**********""* CHAPTER I ~ HOMELA D OF- J ISSIO Arms
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MI "S10 PADRE OF S i TA CLARA The Lif e and ·ork of Padre ragin Catala oly ranciscan of Early California Re- told by Rev . A. D. Spearman, s.J. ***********""* CHAPTER I ~ HOMELA D OF- J ISSIO ARms The Spanis easter coast, l and of t e Catalans , is mountain- out, with ancient ore deposits wor-ked by early Greeks and Romans , and with mo:untain ·sides and valleys lon husbanded to produce its somewhat scanty crops of grapes, figs , hazelnuts, olive oil, wheat, barley, large beans , vegetables, and feed for its varied liv~stock. It forms in a cultural and somewha t geographical sense a large circle with t e outlying Balearic islands which long a go first gave mules to the Roman empire, and have since preserved the Catalan l anguage as at Ba rcelona, Huesca , Teruel, and on the coastal shore~ ~o Valenci and Cadiz. So ru ged i n eneral. was the land that long a o the folk saying developed, "Los Catalanes de l as piedras !!1...E!!l panes l - The Catalans must gather bread from t he vecy rocks! " Such a l and produced ah rdy race acquai nted with t he problems and arts of survival; nd t he somewhat austere standar d 0£ livin was a healthful at mosphere for the growt of a strong medieval christ i anity. The 'panish period of coloni al expansion found many religious volunteers to carry f rom Ma jorca and i norca nnd the coastal villages and towns their sturdy eritage of strong Catala - 2 character · nd deep Catholic Faltl to t e l ast ecclesiastical f ro. tiers of the north Pa cif ic co as t. Ma in Catala was to be one of these Conguista ores f or t he Fait • He rn s born, with is twin brother, Pedro ·rolasco, on the 29t h or 30th of January, 1761, at ontblanch , in the old Provin cia of Catalonia and Ki ngdom of Arago, now withi n t e province and Archbishopric of Tarragona. Montblanc was and is a not in consider ble town1 of over f our thousand inhabitants l ying in t he open neck of land between the rid _e of -an i guel to the north and the triple rid es of Roguerole, t e Prades , d t e Masara to t he sout • It is watered by t e .J:2. 'ra.."'l eoli rising i n t e Roguerole hills., The river Fr an coli. t hen flows south ard past Valls, which lies somewhat off its east bank,. and on down to t he J edi terranean wat ers by t h e city of Tarragona . ontblanch lies f ifty miles due west of t he ci t y of Barcelona ; and t he l a r e valley of "tthich it is t e eastern gateway stretcnes ten miles westwar d to t he irregular slopes of the hi gh ierra !!! Tallat , or Sierra~ l as Llenas--Ran e of t he Floods-- which extends in a meandering fashion f rom above ontblanch westerly and south to t he tip of Aragon to make a separation f ro t he Ll anos del Urgel and the righ , pl a ins city of Lerida. Medieval iron springs are found i n t he .Roguerole near t e headwa ters of t e !!!.2 Fr ancoli. 1I n t e 13th century t he Ki s of Ar a on on f our s pecia~ occasions held Courts of Justice f or Catalonia at 1ontblanch; and t heir second sons were esignat ed wit t he title of Duke of ~ont blanch. Catala - 3 Ma in (let's ~ive that nae its Spanish pron nciation, "la- heenn , a ccenti t e l ast syllable, as also the family name , 2 Catala , wit an acute on the final) as born into a devout f ily. His mother was Francisca Guasch y Bur eras, dau ter of a prominent merch nt in the town. Her exemplary husband was the notary public, 1'ati s Cat la y oig, of a ily of comfort- able means . He \as called ''Doctor atias" by is contemporaries and in the docu uents. A ia. ternal uncle , Reverend atias Catala, was diocesan iest att a ched as holder of a benefice to the church at .-fontblanch. Francisca's new arrival , youn est of six. children, was baptized at the fifteent century romanesque church of Santa of JiTontblanch, on aturday, January 31st, 1761, with license of t he pastor, Jose ,ontane.r y Murtra, by Reverend Juan Ferrer . 