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Protestants Revolution and the Cuba U S Bond 1st
Edition Theron E. Corse Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Theron E. Corse
ISBN(s): 9780813031583, 0813031583
Edition: 1st
File Details: PDF, 2.09 MB
Year: 2007
Language: english
 .1875 " 0.723 " .1875 "
3.5 " 6.187 " 6.187 " 3.5 "

HISTORY/INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS/LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES Corse Theron Corse

Theron Corse is assistant professor of

Latin American history at Tennessee State
University.
Protestants, Protestants, Revolution, and the Cuba-U.S. Bond is
a rare look at one aspect of civil society in Com-
munist Cuba, the Protestant experience. Theron

Revolution, and
Corse examines the continuing links between

Protestants, Revolution, and the Cuba-U.S. Bond

Cuba and the United States that do not focus on
Front cover photos courtesy iStockphoto. diplomatic issues.

the Cuba-U.S. Bond

After the 1959 Cuban revolution, Protestant
churches on the island suffered the repression,
economic hardship, and isolation that the rest of
A volume in the series
the country experienced. Even so—and contrary
Contemporary Cuba to conventional thought about the relationship
between the United States and Cuba—Cuban
“A much-needed addition to the existing literature Protestant churches continued to maintain most
on Protestantism in Cuba since 1959. Corse uses the of their ties with U.S. churches and have pre-
experience of Cuban Protestants to shed new light on served a high degree of independence from the
the U.S.-Cuban relationship in the revolutionary era Cuban government.
and to reveal some of its contradictions.” By 1961 most U.S. missionaries had left Cuba,
—Christine Ayorinde, author of Afro-Cuban Religiosity, and throughout the decade many young Cu-
Revolution, and National Identity ban pastors and seminarians were conscripted
into semimilitary work brigades. Despite these
events, most Protestants sought to maintain their
“An incisive, thorough, and engaging study of the prerevolution identity, which included a rejec-
dynamic of Cuban Protestantism, the influence of the tion of atheistic Marxism. In addition, economic
United States, and Protestants’ struggles with Cuba’s and political changes in Cuba since the fall of the
revolution. . . . A major contribution to the study of Soviet Union have brought about a renewal of
religion and revolution.” bonds between Cuba and the United States in
—Jason M. Yaremko, University of Winnipeg many denominations. Corse follows the story of
church-state relations to the present, including
the explosive growth of Pentecostalism since the
1990s.

ISBN 978-0-8130-3158-3 Contemporary

Cuba
University Press of Florida ,!7IA8B3-adbfid! UPF
Protestants, Revolution, and the Cuba-U.S. Bond

Contemporary Cuba

University Press of Florida

Florida A&M University, Tallahassee
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers
Florida International University, Miami
Florida State University, Tallahassee
New College of Florida, Sarasota
University of Central Florida, Orlando
University of Florida, Gainesville
University of North Florida, Jacksonville
University of South Florida, Tampa
University of West Florida, Pensacola
Contemporary Cuba
Edited by John M. Kirk

Afro-Cuban Voices: On Race and Identity in Contemporary Cuba, by Pedro Pérez-Sarduy and
Jean Stubbs (2000)
Cuba, the United States, and the Helms-Burton Doctrine: International Reactions, by Joaquín
Roy (2000)
Cuba Today and Tomorrow: Reinventing Socialism, by Max Azicri (2000); first paperback
edition, 2001
Cuba’s Foreign Relations in a Post-Soviet World, by H. Michael Erisman (2000); first paper-
back edition, 2002
Cuba’s Sugar Industry, by José Alvarez and Lázaro Peña Castellanos (2001)
Culture and the Cuban Revolution: Conversations in Havana, by John M. Kirk and Leonardo
Padura Fuentes (2001)
Looking at Cuba: Essays on Culture and Civil Society, by Rafael Hernández, translated by Dick
Cluster (2003)
Santería Healing: A Journey into the Afro-Cuban World of Divinities, Spirits, and Sorcery, by
Johan Wedel (2004)
Cuba’s Agricultural Sector, by José Alvarez (2004)
Cuban Socialism in a New Century: Adversity, Survival and Renewal, edited by Max Azicri
and Elsie Deal (2004)
Cuba, the United States, and the Post–Cold War World: The International Dimensions of the
Washington-Havana Relationship, edited by Morris Morley and Chris McGillion (2005)
Redefining Cuban Foreign Policy: The Impact of the “Special Period,” edited by H. Michael Eris-
man and John M. Kirk (2006)
Gender and Democracy in Cuba, by Ilja A. Luciak (2007)
Ritual, Discourse, and Community in Cuban Santería: Speaking a Sacred World, by Kristina
Wirtz (2007)
The “New Man” in Cuba: Culture and Identity in the Revolution, by Ana Serra (2007)
U.S.-Cuban Cooperation Past, Present, and Future, by Melanie M. Ziegler (2007)
Protestants, Revolution, and the Cuba-U.S. Bond, by Theron Corse (2007)
 Protestants, Revolution,
and the Cuba-U.S. Bond

Theron Corse

University Press of Florida

Gainesville/Tallahassee/Tampa/Boca Raton
Pensacola/Orlando/Miami/Jacksonville/Ft. Myers/Sarasota
Copyright 2007 by Theron Corse
All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Corse, Theron Edward.
Protestants, revolution, and the Cuba-U.S. bond/Theron Corse.
p. cm.—(Contemporary Cuba)
Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8130-3158-3 (cloth)

