PalmDoes God speak Catalan? Undoubtedly, for believers, since He is omnipotent. However, for centuries, the Catholic Church expressed itself in its ceremonies in Latin—the language of the Roman Empire, which threw the first Christians to the beasts of the circus: such are the paradoxes of life. It wasn't until the 1960s that the Second Vatican Council established that Masses would be celebrated in the vernacular: six decades ago, the Church in the Balearic Islands was embroiled in a heated debate about which language that should be. That the vernacular was Catalan had been perfectly clear to the Catholic Church in the Balearic Islands practically since the medieval conquest. Not even the growing centralism of the State made them change their position. The very liberal Bishop of Mallorca, Bernat Nadal, had the catechism published in Catalan in 1801. Bishop Pere Joan Campins created a chair of Mallorcan Language and Literature at the seminary. Bishop Josep Miralles, despite his support for the 1936 coup, had already stood firm against Primo de Rivera's Castilianizing ambitions and, during the early Franco regime, defended preaching in Catalan and published a final edition of the catechism in that language in 1937. Twenty-five years of Franco's dictatorship—a period of peace, as the regime proclaimed; yes, the peace of the cemeteries—and a segment of the Church in the Balearic Islands, as well as a segment of society, understood Castilian as the language of prestige and culture. Not all, of course: in Lluc, as if it were Asterix's village, the priest Pere Riutort promoted textbooks in standard Catalan and distributed copies of the magazine Strong Horse From Barcelona, and upon moving to the Valencian Country, he would continue his work in favor of the presence of Catalan in the ecclesiastical sphere.
In 1961, the Basque Jesús Enciso was Bishop of Mallorca. He was, therefore, somewhat aware of what constituted an indigenous language. He gave instructions to translate the common catechism for the entire country into Catalan and to teach children prayers in that language. But he encountered opposition from the catechists themselves, who continued to use Castilian Spanish. Above all, the nuns, "the worst enemies of Mallorcan," as Enciso confessed to the linguist Francisco de Borja Moll.
The day of ignominy
The trigger that set everything in motion came from Rome, until then unyielding and a good ally of Franco. With his characteristic expression of "opening the windows," Pope John XXIII convened a council, Vatican II, which, from 1962 to 1965, represented a Copernican shift in the Church's positions. This was also true in matters of language: a 1963 conciliar document introduced "the vernacular language both in the Mass and in the administration of the sacraments." March 1965 was established as the date for the implementation of this new practice.
Now, what was the 'vernacular language' that should be used, from this moment onward, in the churches of the Islands? The answer seemed obvious: Catalan, the language spoken for more than seven centuries. It wasn't that simple. As a result of the boom As a tourist destination, the archipelago already had a significant Spanish-speaking community. Castilian Spanish was the language of the regime, of schools, of administration, and of the media. Speaking Catalan to newcomers seemed impolite—yes, even to this day. Castilian Spanish, this was the irrefutable argument, was understood by everyone. To be able to perform the liturgy in Catalan, what was needed were the corresponding texts, translated into the local language and the island varieties. The newly created Balearic Cultural Association in 1962 offered to cover the costs of these editions. Bishop Enciso instructed the vicar general, Francesc Payeras, to form a commission for this purpose.
As the planned date for the introduction of the vernacular approached, Jesús Enciso passed away in September 1964. And, very much in keeping with Mallorca's characteristic slowness, the supposedly commissioned work didn't seem to be progressing much. Father Pere Joan Llabrés, a man committed to the language, even went to Rome; where he was told, logically, that it was the bishop of each diocese who was responsible for approving the corresponding texts. The problem was that in Mallorca there was no bishop, because a new one hadn't been appointed to fill Enciso's vacancy.
What came from the diocesan administration during that interim was anything but reassuring. The liturgy technician told the newspaper Balearics Given the "great difficulties" in obtaining the texts in Catalan, Castilian Spanish would be used. Francesc de Borja Moll—heir to the work of another priest, Antoni Maria Alcover, who was unequivocally committed to Catalan—expressed his protest to the vicar general. The vicar general reproached him for instigating the avalanche of letters of disagreement that arrived at the bishop's palace—which, moreover, was untrue. A similar situation occurred in Menorca. Josep Salord, a priest, as well as a historian and linguist, stood out for his defense of the liturgy in Catalan in his articles. This must have earned him a severe reprimand from Bishop Bartolomé Pascual. Meanwhile, the appointed date arrived, and the island's clergy accepted something as surreal as the "vernacular" language being Castilian Spanish. On Sunday, March 7, 1965, in what Father Miquel Julià described as a day of "ignominy," almost all of Mallorca's parishes celebrated Mass in the "language of the Empire."