3 The Compadres, or Godpa rents, were Raimundo , his eldest brother, and his sister, Josefa Catala. The chil d received the full n~me of· Hagin Jose ti•s Catala, • • .l). and used aft erwar d for signature only' :th~_t. of his patron , 1 agin. St . Magin4, like so many of the great Churc ' a c ildren of Spain, is unfamil iar to nglish - s eaking Catholics, but was much venerated in is native land in t he neigp,borhood of his l ate 2 The r ecord of marria e of the Catala' s survives. It was April 24, 1746. Five boys nd one irl \1ere born to this union. e eldest, R on, became like his father , 'otary Public of ont bl nch. not er rot er of ~agin' s was Pascual, wh o became Dean of t he Priest of .:>a ta ·,aria ajor, dyin at age of O on ov, 14,1829. 3cf: Un isionero ·Santo - Vida del Padre fug i n Catala,·por P. CeferinoEngelh rdt, • Casa Eaitorial Jose Vilamala, Barcelona , 1924. ·Traduccion (y anotacicn) del • Pedro Sanahuja• O. F •• , PP • 40 , 42 , 43 & f . 4As St . ,aginus . e 1as named heavenly p trone of all submarine personnel by Pope Pius II i n 1956. Catala - 4 third- century home , the mountains of rufagana , Catalonia, - Padre Catala ' s own native region. T e patron saint had lived in a mo tain cave as one of three hermits near Rocamora in the termi nal foothills of the ierra de ill Llenas. A ter some years of solitu~e , pr yer, and penitential exercises , t e oly hermit Magin felt the call to preac tl e Gos el to the stil unconverted pagan peoples bout hi , and did so with muc s ccess. So many turned fro the state-cstablis1ed idol wor i p of old o e ' s eclectic paganism, tlat t e impe~ial overnor of Tarragona had the her it agin arr ested for 'treaso against state" an its worshi under the d ma ing crirne-- accusation of "0diu Generis Humani--Hatred o t e w ai • ce . n This , of course, s the accepted agan way o ivin a dog a bad nae before h nging him. The ermit w s offered the 1~ al kindness of sacrificing to the fal e gods or bringing on i self the tender mercies of agan torture and death. It w s t e period when God frequently testified by miracles to i C rist's follow ers i n the planting of the new and tender Christian 1th. The Governor' s own ughter, t he early chronicles relate, became suddenly posses d by dern.on--to be ·freed only byte pr yer of the her it . But cast into rison nd c a ins by the unre entant overnor, the holy man was freed by divine intervention and soo returned to his cave . Once more apprehended, e a cruelly beaten and his 1ead struck off on t he 26th day of August, ver-1 early in the fourth century, pparently in t he em ire-wide ersecution of Diocletian. e c rn 1- inded and brutalized pa aJ1 sses were Gatala - 5 not won to Christianity by the preaehi of stern christian morals, but by the visible miracles and testimonies of C rist' s ma rtyrs to his divinity and is love for ankind even to the death on the Cross. Pa r Ma i Catala' s childhood was enriched by the simple faith of a eople still moved by the earliest outpourings of the Spirit. The Cat a as knew and loved their heritage. For the boy Ma.gin , is divinely inspired love of God , and of f ellowman f2!:. God ' s sake , did indeed begin at home; but it as not to remain only the re. On ust 10th, 1767 , when six years of age, he received the sacrament of Confirmation at the hands of Archbishop of Tarra ona , Most Reverend D. Lario y Lancis, officiating at t e neighboring Tilla e church of Lilla. There you viag in became indeod a true and e rfect christ1an and spiritual soldier of Jesus Christ. There was one Eadrino or sponsor for the confirmation class , Reverend Francisco l irasso, a native of arria, t he ten pastor of ontblanch .• Serious t i r; for ~he Spanish Dominions were trans iring ' \e oh;l).d when our Magi n as still a . ..... r ). at his other' s knee. e masonic · secret societies had begun in earnest in the early seven teen hundre st activate their plan of displacing traditional christendo with their man- made pattern of society. They had taken control of many Italian city. states by 1731 , and more by 1751, in bot of .rhich years the opes of o e ad exco unicated their emberships as subversive of F.uropean christian eiviliza- tion. ey ~ere stron enou , however, by 1763 to use the Bourbon Ki o- s of ain, r anee, Port al, wit} N ples and the Catal a - 6 Two Sicilies to suppr ess t he world- j_ issiona ry a nd du cation- a l Order of t he Society of J esus ( t he J e suits) .