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27 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA spats

become the antagonism that the assertion is more than justified that the ecclesiastical unity existing within the Roman Catholic Church in Spain is scarcely more real than that existing between the principal Evangelical denominations of Protestant countries. Again, this spirit has manifested itself within the ranks of the secular clergy in their protests against the tyranny and abuses of their superiors in the hierarchy, and they have usually been supported in their contentions by the common people. The most striking instance of this occurred in a movement originating in Sept., 1898, and led by an eminent Spanish priest, Seguismundo Pey Ordiex. This brilliant priest was born in Vich, in the north of Spain, educated in the University of Salamanca, and was for many years a parish priest in Mallorca and Barcelona. The despotism of the bishops became so offensive that he began to combat them in a weekly newspaper which he published and called El Urbion.. This paper being suppressed by the bishop of Mallorca, Pey Ordiex went to Barcelona and founded. a second paper, and, when this was suppressed, still a third, El Cosmopolite, which was condemned by the church in Nov., 1900. The rupture finally came because of the refusal of Pey Ordiex to obey an arbitrary order of the bishop of Barcelona, whereupon he was publicly suspended by the bishop, and forbidden to enter a church. He began to speak to the people in the open air, in theaters, and in public halls, attacking clericalism and preaching the Gospel. He at once became the popular idol and quickly gathered a great company of followers estimated at 100,000 or more. Among the number were at least 1,000 of the most zealous priests and friars in the various provinces of Spain. The movement was not properly organized, and, after two years, when the enthusiasm had somewhat abated, Pey Ordiex fell into a trap skilfully laid by the Jesuits and was compromised in the eyes of his followers; his influence was destroyed, and the movement collapsed, but it had demonstrated the readiness of many people and priests to respond to a stirring appeal against ecclesiastical abuses in behalf of freedom and purity in religion. Still another, manifestation of this spirit has been the gradual, silent revolt of the great body of intelligent laymen against the asserted authority of the Roman Catholic Church. This drift has been in progress for more than a century and it has moved apace with the spread of culture and republican principles. Joseph M'Cabe (Decay of the Church of Rome, p. 88, London, 1909), writing in 1909, says: " Of the four or five million adult males in the country [Spain], only about one million are Roman Catholics, and these are for the most part illiterate." A distinguished visitor to Spain in 1910, speaking of the men of intelligence, says: " There are tens of thousands in the country whose only use for the Church is at marriage, christening, and burial services." And this must be the feeling that oppresses the visitor to Spain when he sees the few scattered worshipers in the magnificent cathedrals in the cities, and hears the contemptuous and jesting manner in which the average intelligent Spaniard refers to the liaisons of the priests, the worship of saints and images, the miracles wrought by relics, the pretentious ceremonies of the

church, or the solemn assumptions of the Roman pontiff.

III. Evangelical Activities: The memorable revolution of Sept., 1868, and the proclamation of liberty of conscience and worship by the new " provisional government " threw Spain open for the first time to all kinds of Evangelical work. The opportunity

was speedily improved by the entrance z. Protes- of missionaries, representing various tent Protestant denominations of Great

Societies. Britain, Ireland, the United States,

Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and Sweden. In 1910 Protestant missions were conducted in forty-four large cities, with out-stations in 149 villages and towns; the total number of buildings regularly employed for Protestant worship being 116. The following societies were at work: (1) Iglesia Espaftola Reformada, or the Reformed Church of Spain. This church is the outgrowth of an independent movement initiated and conducted exclusively by native Spaniards, but fostered and supported by the Spanish and Portuguese Church Aid Society, organized in 1867 among English and Irish Episcopalians. Under its auspices The Church of the Redeemer was organized in Madrid in 1869, and subsequently ten other churches were founded and united to constitute The Reformed Church of Spain, under the leadership of :Bishop Juan Bautista Cabrera, formerly a Roman Catholic friar who was consecrated to his office by the .archbishop of Dublin, in 1887. The number of congregations has increased to more than a score, the most important of which are found at Madrid, Valladolid, Salamanca, Villaescusa, Monistrol, San Vicente, Malaga, and Seville. Schools are conducted at each of these places and at numerous others. (2) The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions opened its first mission in Spain at Santander in 1871, in charge of Rev. William H. Gulick, a Congregational minister, and his wife, Alice Gordon Gulick. At Santander Mrs. Gulick first established her celebrated school for girls. Later, in 1881, it was moved to San Sebastian, and after the SpanishAmerican War it was moved to Madrid and established in commodious quarters under the name of the " International Institute for Girls." An offshoot of this same school is the :International College, now under the charge of the (Congregational) Woman's Board of Missions of the United States. In these schools many girls have been fitted to become Protestant teachers, or the wives of Protestant workers throughout Spain. The first church was organized in Santander in 1876 with seventeen members. Subsequently churches and day schools were established at San Sebastian and other points with a central station at Madrid. In 1899 these churches, seven in number, of the Congregational polity, were united with twelve of the Presbyterian order which had been founded by the several Presbyterian societies named below. This is an organic union with a ministry of twenty-three ordained pastors and five evangelists, and is called The Spanish Evangelical Church. (3) The United Free Church of Scotland, through the agency of the Spanish Evangelization Society (founded in Edinburgh in 1885), has established missions and, schools in Seville,