt because he is a Protestant P—Believe me, yours faithfully, MERRY DEL VAL.
14 Saint James's Court, Buckingham Gate, S.W.1.
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