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It has often been said that Carlism, in all its forms and names since the legitimate dynasty was proscribed, has never been a political party. Less frequently, however, has there been a proper understanding of what it has been and still is. Perhaps Benigno Bolaños, alias Eneas, approached this in the article we reproduce below for our readers, originally published on June 26, 1909, in El Correo Español. On the occasion of the funeral of Don Matías Barrio y Mier, then Acting Chief of the Traditionalist Communion – a position he held for ten years following the Marquis of Cerralbo – Eneas offers a description of the Carlist family, “for we are a family and not a political party.” The reader will understand the appropriateness of reproducing it on this day of commemorating All Souls.
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In sacred ground lies the body of Señor Barrio y Mier, who was escorted and honored in farewell yesterday evening at the Northern Station by the highest representatives of the Carlist family. It is the final journey, the last journey after entering eternity, where, as a wise author once said, he must have earned an outstanding grade for his remarkable merits and tested virtues. He now journeys to his beloved Castilla, which receives him as a loving mother, providing a grave beneath the same beloved horizons that witnessed his cradle.
There will rest his revered remains, the fragrance of his virtues, especially his humility and modesty – qualities that, in these times of ambition and arrogance, are the most exalted treasures of the human soul. There will rest the luminous trail of his wisdom, stored in a mind that housed the knowledge of six different fields of study, a remarkable archive of erudition, an educator to multiple generations, who could convey the secrets of knowledge clearly, simply, and skillfully for the humblest to understand. And finally, the memory of that resolve, carrying the weight of many tasks and labors down life’s path without bending or breaking, embodying such a constant and varied activity that, though his body may have tired, his spirit was neither defeated nor exhausted.
Encompassing all these qualities was his fervent Christian piety and loyalty, as unwavering as that of a Swiss Guard or, better yet, a Castilian, for industrious men are always devout and loyal, recognizing their duties to God and King with a dedication that consumes their entire lives in labor.
Alongside these illustrious memories, there remains another one in Verdeña’s pantheon, perhaps less extraordinary but more beautiful: the memory of his kindness, simplicity, and gentleness. Within our dear Don Matías’s heart was a great innocence and warmth that enveloped both people and things; sometimes, he seemed almost childlike, even in the flashes of his genius and character, which would dissolve into a foamy wave always reaching the shore of goodness and indulgence, ever allied with justice.
It might seem odd that I dwell so much on these unforgettable memories here. For us Carlists, these are not a tribute of flattery. They are words the heart dictates in rough strokes, filled with tenderness as I write, and only we Carlists understand the secret of these words and sentiments. It is a family secret, for we are a family, not a political party – a family that has just lost the one who represented its father and thus sees him with filial eyes, with love not as subjects or collaborators, but as children. This notion of our monarchy and our politics was what Don Matías most cherished; he expressed it in his first speech during his second term as a deputy in the 1891 political debate. He spoke of a paternal monarchy, and his audience, enchanted even more by the ideas than by his clear, sweet, and captivating voice or by his impeccable and precise diction, exclaimed:
“Is it possible that such a thing exists in reality?”
Yes! It is possible! It is true!
And if you doubt it, you can look at this family of Carlists, where ideals and romanticism take root in their hearts. Here is a living reality. Their August Leader orders a Christian honor for their deceased Chief; the Acting Chief directs it, the newspapers request it, and everyone knows it will be obeyed. We Carlists are not a gathering of politicians joined by cold interests, nor even by the dry bonds of ideas, but brothers in love, comrades camping beside the same flag, Christians kneeling before the Cross, raising our hands to the Divine Heart, saying, “Lord, ask us for the struggle, ask us for life, ask us for blood so that our sacrifice may mingle with Your Precious Blood in a river of sacrifices.”
To love and serve You, Lord and our God, we are Carlists in this life, and we will remain so in the next, for Your glory. There are many kinds of politics – all kinds but ours – that serve temporal ends and hinder eternal ones, while ours serves all purposes, perhaps more so for the latter than the former, more for earning God’s love than achieving earthly success.
Our loyal brothers do not measure family misfortunes by political interests but by love, which establishes among us a sort of communion of Saints, where the greatness and merits of one radiate upon all. And there is no Carlist, however humble, who does not feel a personal pride in the eloquence of our orators, the art of our writers, the loyalty of our veterans, the wisdom and idealistic steadfastness of our teachers, and above all, in the bravery, heroism, and martyrdom of our valiant soldiers – Maccabees of the Faith, crusaders of legitimacy, beloved patriarchs of invincible and glorious Spain.
In the same way, their misfortunes also radiate among us, as if the Carlist family extended beyond the grave into eternity, creating a shared devotion of prayers and offerings. Not only on March 10, the day for our loyal departed, but throughout the year, every Carlist who passes is honored by the prayers of his brothers. No one crosses the boundaries of time unaccompanied by the prayers of his Carlist family. And the escort that accompanied Don Matías surely arouses envy among princes and many dignitaries of the world!
This is the Carlist family: a historic group of such nobility and intimacy that even poets could not imagine a nobler or dearer vision. It is a spiritual realm that has preserved the spirit of old Spain submerged under revolutionary waters, a legion of knights with the souls of apostles and the hearts of medieval crusaders, a family proud of the national heritage that shines upon their brows, and prouder still of the sacred repository of their immortal ideas.
This is who we are. See if, in families like this, there can be a notion of defection, betrayal, or dissolution. Consider whether any of its members, bound by sacrifice, could dare to say on behalf of the others that they would disband, as if they were a petty and fleeting oligarchy of interests; that they would fragment, as if they had not been united by love and ideals for over a century and many centuries; that they would join the established and triumphant revolution, as if the venerable gray hairs crowning the heads of the veterans – like a mark of selfless devotion – were not a living testimony to the oath they took against the revolution, its men, its ideas, and its institutions. And if we were to abandon it all, who would carry our banner? Who would kneel before the altar to pray for our martyrs? To whom would we entrust the treasure of heroism and glory that crowns our battalions with divine splendor?
No!
This is an absurdity. No Carlist, knowing what it means to be a Carlist, who has looked into the sanctuary of the Carlist soul and feels as it feels, would ever grow weary of living and being loyal and bound by these blessed ties. We pity those who do not understand or love us, and we give thanks to God for letting us live here, within the hearth and bosom of this enviable family, where no political or material interest does not serve in beautiful hierarchy the eternal interests, where every human affection aligns in harmony with the holy demands of Fatherland, rights, and Faith…
ENEAS
Translated by the Gremio San Jerónimo
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