ISBN 978-0-8130-3778-3 (e-book)
1. Protestant churches—Cuba—History—20th century. 2. Church and
state—Cuba—History—20th century. 3. Cuba—Church history—20th
century. 4. Cuba—Politics and government—1959–. 5. United States—
Foreign relations—Cuba. 6. Cuba—Foreign relations—United States.
I. Title.
BX4835.C9C67 2007
280.'4097291090459–dc22 2007027175

“Presbyterians in the Revolution” by Theron Corse is from Cuban Studies

31, edited by Lisandrso Pérez and Uva de Aragón, copyright 2000. Reprinted
by permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press.

The University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing agency for the
State University System of Florida, comprising Florida A&M University,
Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida Interna-
tional University, Florida State University, New College of Florida, University
of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of North Florida,
University of South Florida, and University of West Florida.

University Press of Florida

15 Northwest 15th Street
Gainesville, FL 32611–2079
http://www.upf.com
 Contents

List of Tables vi

List of Abbreviations vii

Preface ix

1. Introduction 1

2. “Two Years of Euphoria” 10

3. A Growing Mistrust 26

4. A Bond Challenged 52

5. Church and State 70

6. Theology and Revolution 102

7. Recasting the Bond 127

Notes 149

Bibliography 167

Index 179
 Tables

Table 4.1. Money received by the CCIE

under the Cuba Project, 1964–1972 67

Table 4.2. Percentages of Cuban church annual budgets requested

from WCC, by denomination, 1964–1969 68

Table 5.1. Membership by denomination, 1958–1989 92

Table 5.2. Pastorate by denomination, 1956–1970 96

Table 5.3. Pastorate lost to exile (minimum) 98

 Abbreviations

General Abbreviations

AATS American Association of Theological Schools

ALC Agencia Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Comunicación
AOG Assemblies of God
BWA Baptist World Alliance
CCIE Concilio Cubano de Iglesias Evangélicas
COEBAC Coordinación Obrero-Estudiantil Bautista de Cuba
DWME Division of World Mission and Evangelism (of the World Coun-
cil of Churches)
GAUPC General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the
USA
ICP Iglesia Cristiana Pentecostal
IECP Iglesia Evangélica Cristiana Pentecostal
IPRC Iglesia Presbiteriana Reformada en Cuba
MEC Movimiento Estudiantil Cristiano de Cuba
NCC National Council of Churches
SET Seminario Evangélico de Teología
UMAP Unidades Militares para la Ayuda de Producción
UWM United World Mission
WCC World Council of Churches
WSCF World Student Christian Federation

Manuscript Collections

ABHMSC American Baptist Home Mission Society Collection

AHP Alice Hageman Papers
AMA Archives of the Mission to the Americas
BFMLCM Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod Board for Missions
BIM Board of International Ministries Geographic Files
BNMPC Board of National Missions Collection
BWAC Baptist World Alliance Collection
CMC Cuban Missions Collection
CWME World Council of Churches Commission on World Mission
and Evangelism
viii Abbreviations

DFM-AOG Department of Foreign Missions Archive, General Council of

the Assemblies of God
DHC Doug Hostetter Collection
DHRMSPC Department of History and Records Management Services,
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
EFMA Evangelical Foreign Missions Association Collection
FMB-SBC Southern Baptist Convention Foreign Mission Board Collec-
tion
FMMB Franconia Mennonite Mission Board Collection
GWP Graybill Wolgemuth Papers
HCHMB Herbert Caudill Collection, Home Mission Board of the South-
ern Baptist Convention Collection
HGK H. G. Kolb Collection
HMBEO Home Mission Board Executive Office Files
HMBPDF Home Mission Board Program Director’s Files
HTR-NA H. T. Reza Collection, Nazarene Archives
IMC International Missionary Council Archives
LAM Latin American Mission Collection
MGR Mission Geographical Reference Files
MCC Mennonite Central Committee Collection
MSBHMB Minutes of the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist
Convention Collection
NCC-OM Division of Overseas Ministries, National Council of Churches
Collection
OKHD Olmstead Key Hopkins Papers
RABHMS American Baptist Home Mission Society/Women’s American
Baptist Home Mission Society. Reports to the Board of Manag-
ers Collection
SGC Secretariat of the General Conference Collection
TEF Theological Education Fund Collection
URL Una Roberts Lawrence Collection
WCCCR World Council of Churches Council Relationships Collection
WCCGS World Council of Churches General Secretariat
WCCLD World Council of Churches Laity Department Collection
WCFO World Council of Churches Commission on Faith and Order
WMCCC Christian Reformed Church World Missions Collection
WMFUMP Wider Ministries of Friends United Meetings Papers
WNCCC World Council of Churches National Christian Councils Col-
lection
WSCF World Student Christian Federation Collection
 Preface

