My father always insisted on these very same points you have made. However because I grew up and went to a Catholic school in Australia, even there none of this was taught to us. Whatever history we learned regarding Spain, Spain was always referenced as a cruel despotic power hungry empire that stupidly thought it would win against England with its Armada. I used to argue against my father
about the inquisition and that it-should never have happened and I too likened it to the Nazi regime. He used to fly off the handle at me about this saying that I didn’t know what I was talking about because what I learnt at school wasn’t even half of the truth. Goes to show that without the historical literature how a young mind can be formed. I am looking forward to buying one of these books and immersing myself in my heritage. I only wish it was in English because it would be a lot easier to read m. Thank you Kenny for posting all of this. Hope you keep going.
Went to Catholic school in San Juan. My teachers were two Irish nuns that nurtured me from 1st to 8th grade. In those days teachers graduated with the students. Later in 9th grade is when I first learned about the Spanish Armada in class. I thought these people are retarded, how can they be so stupid? Spanish Amada was not the disaster that they make it out to be in many history books. There was a counter British fleet that one was the real beating from left, right, up, down, and Jesus too.
The immense majority of the converts were sincere, there was a minority group very active and powerful at the economic, political and ecclesiastical level. There were false converts inside the Catholic hierarchy. These people were deteriorating, not only the faith, but also the social cohesion of the nation. The chroniclers of that time state this very clearly. Thirty years before the inquisition there is a very strong social conscience of a group of Jews that have simulated a Christian conversion. Not only are they practicing their religion, but also proselytizing and the recipients are the Jews who genuinely converted and were sincere. These false converts wanted to return them to Judaism.
There is a British historian by the name of Henry Kamen. An atheist, agnostic from Pakistani origins. In other words, not a Catholic, not a Francoist, or anything of this sort. By the way… he lives in Barcelona and is very friendly with the separatist movement of Cataluña, not a friend of Spain. He wrote a book about the Spanish Inquisition, and agrees in what other historians have said in other presentations. Meaning, we have a theme here. Mr. Kamen says “The main anti-Jewish polemicists and promoters of the Inquisition were the former Jews themselves.” That there is nothing more inquisitorial, more intolerant, and nothing more cruel than Judaism in its repression of religious deviations. For reference read Deuteronomy 13:13-17 and Deuteronomy 17:2-5. The Jews were always extremely violent, extremely cruel, and extremely bloodthirsty when it came to suppressing heresies. This is not racism. These are the historical facts. This is what is written in the scriptures. Let’s not say that the Jewish people have been a tolerant people throughout history. If anything has characterized Judaism throughout its history, is its profound intolerance.
The Jewish people have an hermetic spirit. They seek self-exclusion with a proud ghetto spirit. The Jewish ghettos of this period weren’t simply because the Spaniards expelled them, and forced to live separated from the rest of the population. They did it themselves. I insist, this is not anti-Semitic, this is not racism, this is historical investigation. What we cannot do is hide history because it dismantles an ideology. Hiding history to avoid the easy condemnation of being anti-Semitic no no no no. The Jews have always been very proud because they have considered themselves to be the chosen people of God and because of this, they have always viewed themselves special and quite superior as a result. I’m not starting a fire against Judaism. Is simply a categorization of the historical, psychological, and mental realities of the Jewish people throughout history. The name Pharisee, the Pharisee party of Israel, comes from a Hebrew word meaning segregated. This is what they have done always, segregated from whom? The Goyim who are the sinners. The people that are not chosen by Yahweh. The people that are not Jewish and do not follow the Torah, the covenant. Look for Deuteronomy 7:6 for reference. If they are the property of God the rest aren’t, so we cannot mix with them because we get contaminated. In the story of Christ’s passion, the Jews do not want to enter the praetorium because they will be contaminated, they are in a pagan place.
My point is, take all these factors into account, before judging the Catholic Monarchs with regards to the Inquisition and then the expulsion of the Jews in March of 1492.
Americo Castro was a leftist historian. Not a Catholic, giving authors from different political spectrum’s OK. He is the one that invents the “Myth of Toledo” the myth of Toledo being the city of three cultures. He concludes that Spanish society was becoming more fanatical about its Christianity, as the Jews became Christianized. That the people asking for the inquisition were converted Jews that wanted to segregate themselves from Jews that were simulating, and their conversion was false destroying social unity. Today we live in divided and atomized societies because there is no religious unity. The religious dimension is the deepest dimension of the human being. That is why the deepest unity is religious unity. Hence the deepest division is religious division.
