In the Olympics of Catholic sanctity and mysticism, France gets the bronze, Spain the silver, and Italy the gold. Italy has the advantage: Rome. Catholicism is properly understood as the co-inherence of Athens [reason], Jerusalem [faith] and Rome [order, law]. But the breathtaking Italian legacy of holiness goes well beyond the legal and institutional. Let's consider the contributions of the two leading nations to the Church in three aspects: religious order, mystics and saints, recent lay renewal movements.
Religious 0rders
Italy has given us the Benedictines, Franciscans, Passionists, Redemptorists, Servites, Poor Clares, Filippini and many others.
Spain has given us the Jesuits, Discalced Carmelites, Dominicans [founded in France by Spaniard Dominic] and many military orders involved in the Reconquest.
No other nation has made comparable contributions in this area. We have to give Italy the edge in this category. But Spain is a very strong second.
Saints and Mystics
This is where Italy dominates overwhelmingly: St. Francis of Assis, St. Clare, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Catherine of Genoa, St. Padre Pio, St. John Bosco, St. Angelina of Foligno, Gemma Galgami, St. Maria Gioretti, St. Alphonsus Liguori, St. Robert Bellarmine, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Francis Xavier Cabrini, and recently St. Gianna Molla, St. Pier Girgio Frassati, and St. Carlo Acutis. Italy has the largest number of canonized saints and blesseds, with Spain second and France third. But precise numbers are hard to establish as there is no official master list. Consider a single category: stigmatists. We know of almost 500 such since St. Francis of Assis; 90% are women; 70% are Italian; the two most famous are Italian men, St. Francis and Padre Pio.
Spain had a bumper crop of mystics in the 16th century, the Baroque era, even as it was colonizing and evangelizing much of world: St. John of the Cross, St. Theresa of Avila, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis Xavier, St. John of Avila, St. Francis Borgia, and St. John of God. Earlier there was St. Isidore the Farmer, and St. Dominic Guzman. More recently: St. Josemaria Escriva and the martyrs of the Spanish Civil War.
Contemporary Lay Renewal Movements
The sixty years since the Council have been catastrophic for the Catholic Church in many ways; but perhaps the single brightest development is the thriving of lay renewal movements. These differ greatly but all manifest: mostly lay, not clerical or religious leadership; strong evangelical focus on the person and event of Jesus Christ; saturation in the Word of God and the liturgical life; intensive community life; vigorous outreach; and a positive reception of Vatican II within a firm Catholic orthodoxy.
Italy has given us Communion and Liberation, Focolare, and San'Egidio.
Spain has given us Opus Dei (earlier, and more clerical in origin), Cursillo, the Neocatechumenal Way,
The competition here is close. In overall influence the future will tell but I see more intensity in the Spanish movements.
Conclusion
Both national Catholicisms are passionate and pervasive, even in the face of secularization. A useful way to contrast them is to consider the pivotal historic events that formed them.
Italians have the Renaissance: a sublime high point in the integration of the faith with culure, especially painting, sculpture, architecture and literature. Even among those who do not practice the faith, Catholicism is deeply woven into the fabric of life. It seems to go with the flavor of their food, the beauty of their women, the richness of their history.
By contrast, the Spaniards had the Reconquista (720-1492): about 750 years of military combat. Theirs is a martial, agonistic ethos. The triumphant conquest was followed by the expansion into South America. Something like it exploded in the Spanish civil war of the 1930. The Spanish mystics, religious orders, and lay movements all carry an intensity, a passion, a sense of drama.
Richard Niebuhr classically contrasted the relationship of Christ and Culture. Italy is the epitome of Christ within Culture (although also above) while Spain has always pitted Christ against the antagonist (Moor, Communist, etc.) And so, we find in Communion and Liberation a renaissance-like confidence and serenity in relation even to a culture turned against God. By contrast, Opus Dei and especially the Neocatechumenate are militant in their battle with enemies of the faith. Italy is Athens; Spain is Sparta.
The fascinating contrast of these two influential, promising movements will merit a follow-up essay.
and serenity in culture. By contrast, Opus Dei and especially the Neocatechumenate are militant in the face of enemies of the faith. The fascinating contrast between these two renewal movements will require a follow-up essay.oooooo
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