On the eve of the Cuban Revolution, there were close to fifty Protestant
denominations operating in Cuba, representing approximately 6 percent of
the population. These denominations, with few exceptions, were deeply tied
to the United States, dependent in whole or in part on their U.S. brethren for
money, administration, pastors, theological training, publishing, and more.
In Protestants, Revolution, and the Cuba-U.S. Bond, I examine what hap-
pened to Cuban Protestants, their links to the United States, and their identi-
ties as they confronted the revolutionary government and the breakdown of
U.S-Cuban relations. My principal thesis is that the prerevolutionary identi-
ties of these denominations, based primarily on U.S. models but modified by
the experiences of the revolutionary period, have remained durable, as have
the bonds between Cuban and U.S Protestants. Further, the economic and
political changes in Cuba since the fall of the Soviet Union have resulted in
a renewal of those bonds in many denominations. Even those Protestants
who actively sought to remake themselves and their churches during the
revolutionary era were able to do so because of resources and training made
possible by their relationship with U.S. Protestants, and the new identities
they have sought have maintained key elements of their U.S.-inspired pre­
revolutionary identities.
This book results largely from a serendipitous discovery that many Prot-
estant archives in the United States contain extensive records of the efforts
on both sides of the Florida Straits to deal with the dramatic changes in
Cuba and in Cuban-U.S. relations since 1959, and it is those archives that
provide the largest portion of the source material for my research. This book
is also based on numerous interviews conducted with Cuban Protestants,
conducted primarily in Havana and Matanzas in 2001 and 2002, and a few
interviews with former missionaries and religious officials outside of Cuba.
An important amount of material, particularly for chapter 4, also comes
from the archives at the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva.
Protestants, Revolution, and the Cuba-U.S. Bond is largely chronologi-
cal in organization, though each chapter also has a thematic focus. Chapter
1 briefly discusses the history of the Protestant churches in Cuba prior to
1959, and the nature of their relationship to Cuban society and the United
States on the eve of the Revolution. Chapter 2 examines the highly positive
initial response of most Protestants to the Revolution, from the involvement
x Preface

of some Protestants in the battle against Batista through to the early part of
1960. In this period, many Cuban Protestants and U.S. missionaries saw the
Revolution as a vehicle for advancing their own values and believed that it
gave them an opportunity to expand their role in Cuban society, advancing
their self-perceived position as modernizers. Chapter 3 shows how that re-
lationship came under increasing strain from late 1960 through early 1961.
Cuban Protestants did not become embroiled in serious conflict with the
state like the Catholic Church did in this period, and they and many U.S.
missionaries continued to defend the Revolution long after their counter-
parts in the United States had rejected the Castro-led government. But the
steady leftward march of the revolutionary government deeply disturbed
most Protestants in Cuba, and they struggled to reconcile their values and
goals with an increasingly leftist government. In 1961, most U.S. missionaries
left Cuba and U.S. President John F. Kennedy imposed a complete economic
embargo on the island. Chapter 4 examines the impact on Cuban Protes-
tants of these events, and the efforts of both U.S. and Cuban Protestants to
maintain institutional, financial, and personal ties in the mid-1960s. Chapter
5 looks at deteriorating church-state relations, particularly the most difficult
period for Protestants, from mid-1963 through to the conscription of dozens
of young pastors and seminarians into semi-militarized work brigades, the
UMAP (Unidades Militares para la Ayuda de Producción). These worsening
conditions prompted many parishioners and pastors to leave the church or
even the island, and chapter 5 also discusses how Protestant churches dealt
with these losses. Chapter 6 discusses Protestant theological responses to
the Revolution, focusing on the mid- and late 1960s, when the major themes
addressed in this book became fully developed. Most Protestants sought to
maintain their prerevolutionary theological identity, which included a re-
jection of atheistic Marxism. A minority of Protestants, however, sought to
find a theological space that allowed them to work with the Revolution on
common goals. An even smaller group developed a theological position that
completely identified the goals of Christianity with those of Marxism and
the Cuban Revolution. Both this group and the accommodationists pulled
away from their older, U.S.-inspired identities, while the more conservative
groups tended to cling tightly to those identities. Finally, chapter 7 examines
the slow easing of church-state relations from the early 1970s to the pres-
ent, and the ways in which this transition has transformed many churches,
their identities, and their relationship to the United States. Most churches
continue to have strong ties with their U.S. counterparts, though those links
have been modified in many ways, with most denominations now being
significantly more independent than they were before the Revolution. In
 Preface xi

some cases, tensions held below the surface by oppression have emerged to
break apart some denominations. Meanwhile, the fundamental character of
Cuban Protestantism has changed dramatically as a result of the explosive
growth of Pentecostalism since the early 1990s.
My research and this book would not have been possible without the
assistance of a number of people and institutions. Significant funding came
from an Extending the Reach grant from the National Endowment for the
Humanities. A small portion of the text consists of revised material from
two articles I published previously in Cuban Studies and American Bap-
tist Quarterly.1 I also extend thanks to the many archivists and librarians
who helped me sort through complex collections and make sense of the
institutional organizations of the many denominations in this book. I owe a
special thanks to all of the people interviewed in this book, many of whom
gave several hours of their time to share their history with me. Working in
Cuba is always difficult, but several people went out of their way to advise
me and help me find the people I needed to talk to. I’d also like to thank
several friends who gave me free accommodations as I traveled the country
visiting archives. All translations in this book, except where noted, are mine.
Finally, none of this would be possible without my parents, Sandra and Larry
Corse.
 1

