The life of Ramon Monsalvatge, a converted Spanish monk, of the order of the Capuchins

Front matter

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Bv"'493 5".M6 5 A3x Monsalvatge, Ramon, b. 1815, The life of Ramon Monsalvatge, a converted

THE LIFE

Chapter I. Page

The Author's Youth. — His Residence in the Monastery.— A false Miracle, , . . .37

CHAPTER H.

Causes of the attack upon the Conventual Establishments.— Dispersion of Monastic Communities. — The Authors Enlistment in the Army. — State of the Army of Don Carlos, 47

CHAPTER m.

My Imprisonment. — The Convent in Savoy. — Return to Spain. — Change in the Army. — Capture of Ripoll and Moya. — Wonderful Preservation, . . 56

CHAPTER IV.

Defeat of the Carlist Army. — How I met with the Word of God. — I enter the Seminary. — Protestant Arguments. — Interview with a Protestant Pastor. — My resolution to leave the Seminary overcome, . 68

CHAPTER V.

A sacrilegious Experiment. — I leave the Seminary. — The Spanish Priest. — I am driven to Langres. — Unhappy situation there. — The Spanish character, 81

IV CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VI.

PAGE

Despair. — Conversion. — Depart from Langres. — Correspondence with my Parents, . . . .97

CHAPTER Vn.

Distribution of the Scriptures among my Countrymen. — 'I'he Wolf turned into a Lamb. — Plots formed for taking my life, Ill

CHAPTER Vni.

Visit to the Republicans at Clermont. — Brief account of Thiers. — Testaments sold and returned, . 119

CHAPTER IX.

The Wine-store of Cabrera. — Interview with two Priests, and the results. — Glay, .... 128

CHAPTER X.

The Best Medicine and the Best Physician. — The Curate of Salvatat. — My Ex-General Zorrilla. — My Retreat to Geneva, 137

CHAPTER XI.

My Countryman Yagues. — Calderon's Visit to Madrid.— Failure of my Plan to Return to Spain. — The desired one arrives unexpectedly. — My Departure from Geneva, 150

CHAPTER XII.

My Feelings towards those who think me in Error. — Passage across the Atlantic. — Address to the American Brethren. — Conclusion, . . . .160

Introduction

Circumstances seem to require that something should be said by way of introduction in presenting the following memoirs to the Christian public ; and at the request of their author, I have consented to undertake the task.

When Mr. Monsalvatge arrived in this coun try, a few months ago, many persons who heard from his own lips an account of his life, his conversion to true religion, and his subsequent labors in behalf of his countrymen, expressed a desire to see something from his pen, in order that there might be some permanent memorials of the wonderful display of Divine grace which had brought him out of the dreadful darkness and delusions of the papacy into the glorious light of the Truth. And every week of his stay among has increased and diffused this wisli in the hearts of those who have from time to time become acquainted with him. The consequence has been the

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VI INTRODUCTION.

preparation of the narrative which follows in the French by Mr. Monsalvatge, and its translation into English by some of his friends.

And it is with great pleasure that I assure the reader, that these memoirs are worthy of his entire and unhesitating belief. Their author and subject is a man who has been well tried since he became a Protestant, and has given the best of proof, both of the sincerity of his convictions, and of the truth of his statements. He has the entire confidence of many excellent brethren in France and Switzerland, by whom he has been most affectionately commended to us. Still more ; all who have become acquainted with him since he came to our shores, have been struck with his simple, fervent, and unostentatious piety ; his sound judgment ; his prudent zeal ; his remarkable wisdom ; and his admirable charity. Every where there has been but one opinion entertained respecting him, and that is, that whether we consider his natural endowments of understanding and heart, or the transforming influence of Divine grace upon his character.

INTRODUCTION. Vll

he is no common man. And we cannot but hope that the God of all grace, who has called him to the knowledge of His salvation, and who has hitherto blessed his labors, will continue to make him an instrument of doing great good to many souls.

