Originally Published by: Margaritas Hispánicas – November 15, 2022
With the courageous and determined involvement of one of our most outstanding Margaritas («Daisies»), the dearest and most well-known the dearest and most well-known Mónica Caruncho, I have finally made up my mind and, overcoming a good amount of well-intentioned reservations, I agree today to start a column, more or less regularly, although I hope that the quality is something more than average, on behalf of the Margaritas of the Traditionalist Communion.
Above all, because it seems that, on the one hand, women do not have much say in matters of such seriousness and of such high interest for the common good as those that are normally dealt with in La Esperanza. I agree that this is probably the case under normal circumstances. But under normal circumstances, one doesn’t have to write brainy, thick books in order to explain things as elementary as the fact that Christ Our Lord should reign in society. Nor do you have to fight in four wars (and continue to stick around for many more) in order to return the King to His throne. Under normal circumstances, the Illustrious Doña María Teresa de Braganza would not have seen herself obliged to «disinherit» Juan III, as an article by Gildo García-Vao recently reminded us; and Mrs. Urraca Pastor would not have become the visible face of the Cause. Under normal circumstances, I admit, there would have been neither the Princess of Beira nor Miss Cavernícola. And Lucía de Medrano and Beatriz Galindo would not have stood out, like two new stars, in the firmament of Castilian humanities. And Sofonisba Anguissola would not have been the court painter for King Felipe II and La Roldana would not have sculpted a thing. Neither would have Doña Isabel de Barreto been the first admiral in history, nor would there have been any less than four women in the governorship of the Spanish Netherlands, namely: Margarita of Austria; Maria of Austria, Queen of Hungary; Margherita of Parma and Isabel Clara Eugenia. In short, under normal circumstances, Isabel de Trastámara would not have been queen of Castile and León, because her brother Alfonso would have reigned. So, thank God for the abnormal circumstances that the Holy Cause goes through so often.
On the other hand, neither did we expect a weekly thesis on scholastic philosophy or a fine legal or geopolitical analysis of the international situation. My intentions are much more modest. Our war against postmodernism is waged on all fronts, from ideas to small everyday gestures. Each one with their weapons and with their very different purposes, here we contribute to the Holy Cause, some with high-profile debates and others (formerly) with rifles and bayonets; some with doctrine books and others with cooking recipes. Some, with humorous poems and books, and others, among which I intend to count myself, with stories and anecdotes, if not always exemplary, at least from which some lesson can be drawn.
It is curious how fables and myths are the order of the day and, to a greater or lesser extent, almost all of our contemporaries administer a daily dose of anesthesia from the sordid ambient reality in the form of films, shows and fantasy novels, and more or less absurd; but none of them ever has a moral, that sounds too much like grandmothers and advice around a stretcher table. I am one of those who thinks that all the events of our lives contain some lesson, even the darkest ones. Because I am one of those who thinks (because I am Catholic) that if God allows evil, it is to make good come out of it. Consolation for fools? Perhaps. I don’t pretend to be anything else.
Guadalupe Cordero, Margaritas Hispánicas