Introduction

As he had almost daily for years, Herbert Caudill sat down on the last day of
December 1958 to type out a letter to his superiors at the Southern Baptist
Home Mission Board offices back in Atlanta. With so much use, his type-
writer had developed a few quirks, like an inability to place capital letters
on the same line as all the other letters, instead printing them so high that
they sometimes merged with the line of type above. As superintendent of
Southern Baptist work in Cuba, Caudill felt it important to keep the Atlanta
office well informed about what was happening, and his frequent letters be-
came the main line of communication between Cuba and the Mission Board.
Often he turned to his colleagues in Atlanta for advice and instruction about
sticky problems, and this time he was concerned about a missionary, rattled
by the fighting in Cuba, who was anxious to get out of the country. Gently
he prodded the board to find work for her somewhere else, something the
Atlanta office had been dragging its feet on. “It seems that the present situ-
ation in Cuba has been affecting her greatly. I hope that she may be given
something at least so she may have another chance.”
Caudill himself was concerned, but certainly not enough to leave. Af-
ter thirty years on the island, he and his wife had little intention of going
anywhere. Indeed, unlike almost all other U.S. missionaries, he would defy
pressure from the U.S. embassy to leave Cuba at the end of 1960, remaining
at his post until his arrest in 1965. Still, he was aware that there was some
danger in Cuba at that moment, and that no one knew what might happen
next:
I have not heard from any of our workers in Las Villas Province for
about ten days. I did get a message from the pastor in Sancti Spir-
itus, Juventino Suárez, sent Dec. 26, stating that his check had not
arrived. There is no mail service and no telegraphic service to most
places. Highway communication is practically cut off. The word we
have is there is fighting going on today in the streets of Santa Clara.
It seems that bombers have been going out over the towns and cities
of Las Villas. We are very much concerned about the welfare of our
pastors. . . . In Havana things are outwardly quiet, almost too quiet,
though there is a feeling that something will happen at any moment.
2 Protestants, Revolution, and the Cuba-U.S. Bond

I believe that most of the watchnight services for tonight have been
cancelled. . . . In Havana, Matanzas, and Pinar del Río services are
almost normal, but everywhere there is a feeling that something big is
due to happen. Pray for us.1

Only a few hours after Caudill finished writing his letter, Fulgencio Batista
fled Cuba, and the Castro era began.
The changes that would come, of course, would be profound. Like ev-
eryone else, the Protestant churches would have to cope with a revolution-
ary government determined to completely remake Cuban society. But for
Protestants, the impact would be deeper than for many Cubans, and Caudill
himself was a perfect symbol of why that was so. At the start of 1959, the
Protestant churches in Cuba were almost universally the products of U.S.
missionaries, and almost all, to one degree or another, were still deeply de-
pendent on their mother churches in the United States. Some, like the West-
ern Baptists (as the Southern Baptists’ progeny in Cuba are known), were still
run directly by U.S. missionaries. Others, like the Methodists, even after two
long generations, still depended on missionaries to fill many of their pulpits
and staff their schools. And there were a few denominations, like the Men-
nonites or the Brethren in Christ, who were brand-new in Cuba, the original
missionaries having arrived only a few years before, with almost completely
American staffs. But even for a denomination like the Presbyterians, com-
pletely staffed and administered by Cubans (with some minor exceptions),
the connection to the mainland ran deep. Protestants in Cuba depended on
the United States for money, equipment, training, literature, and much of
their identity. There were only a handful of congregations that could stand
on their own financially, and even those largely depended on the United
States for certain major expenses, like construction. This dependence was no
accident. The U.S. mission boards that began to establish themselves in Cuba
in 1898 had consciously sought to “Americanize” Cuba through Protestant
churches and Protestant schools. They rejected Cuba’s Catholic and His-
panic past as antimodern, as an impediment to Cuba’s development, and had
consciously sought to imprint U.S. values on Cuban society in order to bring
it into the modern world and make it a reliable partner of the United States.
For much of the prerevolutionary period, U.S. missionaries were highly re-
luctant to hand over control of the church institutions they were building to
Cubans, whom they generally viewed as too culturally immature to run their
own organizations. Instead, the missionaries copied U.S. institutions and
theologies wholesale, seeking to create a microcosm of America in Cuba as
a model for Cuban society to follow.2 This heavy-handed ethnocentrism did
 Introduction 3