These memoirs possess a thrilling interest from the beginning to the end. They tell us the history of one who was born and educated in the bosom of the Roman Catholic Church, not as she is when surrounded by the light which shines upon her in this Protestant country, but when enshrouded in the bigotry, ignorance, and ferociousness which prevail in benighted Spain. They reveal to us the heart of a Capuchin monk, who for years pursued a monastic life, and submitted to all its repulsive rigors with cheerfulness, in the vain hope of meriting the felicity of heaven, or at least of abridging the pains of purgatory. They reproduce this same man on the stage, no longer as a monk, but as a soldier, a man of blood, fighting for Don Carlos and for Rome, with the same zeal which characterized

VUl INTRODUCTION.

his life in the monastery. But another change takes place, and the warrior-monk again appears as the humble child of grace, meekly bearing insults ai d ows from his former fellow soldiers and officers, whilst he goes about bearing to them the Sacred Scriptures, and exhorting them to buy and read the Word of life.

But they also have an interest which is of another and very peculiar nature. They relate not only to the conversion of one individual, but of several others of the Spanish race. They show us that the Spanish mind and the Spanish heart, though the most firm of all minds and of all hearts in adherence to the Roman Catholic faith, the most bigoted in its attachment to the religion of Rome, and the most ready to obey her call to the work of exterlinating heretics, can be enlightened and renewed bythe grace of God, and won over by the sweet influences of the Gospel to that '' kingdom which consists in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." They demonstrate, what we were slow to believe, that the glorious

INTRODUCTION. IX

and peaceful Gospel can triumph over a race which has been, for ages, the most cruel and bloodthirsty of all the family of civilized men : a race from which sprang the Society of the Jesuits ; amid which the Inquisition has been worked with the most unrelenting and fearful energy ; and which has been the most solicitous of all the Roman Catholic world to purge itself of even the slightest taint or charge of heresy.

Yes, these memoirs show us that there is hope for the Spanish race, which is, next to the Gallican, the most important of all the Latin nations. This is a subject of vast importance, and I propose to call the reader's attention particularly to it in a few of the following paragraphs.

The French, or Gallican race, comprehends about thirty-eight millions. And although no portion of the subjects of Rome have shown more jealousy of ultra-montane, or excessive, claims on the part of the Papal See, or more independence of spirit on certain points of doctrine, and on certain occasions, when it has

X INTRODUCTION.

been attempted to enforce those claims, yet no race has rendered Rome more effectual service. It was this race that created the Papacy ; and it has ever done more to sustain it than any other. The French Roman Catholics have always given more money to propagate the Roman Catholic faith than any other people ; and the best Roman Catholic missionaries have in all time past been Frenchmen.

NoWj in the wonderful providence of God, it is exactly among this very portion of the subjects of Rome that the Truth is making most progress in our day. Dreadful as were the persecutions which Rome excited against the Protestants of France in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, they were not permitted to lead to their extermination. A '' remnant" still remained. And from its ashes, as it were, the Protestant Church has been raised up within these last few years, and great is the progress which Truth is making in a country which has been steeped in the blood of martyrs.

INTRODUCTION. X'

The glorious Reformation spread in Spain also in the 16th century ; and many embraced its doctrines. Nor were they among the humbler classes of people ; some noble minds received those doctrines, and were ready to suffer the loss of all things for the sake of the Truth. ' But soon that most horrible of all engines, the Inquisition, was employed to effect their destruction ; and in the course of a few years Protestantism was extirpated from the entire Peninsula. The consequence was, that for more than two hundred and fifty years, neither in Spain, nor any of the countries colonized from Spain, was the least vestige of the Protestant religion to be found. Over the whole Iberian race, whether in the Old or the New World, Rome maintained an undisputed reign ; and a cruel and debasing superstition supplanted the Truth. What the fruits of Romanism have been among that race, I need not undertake to say, for the world knows that they have been ignorance, bigotry, despotism, civil wars, and deplorable wretchedness. The history of Christianity in Spain is

Xll INTRODUCTION.

deeply interesting. Rejecting, as absurd, the Spanish traditions, that James, the son of Zebedee, first preached the Christian doctrine to the people of that country, sent seven presbyters to Rome to be ordained by Pope Peter, and then returned to Jerusalem in time to obtain the martyr's crown, we may confidently receive two facts which are sufficiently established by authentic history ; one of which is, that the Gospel was early preached in the Peninsula, and the other, that it extensively spread there notwithstanding the persecutions to which those who received it were from time to time exposed. Beyond these two facts nothing is certainly known respecting the very early history of Christianity in Spain.

