Para ganar la guerra, para ganar la paz: Iglesia y guerra civil: 1936-1939 by Alfonso Álvarez Bolado (review)

502book reviews In most cases the visionaries, consciously or not,were seeking fame, and they drew rural folk together against both the anticlerical state and their skeptical bishop. Christian concludes that the visions had a marvelous leveling effect: "paradoxicaUy whUe having visions of dire events . . . the beUevers were having a wonderful time. . . . The mixing ofunrelated men and women, ofwealthy and poor, of merchants and farmers, ... of adults and chUdren, led to a kind of exhüaration that comes with the breaking of taboo and convention." Cultural underdogs became the most popular persons Ln society. Christian's comparisons and analyses of the events provide exceptional insight into the nature ofvisions and visionaries, along with a fascinating glimpse into people's inner spiritual Uves. He also captures the mood of CathoUc Spain in one of its most troubled years.This is a powerful work and a worthy addition to the Uterature on modern Spain and on visionaries in general. José M. Sánchez Saint Louis University Para ganar la guerra, para ganar la paz:Iglesia y guerra civil: 1936-1939ByAlfonso Alvarez Bolado. (Madrid: PubUcaciones de la Universidad Pontificia ComUlas. 1995. Pp. 716.) This is a useful analysis of the role of the clergy in the Spanish CivUWar.The author states that it is the first phase of a study of the mentaUty of the clergy to show how it influenced the poUtical relationship of the Church with the NationaUst state in the wartime years and then carried over into the Franco dictatorship until the CaudUlo died in 1975. Alvarez Bolado, a Jesuit historian and theologian, uses as his main source for this study the diocesan buUetins of the bishops of Spain during the wartime years. He states that he realizes the limitations of such sources: half of Spain was occupied by the RepubUcans for much of the time and the clergy in those areas were either Ln hiding or exüe, and therefore no diocesan buUetins were pubUshed. In fact,these limitations were not aU that restrictive for the author's purpose, as his concern is chieflywith the NationaUsts,and he uses other sources as weU, including some of the diplomatic documents from the Spanish embassy to the Holy See, along with aU of the secondary works pubUshed on the subject, especiaUy the studies by Marquina Barrio on Vatican-Spanish relations and by Rodriguez Aisa on Cardinal Goma. The book is divided into chapters corresponding to the chronological course of the war and continuing on into the remainder of 1939 (the war ended in April ofthat year).The postwar chapter deals with the Franco government's attempts to secure a concordat and the Vatican's fears of German influence in Spain. In addition, there is a chapter on the detafls of the writing of Pius XII's April, 1939, message to Spaniards congratulating the NationaUsts on their vie- book reviews503 tory. In composing the message, the Pope reUed upon the assistance ofJoaquin Salaverri, a Jesuit aide to the Assistant for Spain in Rome. The author uses Salaverri's unpublished diary to provide some interesting detaU. AU of these chapters were pubUshed as articles in Miscelánea Comillas from 1986 through 1995, and it is convenient to have them bound in one volume.As a most helpful addition, the book includes a complete annotated bibUography of aU the bishops' statements, letters, and other pastoral concerns from aU ofthe diocesan buUetins of the period. This alone takes up nearly 200 pages of text and in itself makes this a valuable resource. The author succeeds in his task of showing the mentaUty of the clergy. He proves beyond a doubt that the bishops'primary concern was the protection of the Church,not the support ofa government that was more ideologicaUy suited to their class needs.The Nationalists were in fact supported by the clergy because of the anticlerical fury of the first few months of the war that resulted in the death of nearly 8,000 clerics.The bishops would have supported any government that protected them.The diocesan buUetins reveal over and over again the detaüs of the persecution. This book does not change any ofthe standard interpretations ofthe Church's role in...