I’m recommending Kamen book for anyone wanting to study the three centuries of history of the Spanish Inquisition. The other books cover only the period of Queen Isabel and King Fernando. I’m concentrating on the Catholic Monarchs because it yielded information that now I’m going to use for a research about the evangelization in Hispanic America. After the conquest of Granada two types of evangelization and two types of philosophies were tried with the Moors and that ties into a topic I’m researching.
Haven’t posted the names of some of the false converts yet, going to choose the most dramatic ones.
Just a thought:
Should you need human translators-transcribers (Spanish to English) you will find a number of Filipinos online who are qualified. Spanish used to be a required subject here and many of us are still literate in it and are now online looking for remote work.
That’s a wonderful idea
Sure seems like a lot of double agents are imbedded in history, then and now.
Control the opposition.
Hell, J.P. Morgan even started the Communist Party in America, by financing it from the get-go.
[no evidence per say; yet Sutton surmised Wall Street[read Morgan] had a hand in staring/financing it].
David Hugh’s recent book on: Wall Street, the Nazi’s and the Deep State; touched upon this, as well.
There are parallels to what I see going on today in America, particularly and specifically in the evangelical churches. In my opinion, is creating a societal problem in the religious side of things.
You wanna get into the whole problem that the good Doctor here touches on with dispensationalism and silly wars and such for an End Times Order…oh my. and a side of Rapture please. ha
Many of the false converts were wealthy people. They were able to be in public offices, have titles, due to their skills, but also because they were bought. In those days, particularly during the reign of King Enrique IV, public offices were not based on meritocracy. There was a market for buying titles and position. When the Catholic Monarchs assumed power this changed, a meritocracy was created. If we look at the next 150 years, what is called the golden age of the Catholic Monarchy, many of the people in public office were truly people of great worth with intellectual preparation and governing skills.
The selling of offices was a widespread vice during the time. Dates back to the Roman era, the Punic Wars, when tons of gold and silver began to rain down on Rome and positions in the Senate began to be bought. There is a period ─ the lowest of the low ─ in Roman history, where the title of emperor was put on sale by the Praetorian guard. The main issue with the Jews, they were acting on those public positions like a clan, as a community, like a mafia clan with political and economic objectives.
I’m not exaggerating about the false converts, with all the documentation in the books the authors have a selection of many cases. One example is a fellow by the name of Juan del Río of the Primacy of Toledo. The Cathedral in Toledo was the most prestigious institution of the Spanish Church. Is not a small church in a village but one of the most important ones in Spain. Juan del Rio, Canónigo racionero, from the pulpit was Judaizing. Teaching the beliefs of the people of Israel and the liturgical, moral, and gastronomic practices. Kind of like John Hagee from Texas but in 16th century Spain. His trial is very well documented.
Another case, was a fellow by the name of Fray Juan de Madrid. He was Judaizing but not from the pulpit. He was caught on the confessional. He did it more cautiously and not from the pulpit where more people could spot him. Fray Madrid was a Prior of the Order of Saint Jerome, an important position in the church hierarchy. There are many examples like this and the investigation and trial are documented.
What was at stake was the very existence of Christian Spain due to the aggressiveness of people falsely converted to Christianity, and taking over all the levers of social, political, economic and ecclesiastical power. A fundamental element, many of the Jews had ties with noble families. Through marriage, Jews could contribute significant economic wealth to the nobility, and the nobility provided them with the pedigree of their surnames and social recognition. One of the things the Catholic Monarchs had to do was to domesticate the nobility, it was a rebellious nobility this was very well documented in Suarez books.
At the popular level, the people in Spain was aware of what was happening. They were reacting violently to this preeminence of power in the hands of false Christian Jews. Things were heading towards a civil war and the Catholic Monarchs had just fought a civil war to gain the throne they didn’t want another one. For them this was Alexander Gordian Knot, they had to cut it in a drastic way. They had to create an institution that was respected by everyone, an institution that was neutral, had moral weight, and that old Christians would also respect.
Another person prosecuted by the Inquisition was a fellow by the name of Antonio Pérez del Hierro. A great enemy of Spain who did tremendous damage to the Catholic Church. He was not the mayor in a small town no no no. He was King Felipe II secretary, who had grown up with Felipe II.
The Inquisition also prosecuted, Bartolomé Carranza de Miranda. A Dominican THEOLOGIAN OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT, and Archbishop Primado de Toledo. As you can see, when an institution of this type is capable of prosecuting these kind of people, it speaks volumes about its impartiality.