In the fourth century, the Spanish churches were overrun by the Priscillian heresy, which predominated in them about two centuries, and was a compound of the tenets of the Manicheans and Gnostics. In other words, in its most important principle, it was Arianism. Nestorianism and some other heresies of less note also had considerable currency in Spain

INTRODUCTION. Xlll

But that which made the most noise was what w^as called " adoptionarian heresy," — viz., that Christ is only the adopted Son of God — which was broached by Elipand, Archbishop of Toledo, in the eighth century.

But if Spain had her heretics, and even her beresiarchs, she also had noble defenders of the Truth. Claude, so greatly celebrated as Bishop of Turin, in the ninth century, was a native of Spain. And so was Galindo Prudentio, Bishop of Troyes in France, a contemporary of Claude, and like him, a great favorite with Charlemagne, and an able and zealous friend of the true Gospel.

And although the Spanish churches had bishops in the fourth century, and gradually, in imitation of the churches in other countries, which had submitted to the lordly domination of the clergy of the great cities, that began in the days of Constantine, allowed, but after much opposition, the creation of metropolitans, archbishops, vicar-generals, etc., yet they never suffered the Bishops of Rome to interfere authoritatively in their affairs during the

XIV INTRODUCTION.V

first eight centuries. And although it may seem strange to those who only know that the Spaniards have been the most devoted and firm of all the subjects of the Roman See in modern times, and the most ready to fight its battles, to hear that the supremacy of the selfstyled successors of St. Peter was never fully established in Spain until the first eleven centuries had passed away, it is nevertheless true. Still more, it was not until about three hundred and fifty years ago, that the zeal of the Spanish nation in behalf of the Roman See reached any thing like its present maturity of growth and extent of vigor, — a consummation to which the expulsion of the Moors in the rei^n of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic, and the discovery of both the Indies, greatly contributed.

Nor was the Roman See left long in undisturbed possession of Spain. For the doctrines of the Albigenses penetrated into the northern portions of the Peninsula in the twelfth century, if not earlier, and found many friends an advocates. Indeed, the northern districts

INTRODUCTION. XV

of that country and the adjacent provinces of France were then, and for centuries afterwards, under the same government. Their inhabitants were, and are still, essentially the same people. Their language was, and is still, essentially the same patois, or dialect, differing almost equally from pure French on the one hand, and pure Castilian on the other ; being in fact the remains of an old Celtic toncrue, which has not been absorbed in either of the two Latin languages which have striven to supplant it. Under these circumstances, nothing could be more probable than that the " Albigensian here*sy," as Rome denominated the blessed doctrines held by the noble reformers whom God raised up in Languedoc and Provence, and especially in the region around Toulouse, in the twelfth century, or rather who were only a resuscitation of the primitive Christianity which had never become extinct in those provinces, should spread into the northern, and especially the north-eastern parts of Spain. And history tells us that this was the case. Nor were they confined in their

XVI INTRODUCTION.

dissemination to the northern parts of t'l ' Peninsula ; they spread extensively in other portions of it. And Spain possessed many thousands of devoted Christians, who never bowed the knee to that Baal which had been set up in Rome. They were called by various names, among which those of Albigenses, and Vaudois or Waldenses, • were the most common.

But history takes care also to inform us that the same Rome which instigated Simon de Montfort and the kings of France to make war upon the Albigenses in France, and upon their good and noble protectors, the Counts of Toulouse, and after having broken them down by war, exterminated them at her leisure by the aid of St. Dominic and his monkish Janizaries, was not less active in hunting up those who had embraced the same doctrines south of the Pyrenees. Blood followed abundantly in Spain as well as in France. And the prayers and the groans of dying martyrs ascended, from many a spot in that country, to heaven's high vault, — not to remain unheard

INTRODUCTION. Xvii

or forgotten, by Him who is exalted to be " Lord over all," and who sitteth " King in Zion."

