THE FOUNDATION OF THE SPANISH PROVINCE
The First World War (1914-1918) was not limited to Europe. It equally affected the colonies of the warring countries. As a result, the German Cameroon where SCJ missionaries worked was invaded by the Allied forces - Belgian, French, and English. Being outnumbered, the German colonial army began a strategic retreat towards the interior of the colony, leaving the Missions and missionaries behind. Consequently, in January of 1915, the missionaries fell into the hands of the English army which treated them as prisoners of war with no regard to their claims to be missionaries and not soldiers.
As prisoners of war, they were obliged to follow their guards from their mission in Ossing to Lagos, Calabar, and Duala. By the end of February, the missionaries were interned in the neutral Spanish Colony of Fernando Poo. There, the Claretian Fathers welcomed them fraternally in their house for a few months until, in September of 1916, by order of the Governor of the colony, they were shipped to Cadiz in Spain, a neutral country.
The first liberated missionaries were Fathers William Zicke and Lawrence Foxius along with Brothers Bonaventure, Lazarus, Crispin, and Feh. Months later, Fathers Conrad Schuster and Francis Baumeister were freed.
In Cadiz, they were placed at the disposition of the Bishop who assigned them as substitutes for the pastor who was sick. When the pastor returned after a year's absence, they were recommended to the attention of those in charge of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Oliva in Vejer. At that point, Father Founder, the Venerable Leo John Dehon, entered into the picture. He wrote to them from Rome: "I always wanted to establish a foundation in Spain. Could your stay there be considered a beginning? It would be a blessing to see this foundation before dying."
The community considered these words a command - they went all out to find where the community could be established. Providence guided them to a diocesan priest who wanted to fund a college for boys in his home town of Novelda. The meeting with this priest bore fruit. The college opened and from it came the first Spanish SCJ vocations.
The express desire of Father Dehon was a foundation in the land of St. Francis Xavier in Navarre. Once again guided by the hidden hand of God, the Fathers came to know of the existence of an old and ruined Convent-Hospital in Puente la Reina. This was an important stop on the Pilgrim Way of Santiago and belonged to the Order of the Knights of Malta. The ruins had been offered in auction several times by the Ministry of Housing.
Thanks to the tenacity of Father William Zicke, SCJ, and the support of some generous persons, they managed to get legal help and financial support for the acquisition of the property - "a strong shell of exterior walls and an immense pile of debris inside." The first Mass was celebrated there on December 27, 1919.
New foundations came quickly: Novelda in 1920, Madrid-Carabanchel in 1935, Garabella-Tejeda in 1935.
In 1947, the year in which the Spanish Region was established as a Province, the religious life of our Congregation in Spain entered a phase which we can classify as one of consolidation. There were six communities: three in the North (Puente la Reina, Vers de Bidasoa, and Ramales) and three in the South (Valencia, Novelda, and Garaballa). From 1947, counting on a resurgence of vocations and courage on the part of our religious, the Spanish Province developed new foundations.
The Spanish religious were accompanied by the founding German religious, men of true faith, strong personality, and evangelical courage. This led to a progressive increase of benefactors which gave the young Province freedom to think about its future.
In 1948, a teachers college was opened in Madrid and a new community was established in Salamanca. The house was small and so in 1950 they began the construction of a larger house which today is the major seminary.
In that same year, they bought a country house in Zurraure (Navarre) and in 1951, they moved the novitiate there. At that time, the Province had 80 religious and 9 novices. In 1953, the first Spanish SCJ missionaries departed: Brother Stephen Aizpún to the Cameroon and Father Manuel Mira to Venezuela, a decision which had great consequences in the future of the Province. Years later, Father John Rodriquez went to Zaire. In 1954, the Province accepted its first parish - the Parish of Saint Francis Xavier in Valencia.
In 1959, the Province established two new foundations: Alba de Tormes (Salamanca) for the novitiate and Vente de Baños (Palencia) for a minor seminary. In 1962, the Provincialate Offices were set up in Madrid. In the following year, a School for Commercial Management and Marketing (ESIC) was founded in Madrid. In 1966, a second parish was accepted in Vallecas.
After Vatican II, groups of religious sought new ways of living the consecrated life by their presence among the poorest. In Spain, this spirit gave way to the Community of Aálaga in 1972 and Peña Ambote in 1975. Also in 1972, a community was established in Torrejón de Ardoz near "Dehon Graphics," a community which took responsibility for a parish at the end of the 1970's.
In those years, the community at Salamanca also took responsibility for two parishes which at the beginning of the 1980's gave rise to a filial parish community dependent on the Major Seminary.
During the 1970's, the Province was able to send missionaries to Venezuela. They were joined by native vocations in that country and during the 1980's, Venezuela was recognized as a separate SCJ Region.
During this same period, the Marketing School (ESIC) in Madrid gave rise to a new work and community in Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid) in 1991. The missionary push of the Province grow when one of our religious went to the Congo and another went to the French Province.
In the field of Catholic education, the Spanish Province has made a notable contribution by maintaining its centers of study and developing others such as the College of Novelda (Alicante) and that of Puente la Reina which can grant the bachelor's degree.
At the present time, the Province has fourteen houses in Spain with 125 religious which serve five parishes. The Province educates 3,500 young people in its three colleges. In its four seminaries, some 250 candidates for the religious life are being formed.
Among the other works of the Province there is a University level College, affiliates of the School of Marketing (ESIC-Madrid) in Navarre, Andalucía, and Valencia. There is the publishing apostolate called Dehon Graphics.
In Venezuela, 26 religious serve in six formation houses, with a great variety of services: six parishes with outlying chapels; two trade schools, two medical clinics, a retreat house, and a vocation's office.
In Ecuador, a new step has been taken with the establishment of two communities with seven religious.
In 2002, a member of the Spanish Province, Father Juan Maria de la Cruz, SCJ, was declared Blessed by Pope John Paul II.