not begin to fade until late in the prerevolutionary period, meaning that the
Cuban Protestant churches were still heavily Americanized and dependent
on the United States when Batista fell from power.
Protestants in 1959 were a small but highly influential group in Cuba.
On paper, Cuba was a Catholic country, but polls conducted by Agrupación
Católica in 1954 and 1957 showed how nominal much of Cuba’s Catholicism
really was. While 72.5 percent of Cubans identified themselves as Catho-
lic and 91 percent of Cuban children were baptized as Catholics, only 24
percent of the population reported attending mass regularly.3 These figures
support Damián Fernández’s claim that the traditional institutional culture
of the Catholic Church did not reach deeply into Cuban society, standing in-
stead as a small (though significant) counterpart to popular religious forms
such as folk Catholicism and the Afro-Cuban syncretic religions. 4 Num-
bers might suggest that the Protestants were even less important, for in the
Agrupación Católica’s surveys, Protestants represented 5 to 6 percent of the
Cuban population, or between 300,000 and 360,000 people. But precisely
because of the desire of U.S. missionaries to reshape Cuban society, the Prot-
estant churches had an impact that extended well beyond their numbers.
After the 1898 war, Cuba was flooded with U.S. missionaries from a num-
ber of denominations. Though the rhetoric of the missionaries often sug-
gested that Cuba was virgin territory for Protestants, there was, in fact, a
small but growing Protestant presence there already. A nascent indigenous
Protestant movement began developing in the late nineteenth century,
driven in large part by nationalist Cubans who had returned from exile in
the United States. As a result, and because the Catholic Church generally
took a strong pro-Spanish stance in the independence wars, Protestantism
came to be associated with Cuban nationalism. These early missionary ef-
forts, however, would be almost completely absorbed into the work of the
mission boards of the major U.S. denominations, exchanging that early na-
tionalist identity for a deep connection between Cuban and U.S. Protestant-
ism. The diversity of these missionary groups was extraordinary. By the time
of the 1959 revolution, at least forty-six U.S. Protestant denominations and
evangelical organizations were operating in Cuba, from mainline denomina-
tions such as the Episcopalians and the Methodists, to more obscure groups,
like the Slavic Gospel Association and the Individual Offering Church. Re-
markably, new groups continued arriving right up to the eve of the Revolu-
tion. The Mennonites, the Brethren in Christ, and the Christian Reformed
Church all established themselves in Cuba in the 1950s, while the first (and
only) Conservative Baptist missionaries arrived on the island on August 11,
1958.5
4 Protestants, Revolution, and the Cuba-U.S. Bond

Despite the steady flow of new missionaries and new missionary pro-
grams, the theological impulses established by the early missionaries, em-
phasizing pietism over social action, remained dominant throughout the
sixty years following the American invasion. U.S. missionaries strongly be-
lieved that they had a mission to reshape Cuban society, but they would
fulfill that mission by molding the Cuban character, as opposed to pursuing
any social causes. U.S. missionaries believed that evangelism went hand-in-
hand with the U.S. model of modernization. For Cuba to be Christian, it had
to reject its Hispanic Catholic past and embrace an American Protestant
future. This would be done primarily through individual education and the
promotion of personal piety. Before Cubans could be trusted to run their
own churches, or even their own country, new classes had to be trained in
U.S. values. The Protestants would reshape Cuba one Cuban at a time, only
rarely taking on Cuban social issues directly. The Eastern Baptists, for one,
had a history of working in hospitals, distributing food and clothing, and
working with the elderly. The Presbyterians went further than anyone in this
respect. They ran several medical clinics, engaged in various literacy and
community-service projects, provided social workers in some communities,
set up a meteorological station in Sancti Spiritus, and even took the initiative
in improving some of Cuba’s roads.6
But such activity was unusual, particularly before the 1950s, and the em-
phasis on piety and education would mean that the Protestants’ influence
would be felt most strongly through their efforts to mold individual Cubans.
Shortly after arriving in 1898, Protestant missionaries began building a large
and elaborate education system, one that involved not only primary and sec-
ondary education, but also Sunday schools, Bible camps, boarding schools,
and seminaries. There was not one mission for these schools but many, their
founders pursuing both evangelical and social goals. While seen as a key tool
for propagating Protestant faith, the education system was also regarded by
Protestant missions as a way to groom native leaders and to shape Cuban
society. Primarily, these schools sought to mold their elite and middle-class
students into U.S.-style professionals, their lower-class students into reliable
modern workers. U.S. missionaries actively sought to produce a new breed
of Cuban professionals who, through their leadership, could bring peace,
prosperity, and U.S. values to Cuba. Increasingly, Cubans, most notably in
the middle class, came to regard a Protestant education as an important
stepping stone to a professional career. The Protestant schools were more
stable than their national counterparts, for their outside support meant they
were less vulnerable to political and economic turmoil. Many schools taught
 Introduction 5

portions of their curriculum in English, something increasingly important

as Cuba’s economy became more deeply intertwined with that of the United
States. The conscious effort of these schools to teach a “Protestant work
ethic”—discipline, hard work, and good deeds as the road to prosperity—
tied the Protestant churches to the new market economy and gave Cubans a
new and foreign set of values by which to judge their culture and their gov-
ernment. The U.S.-style educational program also helped students become
familiar with U.S. culture and prepare for possible study in the United States.
By the early part of the century, Protestant schools were enrolling thousands
of students each year, many of whom went on to prominent positions in
Cuban business and government. Schools like the Eastern Baptist Colegios
Internacionales in El Cristo (outside of Santiago) and the Presbyterian La
Progresiva in Cardenas became paths to professional careers for large num-
bers of Cubans.7 When the Revolution came, many people called upon to
fill government posts were graduates of Protestant schools. This success at
training a significant portion of the Cuban elite was, however, a two-edged
sword, for it depended on the ability of the Protestant schools and missions
to impart U.S. values and knowledge to the Cuban people, meaning also
that Cubans came to associate Protestantism with the United States. In the
context of an economy and culture heavily dependent on the United States,
this identification was mostly positive. But in the context of the radical na-
tionalism of the Revolution, it would increasingly become a burden.
Along with the Protestant missionaries’ commitment to promoting U.S.
values went a continuing dependence on the United States for survival. De-
spite moves towards nationalization in the 1940s and 1950s, Protestantism
in 1959 could not have existed as it did without the support of U.S. religious
organizations. A glance at a few financial statistics highlights just one as-
pect of this dependency. In 1959 the Home Mission Board of the Southern
Baptist Convention gave $220,000 to their protégés in Cuba, the Western
Baptists, including $12,435 a month for salaries, or about 82 percent of the
Western Baptists’ monthly salary budget.8 The Presbyterian Board of Na-
tional Missions, for its part, provided the Cuban Presbyterians with $47,000
for construction alone in 1959, as well as $95,000 for relief efforts in Oriente
and substantial support for ordinary expenses.9 Such a level of financial de-
pendence was a feature of smaller churches as well. Not counting construc-
tion loans, in 1958 the Lutheran Church in Cuba, which served fewer than
seven hundred people, received $29,820 from its parent body, the Board of
Foreign Missions in North and South America of the Lutheran Church–Mis-
souri Synod, more than three times the amount it raised at home ($9,637).10
6 Protestants, Revolution, and the Cuba-U.S. Bond