But Rome triumphed, and the Truth fell down slain by her hand, both in France and Spain. And yet all was not lost. The holy appeals of Wickliff in England, and of Huss and Jerome amid the mountains in Bohemia, found a welcome and a response in many a heart even in the Iberian Peninsula. It was in this way that Error was prevented from having exclusive and uncontested dominion in that beautiful but benighted country.

At L'ngth the 16th century came, and with it the voice of Luther summoning the nations to rise and cast from them the yoke of Rome. Nor did the doctrines of the Reformation fail to reach Spain. There were many causes which led to this. A king of Spain was chosen Emperor of Germany, under the title of Charles V. This prince was born in Netherlands, as what are now Belgium and Holland were then called, — and which were then under the government of Spain. The eventful life of

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this monarch was spent in various countries. One while he was in Spain, then in Italy, then in Germany, then in the Low Countries, and then back in his patrimonial inheritance. This led to a vast intercourse on the part of the Spaniards with the Italians, the Germans, and the Flemish. Not only courtiers, statesmen, and merchants, but soldiers also, went from the Peninsula into those various countries : and there many of them came into contact with the Reformed opinions. And from those various countries these opinions were carried into Spain, in spite of all that Rome could do, — sometimes in the writings of the Reformers published at Wittemburg, orBasle, or Venice, or Antwerp ; but oftener still in the hearts of those who had embraced them. In this way the Truth threatened to overrun and conquer one of the fairest provinces of Rome. It is certain that the Reformed opinions secretly gained an extensive currency in both Spain and Portugal for several years before they were avowed by any native of either country. The first Spaniard who is known

INTRODUCTION. XIX

to have professed openly the Protestant Faith was Juan Valdes, who by his conversations and by his writings did much to make known, both in his native land and in Italy, the true Gospel. He was a layman who stood high in the estimation of Charles V., who sent him to Naples in quality of Secretary to the Viceroy ; for the southern part of Italy, together with the Island of Sicily, belonged at that day to the Crown of Spain. At Naples Valdes spent a number of years, actively promoting in secret the cause of Truth, and died in the year 1540, to the great regret of all who loved the new doctrines in that city. Many of his best writings were published several years after his death, at Venice ; among which was his commentary on the Psalms.

The next Spaniard of influence who avowed the Reformed doctrine was Rodrigo de Valer, a native of Lebrixa, a town about thirty miles from Seville. He had been an exceedingly dissipated young man; but was led suddenly to abandon all the scenes of folly and fashion by the reading of the Vulgate, the

XX INTRODUCTION.

only translation of the Bible permitted in Spain. For a while he was enabled boldly to make known the Truth ; but at length he was arrested and condemned to imprisonment for life, a punishment which he underwent in a monastery in the town of San Lucar, near the mouth of the Guadalquiver, where, separated from all human society, he died about the age of fifty.

The most distinguished of the converts of Valer was Juan Gil, better known by the name of Egidius. He had early distinguished himself by his knowledge of Scholastic theology, and was chosen preacher in the Cathedral of Seville. Several years after having entered upon the duties of that post, his mind was enlightened in the great doctrines of the Gospel by the conversations of Valer, and he became a faithful and most eloquent preacher of the Truth, and brought many others to the knowledge of it, some of whom received the crown of martyrdom. At length, being suspected of heresy, he was arrested, tried by the Inquisition, and condemned to three years im-

INTRODUCTION. XXl

prisonment. Shortly after having completed this term of suffering for righteousness' sake he died. Few men in Spain did so much as he for the diffusion of the Reformed doctrine. He died in the year 1556. Among those who had aided most effectually in his efforts to make known the Truth in Seville, were two men of distinguished merit ; the one was Vargas, and the other Constantine Ponce de la Fuente. The former, however, was after a few years taken away by death, and the latter was called for a while to the Netherlands.

