SPAIN
903
SPxVIN
half-century. The story of the reign of queen Isabella II is full of interest, but it is too long to relate in a brief article like this. It must suffice to say that from tlie time when she was ileclareil to be of age, Nov. 8, 1843, down to her tliglit to France, on the defeat of ihe royal army at Alcala, Sept. 28, 18G8, her life and fort- unes \yere of a singularly checkered character. The departure of Isabella led to the formation of a provincial government, wliicli in a year or two was followed by the accession to the throne of king Amadeus, tiie sec- ond son of Victor Emmanuel of Italy, wlio accepted tiie crown Dec. -t, 1870. It was an uncomfortable position in which the new king found himself, and he resigned it Feb. 11, 1873. The attem|>t to establish a repub- lic (the most distinguished leader in which movement was Don Emilio Castelar), the efforts put forth by Don Carlos to obtain the throne, and the failure of both re- publicans and royalists to accomi)lish their purposes bring us down almost to our own times. Alfonso, the Son of Isabella II, was proclaimed king Jan. 9, 1875, and is now apparently in permanent possession of the crown. But in a kingdom whose history for so many centuries has been a history of change and revolution there can be but little stability' ; and he must be a wise man who can with certainty predict what will be the Condition of things in Spain a year hence.
IV. Rdiyion. — When the Christian religion was in- troduced into Spain is not a settled question with ec- clesiastical historians. Paid, writing from Corinth to the disciples in Rome, alludes to a journey which he ))roposes to take into Spain, but whether he went or not is not known. One of the fathers, Theodoret, says that after Paul was released from his captivity — when he had been tried at the bar of Nero and acquitted — he went to Spain, and there spent two years. In Cony- beare and Howson's Life and Epistles of St. Paul, the authorities on the subject are given (ii, 437-489), and the conclusion is reached that the apostle went to Spain and there preached the (jospel. Tradition also asserts that James the elder went to Spain as a herald of the Gospel. If we come down to the times of the persecu- tions by the Koman emperors, we shall find abundant evidence that all along during those ages of trial through which Christianity passed martyrs to the faith were found in Spain as well as in other parts of the Koraau empire. The conversion of Constantine the (ireat was followed everywhere throughout the coun- tries which had been brought into subjection to the Roman arms by the widest toleration of the faith which he had embraced. And when, subsequently, the Goths obtained possession of Spain, we find that as, in the lapse of time, the affairs of the kingdom became settled, the jurisdiction of the monarch extended to the nomination of bishops, and that he presided, if he wished, at ecclesiastical tribunals, convoked national councils, and regulated the discipline of the Church. In due time the supremacy' of the pope came to be acknowl- edged, and the peculiarities of the episcopal form of Church government were generally carried out. There were metropolitan sees, the heads of which held juris- diction over their subordinates; while these subordi- nates, in turn, exercised authority over the lower grades of the ministry. It is said that the cathedrals and ])arish churches were in general well endowed, lay pat- ronage excited, and monasteries introduced.
The conquest of Spain by the Moors introduced a new state of things into the country. The INIoors were ]\Iohammedans; but, as has already been stated, they were inclined to be tolerant so long as the Christians conducted themselves in an orderly manner and did not oppose or revile the religious faitli of their conquerors. Tliere were not wanting cases of persons who, because they could not do otherwise, in the exercise of their ccmscientious convictions, than attempt to make con- vers from Mohammedanism, or in some way show their contempt for the religion of the Moors, suffered martyrdom. A candid review, however, of the whole
history of Spain during the eight hundred years nearly that tlie Saracens held sway over tiiat country must convince us that the sufferings which the Ciiristians en- dured during this very long jjcriod bore no coinparison to those which tlie Moors endured in the comparatively short period that Philip II was on the throne.
Upon the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, the whole country may be said to have come under the jurisdiction of the pope of Rome, and to have become as intensely Roman Catholic as any country in Europe, not excepting Italy itself. Previous to the year 1868 no otiier religion was recognised by law, and to at- tempt to introduce any one of the forms of the Protes- tant faith was an indictable offence. This is not the place to speak at large of the persecutions which the Romish Ciiurch for ages carried on against heretics and infidels, of the establishment and atrocities of the In- quisition— tirst introduced by St. Dominic to ■' inquire" after the condition of the Jews and Moors who became Christians — or of the acts of the Jesuits in Spain. It is more pleasant to speak of the dawn of what, it is to be hoped, will prove to be a brighter day in respect to religious toleration. Although Protestanism has gained but the smallest footliold, comparativeh', in the king- dom, and its followers are still suliject to many disabil- ities, it is matter for congratulation that the right of private judgment in matters of religion is, in form at least, recognised, and the hope may reasonably be clier- ished that persecution on account of one's religious faith will not again be sanctioned by law.