While some Protestant groups in Cuba, such as the Eastern Baptists, were
more financially independent than these three, only a handful of genuinely
independent churches went without any support from the United States.
The relationship between these churches and the United States went well
beyond money, however, reaching into every aspect of church life. U.S. per-
sonnel had always played an important part in Cuban Protestantism. In the
early 1900s, the majority of pastors and other workers were American, and
the leader of the Concilio Cubano de Iglesias Evangélicas (CCIE) was an
American until 1945.11 While most denominations had moved away from
this pattern by the 1940s, at the onset of the Revolution U.S. missionar-
ies continued to play important roles throughout the island. The Method-
ists, the denomination which had always had the largest number of U.S.
missionaries, were more thoroughly dependent on U.S. staff than any other
major denomination, with twenty-seven U.S. missionaries. While most de-
nominations did not come close to that number, almost all had some U.S.
staff. The West Indies Mission, which ran an important seminary, rivaled the
Methodists, with twenty-four foreign missionaries (including both U.S. and
Canadian personnel), although most missions had fewer than ten U.S. staff
members.12 Among the more recently arrived groups, such as the Menno-
nites and the Brethren in Christ, virtually all of the staff were still American,
as they had not had the opportunity to train a Cuban staff. But even in long-
established denominations like the Eastern and Western Baptists, though
there might be just a handful of foreign missionaries, they frequently filled
vital roles in administration or taught in the seminaries. While both the
Eastern and Western Baptists had organized their own conventions and had
an almost completely Cuban pastorate, they were also both still overseen by
U.S. missionaries—Herbert Caudill in the case of the Western Baptists, and
Aaron Weber in that of the Eastern Baptists.
Cuban Protestants greatly depended on their U.S. counterparts for theo-
logical training as well. The vast majority of Cuban pastors had some direct
link to the United States in their religious education. A small number, pri-
marily from the older, mainline denominations, had actually gone to U.S.
seminaries. This was most true of the Presbyterians, who regularly sent pas-
tors to Princeton Theological Seminary for graduate work. More commonly,
Cuban pastors trained in Cuban seminaries and Bible schools, which had
almost always been founded by U.S. missionaries and which employed U.S.-
designed curricula and were staffed at least partially by U.S. missionaries.
Of the several Bible schools and seminaries in Cuba, two stand out in
importance: the Seminario Evangélico Los Pinos Nuevos and the Seminario
Evangélico de Teología. Pinos Nuevos was the older of the two, having been
 Introduction 7

founded in 1928 by Elmer V. Thompson and Bartolomé G. Lavastida. Lavas-

tida, a Cuban, had graduated in 1920 from the short-lived Seminario Pres-
biteriano McCormick, which was staffed primarily by U.S. pastors; while
Thompson, an American, had studied at Midland Bible Institute (Kansas
City) and Simpson Bible Institute (Seattle). Both Simpson and Midland were
products of the Bible Institute Movement initiated in the United States by A.
B. Simpson in the 1880s. The Bible institutes were meant to train laypeople
in the practical skills needed for missionary work, as opposed to provid-
ing the traditional scholastic education or even the graduate-level theologi-
cal study typical of more traditional seminaries. Thompson and Lavastida
designed Pinos Nuevos along the lines of U.S. Bible institutes, promoting
a strongly fundamentalist and pietistic theology that demanded a strong
moral rigor from its adherents. Pinos Nuevos became the nucleus of an as-
sociation of evangelical churches centered in Las Villas, but its influence
spread into other denominations, as pastors from several denominations
trained there, most notably the Eastern Baptists.13
The Seminario Evangélico de Teología (SET), although of a very different
character, was also designed along U.S. lines, with even deeper connections
to the United States. Founded in Matanzas in 1946 by the Methodists and
Presbyterians, later to be joined by the Episcopalians, SET provided gradu-
ate-level theological training to students from several Cuban denomina-
tions, while also attracting students from a number of other Latin American
countries. Alfonso Rodríguez Hidalgo, a Presbyterian pastor and a graduate
of Princeton Theological Seminary, and the Methodist missionary Mauricio
Daily, a graduate of the Candler School of Theology at Emory, served as the
original rector and vice-rector, respectively. SET’s founders sought to make
available to Cuban pastors the same kind of schooling found at a gradu-
ate-level seminary in the United States, and did so successfully enough for
SET to be accredited by the American Association of Theological Schools
(AATS; now known as the Association of Theological Schools in the United
States and Canada), the principal accreditation body for theological educa-
tion in the United States. While the staff at SET became increasingly Cuban,
most of these professors had either trained in the United States or had simi-
lar credentials to professors at U.S. institutions. The seminary was frequently
visited by U.S. scholars and denominational leaders, and its ties deepened
with various U.S. institutions, particularly with Princeton Theological. Ecu-
menical and intellectual in its approach, SET gained a reputation for liberal-
ism in Cuba, though it was generally more conservative than similar U.S.
institutions. While nationalistic in its goal to create a highly trained native
pastorate, SET used a U.S.-designed curriculum that did not fully address
Discovering Diverse Content Through
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á esplicar la situació de la casa, pera veure si s’emportava alguna
criatura ó ausiliava á la mare, pero ahir al vespre, que jo hi vaig
tornar, encara no s’hi havia acostat… Sort dels vehins que essent casi
tan pobres com ells, fan més de lo que poden pera cuydar á l’ávia y á
la partera.

