For many years I have wished that someone
could explain the complicated and often contradictory
accounts one hears of the Spanish Civil War. This is
admirably done in The Last Crusade by
Prof Warren Carroll, founder and first president of
Christendom College, Virginia. This account carefully
chronicles the onslaught against the Church, which
claimed the lives of 11 bishops, 6,549 priests and
283 nuns. This greatest clerical blood letting
since Roman times exceeds even the totals of the French
Revolution and the Communist Revolution in Russia. Despite
the fact that we live in the same century this is in
danger of being completely forgotten.
Do we realize that over 50% of Spanish churches
were destroyed? This moving account is so powerful
that many times I just had to stop and take a breath.
Most poignant is the account of the immortal defence
of the Alcazar and the citadel occupied by 1800 Loyalists
in Republican-held Toledo. For months these men,
women and children held out against the blockade of food
and supplies, air raids from above and dynamite from below.
The knowledge of these warriors and saints of our
own century (many recently beatified) is imperative for
young Catholics who face a more subtle and equally insidious
enemy at the dawn of the 3rd Millennium. Read The Last Crusade and
the courage of so many Catholics will move and inspire
you in this most unforgettable testimony. |
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