There are literary testimonies and references about the ties of the nobility with the false converts. The most famous one is with Miguel De Cervantes using a lot of humor. This appears in Chapter 23 of Don Quijote.
“In God’s name let him be so,” said Sancho: “I am an old Christian, and to fit me for a count that’s enough.”
“And more than enough for thee,” said Don Quixote; "
What Sancho is saying, that as an old Christian (descended from Visigoths, from Hispanic Romans, who have always been Catholics) he should be able to climb the ladder for a noble title. And Quijote replies with irony “And more than enough”. Meaning, those who were related to the nobility and had family titles, were the new Christians, the converted Jews.
That is a primary source from the era, the inquisition is still active during the time Miguel De Cervantes wrote this. The inquisition contrary to what have been promoted as history, was very popular with the people. The institution was created because the people insisted and demanded this from the Catholic Monarchs. They wanted justice and to qualify who truly was a converted Christian and those who were Judaizing. And here you have Sancho complaining because he is an old Christian and cannot get a noble title.
… By the way, the Inquisition arrived in San Juan in 1519. Were they here to persecute Jews? Nope. Were they here to persecute Indians? Nope. The Indians were not converted, they were here for the CHRISTIANS making sure everyone was being legit. When the first Governor arrived in San Juan, we have recorded 29 marriages between Spaniards and Indians. If a Spaniard wanted to be with an Indian woman he had to go to the padre and that was it. During all that time only two cases emerge and they were dismissed because the people were not converts.
The first recorded document about Hispanics was written by the Romans. They said Hispanics were stubborn, that even after they were captured and crucified they kept singing war chants and cursing the Romans. The same can be said about Hispanic Americans little have changed.
They are good people, work hard, but Spaniards need a strong hand to command and guide them. This doesn’t mean they aren’t democratic, but they do need authority. Francisco de Goya depicted this in one of his paintings called The Darkness, two Spaniards armed with clubs smacking each other. If there is a king with power, then that sort of thing doesn’t happen. The Spanish immediately become obedient and hardworking. Same thing with Hispanic Americans - not a dictator, don’t get confuse - but there has to be a clear plan of action and a leadership figure for people to fall in line.
The Spanish Reconquista was about religion but also political. The conquest of Granada was on January 1492, the Reconquista itself culminates with the annexation of the Kingdom of Navarra in 1524.
San Juan became part of Castile, before Navarra and the reconquista was completed. Our coat of arms was given by King Fernando in 1511, and the inquisition arrived in 1519. The first governor arrived in 1508, a fellow by the name of Juan Ponce de Leon. A knight of the Order of Calatrava, who participated in the conquest of Granada. The man was a veteran his descendants are still running around the island. He also discovered Florida made maps for the Catholic Monarchs. Is quiet amazing when you think about it. Keep note of that information, because is going to explain something later on.
When the Catholic Monarchs conquered the kingdom of Granada, what do they find? They found a population that was exclusively Muslim with a very influential Jewish minority. There have been no Christians for several centuries in Granada. This presented a problem for the unification of the Catholic faith in all the kingdoms. With the Muslims, what the Catholic Monarchs attempted, was a process of evangelization. The effort was led by the first Archbishop of Granada, Fray Hernando de Talavera. Confessor of Queen Isabel and advisor to the Catholic Monarchs. Talavera influence on the Catholic Monarchs was especially decisive, because he greatly helped them understand the meaning and implications of their marriage. He made them very aware of the historic mission their union had. Not only at the level of the peninsular kingdoms, but also with their influence in America and against Islam.
Fray Hernando de Talavera was a man of utmost trust. He came from a Jewish family that converted to Christianity. A monk of the Hieronymite Order. The Hieronymites are a very Hispanic order, that existed during the Spanish golden age in various monasteries. For example, they worked for a long time in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, until the order was expelled in 1836, by impious Juan Álvarez Mendizába, a Jew at the service of liberals and English masonry.
The Catholic queen could not find a better man to put in charge of the reconquered Granada. Regarding the Moors, Fray Hernando de Talavera uses an evangelizing tactic, which in missionary language is known as the Technique of Improvement. What does it consist of? It consists of respecting the traditions of Muslims, and, based on them, slowly Christianize society. It’s called an improvement technique because it assumes there’s something good in that culture, and even if it’s just a little, it starts building on that. For example, in some cases Islam allows polygamy. This is contrary not only to the Catholic sacrament of marriage, but also to natural law itself. Obviously you cannot use that to evangelize, they have to evangelize to end polygamy. But other customs that can be used as a point to evangelize are going to be utilized. That’s basically the Improvement Technique, used by Fray Hernando de Talavera from 1492 to 1499. What happened? Failed miserably. The conversions went from 0% to 1%.