The bishops' declaration of 1975
That same March of 1965, a new bishop arrived, Rafael Álvarez Lara from Andalusia, who encountered a controversy that he most likely didn't understand at all: "A holy man for whom the mitre was too big," in Moll's words. Even before taking office, the Cultural Association had sent him its request that the liturgy be in Catalan. He had already announced his intention to learn the local language. But the hardliners assured him that there was no problem with the language.
It began in 1966—sixty years ago now—when Miquel Julià asked, once again, what had become of that famous commission that was supposed to draft the texts for the liturgy in Catalan. Just a few months earlier, Moll himself had participated in a liturgical congress in Montserrat, where he had proposed criteria for adapting the Catalan texts to the island's customs.
That could be a start, and indeed, the episcopal palace in Palma hosted a meeting attended by Moll, Pere Joan Llabrés, and the renowned linguist Antoni Badia Margarit, who had already collaborated on the new liturgical texts in Catalonia. In 1966, a new commission was appointed, including Llabrés and Moll, as well as members from Menorca and Ibiza. This time they got to work: the following December, the Ordinary of the Mass, that is, the prayers that comprise it, was published in the islands' own language.
The position of the Church in the Archipelago was expressed with crystal clarity in the June 1975 declaration—with Franco still alive—by Teodor Úbeda, the new Bishop of Mallorca and administrator of the Diocese of Ibiza, and Miquel Moncadas, as that of an entire people, affirming that "to appreciate, promote, and spread the use of our language" was the responsibility of all Christians in the Islands. Now it was clear: yes, God speaks Catalan.
The battle for the magazine 'Lluc'
The battle for Catalan within the Church in the 1960s saw another episode unfold, this one centered around the magazine Lluc . It had been founded by the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts in 1921, initially to promote devotion to the Virgin of the Mallorcan sanctuary of that name. Originally called Lluch , a Castilianized version of the toponym, it was published in Castilian, which, as Francesc de Borja Moll ironically remarked, " makes it sound nicer ."
Around 1962, publication began in Catalan, while the content was adapted to the new trends emanating from Rome: the Council began that same year. However, the switch to the local language was not to everyone's liking. Some subscribers canceled their subscriptions in protest and complained to the bishop. He, Jesús Enciso, with his knack for balancing, issued a supposedly Solomon-like decree: the Catalan content would not exceed fifty percent.
Lluc returned to full Catalan in 1968, with a new team that included such prominent members as the poet Miquel Gayà; the scholar of Mallorcan identity and future senator Gori Mir; the publisher Francesc Moll (son); and the writer Josep Maria Llompart. At the time, it was the only magazine published in the local language in Mallorca.
Everything became complicated when the left—illegal, of course—thought it would be a good idea to participate in this now-revamped publication. It's important to remember that any instrument linked to the religious sphere then represented something of an umbrella for those who sought refuge there. The dictatorship thought twice before clashing with the Church. Hence, so many opposition meetings took place, precisely, in church spaces.
The writer and underground activist Antoni Serra, despite his initial skepticism, was one of the participants in this initiative. After a series of meetings, an editorial committee was formed, which included prominent anti-Franco activists such as Jaume Adrover, Aina Montaner, and Llompart and Serra themselves. However, the priest Cristóbal Veny clarified, on behalf of the owners—the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts—that they reserved the right to appoint additional members.
The committee members considered this an intrusion—"a clerical coup," in Serra's words—and resigned en masse. It wasn't until three years later, in 1971, that the situation began to be overcome, with a new team that included Pere Joan Llabrés, a prominent advocate for the Catalan language in the Church.
Information prepared from texts by Miquel Julià, Pedro Joan Llabrés, Antonio Janer Torrens, José Amengual and Pedro Fullana, Antonio I. Alomar, Gabriel Seguí i Trobat and Climent Garau, the memoirs of Francisco de Borja Moll and Antoni Serra and the collective volume El mallorquinismopolitical (1936-202).