One of the Spaniards who earliest embraced the doctrines of the Reformation, was Francisco San Roman, a native of Burgos, who having gone to Bremen on mercantile business, there heard the gospel, and embraced it with the whole heart. His zeal, which needed the restraints of prudence, led him to be arrested at Ratisbon, whither he had gone to see the Emperor of Germany. After having been carried in chains to Italy, and thence to Algiers, which the Emperor attempted in vain to capture, he was brought to Valladolid,

XXll INTRODUCTION.

in his native country, where he was tried by the Inquisition, condemned, and burned. The Christian manner in which he met this awful death, together with the nature of the accusation on which he was condemned, inspired many in that city who secretly held the new opinions to profess them boldly, and exert themselves actively in their propagation.

Among the distinguished Spaniards who embraced the Reformed doctrines, were three brothers of the name of Enzinas, Jayme, Francisco, and Juan, who were sent by their father to prosecute their studies at Lou vain, a university in the Netherlands. It was there that they first became acquainted with the gospel. The lives of these young men were various. One of them, Juan, studied medicine, and became a professor of that science at Marburg, in Germany. Jayme resided at Rome several years, engaged in the prosecution of his studies, and living the life of a devoted Christian. But just as he was about to quit the Eternal City for Germany, he was informed against, arrested, condemned, and

INTRODUCTION. XXIH

burned as a heretic. He underwent this dreadful death with the cheerful heroism of a martyr. The second brother, Francisco, after having- resided at Paris, Geneva, and Brussels, published his translation of the New Testament at Antwerp in the year 1543 ; and for doing so, and especially for his supposed attachment to the Reformed opinions, he was thrown into prison in Brussels, where he lay several months : but escaping from confinement, he took refuge in Germany, and afterwards visited London, whence he returned to the continent, and went to reside at Basle.

The efforts of Francisco Enzinas to give his countrymen the Scriptures in their vernacular tongue, were followed by those of Juan Perez, Casiodoro de Reyna, and Cypriaoo de Valera, all friends of Egidius, who sought safety in quitting Seville, when that excellent man was thrown into prison. The first named translated the New Testament and the Psalms into Spanish, and wrote a catechism, or summary of Christian doctrine, which were published in Venice in the years 1556 and

XXIV INTRODUCTION.

1557. After his death, de Reyna continued the translation of the Old Testament, and produced a version of the whole Bible, which was printed in 1569 at Basle. Cypriano de Valera revised the whole, and published the New Testament in 1596 at Londt)n, and bo'th the Old and the New in 1602 at Amsterdam. And although these translations appeared after the Reformation had been suppressed in Spain, they helped to diffuse the truth among the Spaniards residing out of Spain, and are a monument of the noble zeal of their authors in behalf of God's Word.

Among the most distinguished leaders of the friends of the Reformed doctrine in Spain, after the death of Egidius, were, unquestionably, Constantine Ponce de la Fuente, at Seville, and Christobal Losada, a doctor of medicine, Don Juan Ponce de Leon, and Domingo de Guzman, of the same city ; Domingo de Roxas, Augustin Cazalla, (esteemed one of the best pulpit orators in Spain, and of Jewish extraction,) and Don Carlos de Seso, at Valladolid. There were, however, many others who were active in the good cause.

INTRODUCTION. XXV

Seville and Valladolid were the two cities in and around which the Reformation spread most, penetrating even into several monasteries and convents. Yet there were many Protestants in Aragon,in New Castile, and in the provinces of Granada, Murcia, and Valencia. In fact, the doctrines of the Reformation found secret friends in almost all parts of the Peninsula. And what is not a little remarkable, they were among distinguished people of the country, for rank and learning. And so great was the progress of the Truth, that had not the Government conspired with the Roman hierarchy, and put in requisition every means which the Inquisition furnished, Spain would unquestionably have soon become a Protestant country.

