ALICE VALLINA

Updated Friday, March 15, 2024-15:54

It all started in Argentina in 1958 and now has its main supporter before Rome in the recently appointed president of the Episcopal Conference and archbishop of Valladolid.

«She was a Franciscan tertiary, that is why

she died shrouded in the sackcloth of Saint Francis and stripped of all royalty.

Furthermore, she manifests a great zeal for the glory of God in the salvation of souls and is an advanced example of living a secular apostolate in the exercise of political charity,

placing her kingdoms and lordships at the service of God

.

Luis Argüello's words about the merits of Queen Isabel La Católica to access beatification and then sainthood also speak of the desire of the strong man today of the Church in Spain to achieve a goal that he has been working on for years from his Castilla native.

"Isabel passed the historians' exam, and with a good grade," he explains with satisfaction.

Now the test of the theologians remains.

And credit when appropriate the miracles that open the path to holiness.

The main one is already known: a "miraculous cure in the Royal Chapel of Granada", next to the relic of the queen, of

a man who suffered from a brain tumor.

Recently arrived from Rome, where he had moved to continue advancing in the

process of beatification of the Catholic queen,

Monsignor Argüello considers it essential to show in the capital of Christianity that the diocesan commission continues working and collecting testimonies of devotion to Isabel of Castile .

«The pilgrimage to Rome has had a great impact and encourages us to continue working.

We are also aware of the difficulty of beatifying today a person who lived more than five centuries ago and also

with great political responsibility

.

The knowledge of these difficulties stimulates the work of the Commission and invites us to humbly place all this effort and devotion in the hands of the Lord and the Church", he confesses with satisfaction.

He has no doubt that the process underway will help combat the black legend against Spain and its kings.

"It is important, in this era of historical revisionism, to highlight the values ​​of Isabel I of Castile as a woman, wife, mother and queen, and to continue highlighting her contribution to the

recognition of the dignity of indigenous people

in American territories," says the archbishop of Valladolid.

Because the recently appointed president of the Episcopal Conference, Monsignor Luis Argüello is, without a doubt, one of the people who is doing the most to achieve the beatification of Queen Isabel.

He heads the Commission in charge of achieving it.

Despite having been appointed this week as the main representative of the Spanish church, and therefore immersed in a whirlwind of activities derived from

his new position

, the monsignor kindly responds to this supplement.

This lawyer, 70 years old and a native of the Palencia town of Meneses de Campos, has decided to continue with the initiative, begun years before, for the most emblematic Spanish queen in history, Isabel I of Castile, to obtain the recognition she deserves for the same church in which he believed so much.

THE BEGINNING, IN BUENOS AIRES

The beatification process, Monsignor Argüello tells us, began in Argentina in the 1950s thanks to the Buenos Aires professor Berta Bilbao Richter, who wrote a letter to the then Pope, Pius XII, asking that the Holy See study the career of the Spanish queen.

«The Pope, providentially,

listens to this devout Argentinean and is interested in the virtues of Isabel

.

In this way, the Isabel La Católica Commission was established in the Archbishopric of Valladolid and, on May 23, 1958, the diocesan process of the Cause of Canonization of Isabel I of Castile was opened."

Thanks to the documentation collected by the Commission, the new president of the Episcopal Conference tells us that the queen is more than deserving of beatification because she was an exceptional, pious and just woman.

She also had, in Argüello's words, "a large number of

essential values

​​in caring for the Christian formation of the people through an intense theological and spiritual formation of the clergy and religious."

She was also "co-founder of the order of the Franciscan Conceptionists together with Saint Beatriz de Silva, lady of her mother and herself, and

in her letters to her confessor she shows an enormous sensitivity of conscience,

always trying to be fair with her subjects, "to seek the common good of the kingdom and to give alms in all the places he saw in need."

The steps to follow and the administrative processing required for a procedure of this type are complex and usually take decades, as is the case in this case.

"The cause concluded its diocesan phase in 1972 and was transferred to Rome in 20 volumes that collect the work carried out for study by the Congregation for the Cause of Saints," explains the archbishop.

«After having passed the historians' examination, and with a good grade, the decisive ruling of the Theological Commission has not yet taken place, which has been postponed for further study and reflection.

If it is favorable, its opinion would pass to the Congregation of Cardinals and Prelates, which would inform the Pope, for his final decision, on the heroic virtues and

the official declaration of Venerable

.

He even adds that the process, in this so-called "diocesan" phase, did not have any unforeseen events and was even "relatively short given the size of the person and the need to collect documentation in various dioceses, nations and continents."

Furthermore, Argüello highlights the work of "Vicente Rodríguez Valencia, first director of the Commission and at the same time postulator, accompanied by a great team including Luis Suárez and Vidal González Sánchez, who presented with great clarity and

exhaustive studies

all the virtues of the queen".

Now, to achieve the set goal, it is necessary to try a series of "miracles" that the archbishop points out must be approved by the Holy See.

"In this case, what the commission collects are the so-called favors that, sometimes, the lucky person experiences like a miracle," Argüello clarifies.

Among them, the possible miraculous cure of a brain tumor that occurred in the Royal Chapel of Granada

has been incorporated into the process, still pending ecclesiastical approval

.

The archbishop tells us that "there, during the celebration of the sacrament of the Eucharist and before the relic of Isabel, the sick man and his family asked for his healing, requesting the intercession of the queen.

"Next, they all went down to the crypt accompanied by the royal chief chaplain, Don Manuel Reyes, and

the patient was cured instantly."

Archbishop Luis Argüello, who pushes the cause of the beatification of the Queen of Castile.

But, without a doubt, the greatest challenge in carrying out this exceptional cause is combining the ethical and spiritual criteria of today with those of five centuries ago.

That is why it is important to extract, from the immense studies carried out, everything that needs to be clarified today, focusing above all on Isabel's virtues in her context and

fleeing from the presentism that so often grips us

.

The Monsignor specifies that "it is also important, in this time of historical revisionism, to highlight the values ​​of Isabel I of Castile as a woman, wife, mother and queen, and to continue highlighting her contribution to the recognition of the dignity of indigenous people in American territories." ».

This will undoubtedly help boost her devotion and eliminate many of the

false myths

that exist about her character.

For this reason, the historical part included in the positio of the case delivered in Rome in 1972 represents an "extraordinary contribution to distance the queen from the black legend that at this time seeks to establish a global condemnation of the Spanish exploit in the so-called Indies.

In this way, the studies that the commission continues to promote, such as those carried out for the Isabel La Católica Symposium and the evangelization of America, contribute, in an essential way, to

establishing the historical rigor that is often lacking

.

Without a doubt, and in Argüello's opinion, "the public recognition of the Church will also favor greater knowledge of a decisive period in our history in which modern Spain emerges and the foundations of the Golden Age are laid, also in the case of Spirituality".

The beatification cause is linked to the Valladolid archbishopric because the Catholic queen

died in Medina del Campo almost 520 years ago

.

In this way, and to commemorate her anniversary (the queen's death took place on November 26, 1504), numerous activities will be held to promote this exceptional event.

Even the new president of the Episcopal Conference believes that there are many possibilities of achieving the

queen's sanctification,

one more step despite the difficulties that this entails.

«I think it is important to continue working and let Providence speak through the Church.

"It is up to us to pray, work and trust, putting everything in the hands of the Lord and without seeking personal or group conquest."