Since the conversions were not happening the Archbishop of Toledo, a fellow by the name of Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, imposed his own method, known as Tabula Rasa or blank slate. Meaning completely breaking with the customs of the Muslims and start from scratch and treat them as savages and ignorant.
That detail may sound insignificant but it isn’t. When the Spanish missionaries arrived in America they are going to combine these two techniques. They are going to be more inclined to use Cisneros Tabula Rasa, completely breaking the costumes and treating them as ignorant savages, starting from scratch with them. This explains why Roman Catholicism in San Juan is very Spanish. The people that arrived were veterans from the conquest of Granada using Cisneros method. In Central and South America is different, there is a flavor, a richness in the Catholic customs. There is a combination between the positive things the missionaries found in the customs of indigenous peoples, and the Catholic Spanish Christianity. That fusion has produced a very beautiful Hispanic American Catholicism, which is now being hallowed out by the Protestant sects and retarded theology. The Catholic Culture in Hispanic America should be protected just like any monument, painting, sculpture, etc. Is world heritage, needs to be protected folks.
Right now, I’m working on this because there are people arguing, there was a genocide of Indians in San Juan. That never happened folks, mathematically this can be proven. Also with the historical documents. For example the first governor arrived in 1508 OK. The next year, King Ferdinand wrote a letter to the governor specifically giving instructions saying, do not move any Indians out of the island. Why? The island was almost depopulated. What happened here, was a Tabula Rasa evangelization, the Indians were absorbed very quickly.
The Nostra Aetate is the declaration from the Second Vatican Council that addresses the relationship of the Catholic Church with non-Christian religions. There is something in the document that caught my attention, in point number three, where it talks about Islam.
“The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all- powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God. Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honor Mary, His virgin Mother; at times they even call on her with devotion. In addition, they await the day of judgment when God will render their deserts to all those who have been raised up from the dead. Finally, they value the moral life and worship God especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting.”
“Since in the course of centuries not a few quarrels and hostilities have arisen between Christians and Moslems, this sacred synod urges all to forget the past and to work sincerely for mutual understanding and to preserve as well as to promote together for the benefit of all mankind social justice and moral welfare, as well as peace and freedom.”
How come they adore the one God? Allah doesn’t exist, even better Mohamed in the so called Satanic verses said so. Islam is a religion of demonic inspiration. I’m politically incorrect in this and is what the church always believed before Vatican II. Islam is a religion of diabolical inspiration. Think about the flourishing Christianity in north of Africa, where Saint Augustine (Dr. Farrell favorite theologian) lived, and how after the Muslims invasions, all of this was completely swept away.
The only true God, is the God of the Trinity. Who is Father, who is Son, and who is Holy Spirit. Nope is not Allah. What these people at Vatican II were thinking? Don’t fall in the error of thinking, Islam is a monotheist religion. Rather than monotheism, we should speak of monolatry. Allah would be what is known in philosophy as monism a solitary god. That is why for a Muslim the idea that God is the father is inconceivable. Of the 99 names for god that appears in the Quran, the name of father never appears. Allah is merciful. Allah is compassionate. Allah is, Allah is, Allah is, but a Muslim never considers that Allah is a Father. If God is not a Father, then the first person of the Holy Trinity is not the true God. Again what these people at Vatican II were thinking?
Is it any wonder, everybody got this idea that all religions are equal. That all religions are different paths to reach God and what difference does it make. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, published a document called Dominus Iesus, where he had to clarify many of these issues of religious pluralism. I’m not saying that this document was useless, like we say in Spanish “El papel aguanta todo” meaning, paper will take anything you write on it. There are still millions of Catholics and church officials who continue to believe that Islam is just as valid as the Catholic Church, Hare Krishna, or Buddha. They are denying the first pillar of the Catholic Church, The Holy Trinity.
There was a time when the church preached to the Jews and produced conversions. After Vatican II this has stopped, they are not evangelizing Jews anymore. One question that came up to my mind; how many Muslims have Catholic Orthodoxy has been able to convert? Because in my opinion, I’m not seeing conversions be it in the Western or Eastern church.