But at length Rome awoke to a sense of the danger which menaced her dominion in Spain, and buckled on the harness for the work of exterminating the " heresy " which was fast spreading there. And now bloody scenes began to be witnessed in all directions, especially about Seville and Valladolid, and

XXVI INTRODUCTION.

in the country of Aragon. The Inquisition was worked with Spanish, or, in other words, helUsh cruelty. It was in the year 1558 that Rome let loose the myrmidons of St. Dominic upon the Protestants of Spain, and so effectually did they accomplish their task, that in the space of two years they succeeded in getting quite through it. Vast numbers fled from the country. Those who resided in Aragon and other parts in the northern portion of the kingdom, escaped by hundreds to Beam and other adjoining provinces in France, where they were received with joy by their Protestant brethren. But many were condemned to hard work, to solitary confinement, or other forms of penance ; and not a few were burned at the stake. The great and good Constantine Ponce de la Fuente died in a loathsome dungeon ; so did Olmedo, a man distinguished for his learning and piety ; Cazalla, and his sister Donna Beatrice de Vibero, Don Carlos de Seso, Domingo de Roxas, Juan Sanchez, Don Juan Ponce de Leon, Juan Gonzalez, Garcia de Arias, Christobal d' Arellano, Juan

INTRODUCTION. XXVI 1

de Leoiij Fernando de San Juan, Christobal Losada, and many others, were burned. Among these were several ladies who underwent that dreadful death, of whom may be mentioned Donna Marina Guevara, Donna Isabel de Baena, Maria de Virves, Maria de Cornel, and Maria de Bohorques, all of them distinguished women, who nobly endured the torture, and death itself, " not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection."

But I can pursue this subject no further. Persecution did its work effectually, and Spain was rid of heresy. The Reformation was extinguished in that country. Those who fled found refuge in France, in Switzerland, in Germany, the Low Countries, and in England. Churches of Spanish Protestants existed for a time in Geneva, in Antwerp, in London. In some cases the Spanish Protestants united with the exiles from Italy, and joined in their churches. But in process of time they and their descendants became absorbed in the churches of the native Protestants in the places where they settled.

XXVlll INTRODUCTION.

As to Spain, having now extinguished the lights which had for a while been kindled in her midst, a heavier gloom than ever settled down upon her, and upon the countries which had been colonized from her. Superstition, ignorance, and bigotry, have had an undisputed reign over both during almost three hundred years. And what have been their appropriate fruits ? They are to be seen in the political decline, diminished wealth, restricted industry and commerce, degraded morals, uncultivated intellect, deplorable distractions and civil wars, and general unhappiness, which prevail in those countries. From being the first political power in Europe, Spain has sunk so low that, with a population of sixteen millions of souls, she is hardly equal to Denmark, which has not two millions. And as to the Spanish countries on our own continent, there is not one that is capable of maintaining a good constitutional government.

But a brighter day, we trust, is about to dawn upon Spain and the Spanish race. The papacy will not be permitted to have an un-

INTRODUCTION. Xxix

ending dominion over a people who possess so many traits of character which, when softened and moulded by the genial influences of a pure Gospel, will render them as noble Christians as the world has ever seen. Their very pride, and haughtiness, and firmness, surpassing even Roman constancy, when subdued by the blessed religion of the Bible, will sink down into elements of character of a most valuable nature. It may be difficult to convert Spaniards to pure Christianity; but when converted they will be worth something. They will be men who may be depended on. They will be soldiers of the cross who can endure both its fatigues and its shame. That Spaniards can be converted, this little volume proves beyond a doubt. Who can read, unmoved, the simple account which is here given of the patient, kind, and persevering efforts of this converted monk to save his fellow countrymen ? Where shall we find persons who have encountered, undaunted, such opposition ? Who of us has gone the fifteenth time to a

neighbor or friend who is out of Christ, after

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having been repulsed fourteen times ? And not only repulsed, but beaten, and treated with every species of ignominious insult ? — Here is the Spanish character, under the influence of Divine grace. And what may we not expect from such a race in the work of building up the kingdom of Christ, when they shall have received extensively the blessed Gospel ?

The Spanish people have done much evil in the world — in their cruel treatment of the aborigines of America, and in commencing and prosecuting the slave-trade. But they can plead ignorance to a far greater extent, as an excuse for their crimes, than we can. They have not known that blessed Gospel which has been our glorious inheritance, — bequeathed to us by ancestors who obtained it at the price of many struggles and much blood. How great their ignorance of the Gospel is, the reader will be able to form some idea from the pages which follow ; for they contain the testimony of a competent and indubitable witness.