—¡Ay dels pobres, si no fossin los pobres! —esclamá tristament la

Presidenta. Y tot seguit digué dirigintse al sacerdot:

—¿No li apar que’s podria fer una solicitut á la Beneficencia de la

Parroquia? ¿vosté ja ho recomanará, veritat?

—Si, si; que la fassin avans del dissapte. Y si l’home fa llit, també’s
podria cercar la cooperació de la Caritat Cristiana.

—¿Vosté se’n podrá encarregar senyora Guerra de fer aquestas

diligencias?

—Jo tinch al meu marit un xich delicat y no sé si podré sortir aquesta

tarde; pero ja havém quedat ab la meua companya que si jo no hi
podia anar, ella faria las diligencias necessarias per aquesta pobre
familia. Si alguna senyora te robeta petita, llensols vells, camisas, en
fí, lo que sía, que fassa la caritat d’enviarho pensant que en aquella
casa tot hi fa falta. ¡Allí si que serian precisos á més dels bonos de pá,
los que’s poguessen donar pera caldo, mentres se corra pe’ls demes
ausilis!

—¡Válgans Deu! ¡com més déficit més necessitats! —esclamá la

Presidenta; y dirigintse á la Tresorera digué:

—Pósili sis bonos de carn.

—Y ¿vosté, senyora Prats?

—Jo crech que aquesta setmana quedará llest lo dels orfanets

Campins. Nostre Senyor nos ha ajudat y com la superiora del
Albergue de Sant Antoni en la providencia d’aquesta barriada, hem
quedat que si surt alguna almoyna pera pagar la mesada de la nena li
donarém y sino será lo mateix: ella se la queda. Y pe’l noy malalt
també s’ha pogut alcansar una plassa gratuhita al Asilo de noys
escrofulosos de Sant Joan de Deu. Lo Padre superior apesar de no
tenir cap vacant, l’ha admés. S’ ha fet cárrech de la desgracia
d’aquestas pobras criaturas…

La Presidenta continuá preguntant ab la mateixa forma á cada una

de las senyoras allí reunidas y al acabar digué:

—Ara m’es precís á mi exposar la situació de la familia Dominguez,

aquella pobra senyora andalussa, viuda de un empleat ab quatre
noyas, que quan nosaltres anarem á visitarlas per primera vegada, ja
li havian fugit de casa las duas grans… La infelis está esparverada ab
las que li quedan, tement que’l mal exemple de las altras y la miseria
que passan…

—¿Qué no treballan? —interrumpí’l sacerdot.

—¡Treballar! Fan calsotets, que’ls ne donan noranta céntims per

cusirne una dotzena!; y encara tenen que posarhi’l fil y pagar catorse
rals cada setmana per la máquina de cusir que las ha fet tornar mitj
tísicas á totas duas! Y aixó no es tot. La Emilia, tenia promés. Ja feya
tres mesos que entrava á la casa, quan la mare ha sapigut que era un
trampós, un home de mala conducta. La pobra dona desatinada l’ha
tret; pero com segons sembla es dels que va armat á las casas de joch,
ha dit que si no’l tornan á admetre, allá ahont las trobi las matará. La
pobra dona vá venir á casa esglayadísima y me digué que si ella
tingués diners pera anársen á Bilbao, ahont hi té un germá que
sembla que está arregladet y las vol, marxaria immediatament, aixís
per fugir del promés de la noya, com per tenir un apoyo…

—Pero’l viatje d’aquí á Bilbao…

—La senyora Sanmartí, ja ho ha gestionat y la Companyia del

ferrocarril del Nort ha fet la caritat de donarlos mitj pasatje franch…
Las dificultats son per l’altre mitj… Ja hi há recullida alguna cosa,
pero no basta…

Lo sacerdot parlá de baix en baix, algunas pocas paraulas ab la

Presidenta y aquesta digué:

—¡Deu li pagui! Aixís me sembla que aquest assumpto quedará

arreglat y aqueixa pobra familia podrá sortirse de tan trista situació.
Ara aném á la familia Saleta. Ab la senyora Marsal varem anar á casa
de don Melcior Ferrer, qui s’ha portat nobilíssimament ab la
Conferencia; donchs á més de donarme una almoyna per aqueixa
desventurada familia, m’ha promés que apesar de sas moltas
ocupacions s’encarregaria del assumpto d’aquest pobre home, que
ben ignocentament lo poden portar á un presiri.

