The Last Crusade, Spain: 1936, by Warren H. Carroll (TPB, 1996, $2)
"In just six months of the year 1936, thirteen bishops and nearly seven thousand priests, seminarians, monks, and nuns were martyred in Spain by enemies of Christianity. It was the greatest clerical bloodletting in so short a span of time since the persecutions of the Church by the ancient Roman emperors... Tens of thousands of churches, chapels, and shrines in Spain were pillaged or destroyed. In response, faithful Spanish Catholics proclaimed a crusade. Against all odds the crusaders triumphed, and the Church and the Faith in Spain were saved."
Well, that is the way Warren Carroll saw it. I read the above words on this book's back cover and was horrified. It was time to learn about the Spanish Civil War. I had never even heard of it until a friend of mine shared the story of her brother, who joined the fight on the Republican side, and was killed, his body never to be recovered. What was this awful civil war that killed priests on one side, and idealistic young boys on the other? And I thought Franco was a good guy, so how could he have been a Fascist?
The Republicans, including corrupt (but elected) officials, and urban, secular (or Protestant) leftist civilians, did burn Catholic buildings, expel the Jesuits, and kill 7,000 Catholic clergy. When the war was all over, more than 38,000 had been killed during "The Red Terror".
"The White Terror", though, was worse. Fascist Nationalists systematically killed more than 150,000, most of them civilians. The Nationalists bombed towns. Many refugees who decided to return to Spain were sent to Nazi concentration camps in Germany. The Nationalists, under Franco, even executed priests who had dared minister to Republican troops. Says the expert in all things, Wikipedia, the White Terror was carried out by military "in the name of the regime, and ligitimized by the Catholic Church." This doesn't sound like a crusade to be proud of. What do you think?
Look for this book on the new non-fiction table, avail. 6/24. (L-Sp)