—¿Y la familia? —preguntá ab interés lo Director.

—La seua dona fa molta llástima. La desgracia li ha vingut tant de

nou, que no hi há pas manera de que s’hi conformi. Las criaturas
apesar de sos pochs anys, sembla que comprenen la terrible
pedregada que’ls ha caygut á sobre. Allá no hi há recursos de cap
mena, puig lo que s’ha pogut recullir jo’ls hi guardo per si es possible
que ell se’n vaji á Fransa, fins á esperar l’éxit de las gestions del
advocat, que com es de primera talla, hi ha molt que confiar.— Y
girantse seguidament envers la Tresorera digué:

—Reparteixi’ls bonos.

La Secretaria aná cridant una per una, á totas las senyoras allí
reunidas, afegint al nom de la sócia, lo del pobre que li corresponia,
pera ferli entrega dels bonos de pá, arrós, carn, llet y patatas, que
estavan destinats á la familia que visitava.

Acabat lo repartiment, lo sacerdot ab tó persuassiu y elegant dicció,

feu una breu y sentida plática plena d’evangélica caritat, que fou
atentament escoltada y tot seguit la Tresorera passá una grossa bossa
de felpa blava, en la que cada senyora hi ficá la má, depositanthi la
seua almoyna.

Acabada la col·lecta aquesta se vuydá dessobre la taula. Las sócias

reunidas eran vinticinch y en la cantitat recullida s’hi trobaren divuyt
pessetas en monedas de cuatre rals, una de vuyt, dos duros y cinch
mitjas pessetas.

La Tresorera recullí la cantitat; la Secretaria l’apuntá en lo llibre

d’actas y la Presidenta agenollantse seguida de las sócias, resá unas
curtíssimas oracions que donaren per acabada la sessió,
qu’escassament havia durat una hora, portantse ab un órdre y
rectitut verament monástica. Mes tan bon punt s’hagué fet la senyal
de la creu y s’aixecaren las senyoras, paresqué qu’en la cambra
s’acabava d’obrir la resclosa d’un riu impetuós. Com esbart d’aucellas
que l’esparver destria, quedá trencada en vint parts la simétrica
renglera de cadiras; y las senyoras aplegantse en rotllos de tres, de
cinch, de cuatre, segons s’esqueya, romperen en animada conversa
que contrastava ab la severa rigidés fins aquell instant
escrupulosament observada.

Aquella cambra pareixía una miniatura del saló de conferencias del

Congrés, tant per l’animació y efervescencia que hi regnava, com per
sentirse que en un rotllo se demanavan recomanacions; en l’altre
feyna de roba blanca; en altre mitjas á fer; en aquell se combinava
dia y hora pera fer alguna diligencia relativa á tal ó qual pobre ó
sensillament pera ferli la visita de la setmana; en tant que en lo de
més enllá se tractava la manera de pagar un didatje ó gestionar la
entrada en las Hermanitas dels pobres d’algun vell desamparat. En la
taula’l rotllo era molt més nombrós: totas las sócias tenian quelcom
que ultimar ó recomenar al Director ó á las quatre senyoras que
formavan la junta de la Conferencia y que á totas las sócias rebian ab
fraternal afecte.

La Montserrat contemplá ab creixent interés l’animada escena que’s

desplegava devant de sos ulls. Ni en visitas, ni en passeigs, havia vist
á senyoras de tan diversas edats y condicions, impregnadas per un
igual d’aquella atmósfera de goig, de benestar, que resplandia en la
cara de las que veya entorn seu. Ni una expressió d’enuig, ni un gesto
de desdeny, ni una sombra d’ergull, ni un signe de cansanci… ¿Era
que totas tenían lo dó de la felicitat, ó mellor dit, de la perfecció
moral? Sens dubte que, subjectes com tots los éssers creats á la
ineludible lley de las debilitats humanas, cada una tenia sos defectes,
y ab sos més ó menos graus de felicitat, sas penas ó sos rosechs; pero
era que en aquells moments gosavan en comunitat de la més
hermosa y més consoladora de las virtuts: s’oblidavan de si mateixas,
per endolsir y socorre infortunis, que aixís per sa magnitut, com per
ésser vistos per sos propis ulls, los feyan agrahir més l’afavoriment
de la seua posició ó ab més facilitat conformarse ab las propias
penas; era que’s desenrotllava davant seu la transformació del cent
per hú, de la hermosa promesa de Jesucrist; la petita almoyna, que
individualment no hauria bastat pera res, ajuntada al fondo comú
operava lo miracle dels peixos y pans del Evangeli; y la probabilitat
del éxit, la interna satisfacció de servir d’instrument de la Divina
Providencia, la emulació del bé, la comunió de las bonas obras, com
tots los goigs dels plahers místichs, enlayrantse envers lo cel,
apartavan lluny de sí las engrunadas petitesas de la terra…

Mes eix raig de celístia del paradís durá poca estona: la porta s’obrí,
donant pas á las senyoras que anaren sortint de la cambra; y la veu
de donya Balbina indicant á la Montserrat son desitj de presentarla á
la Presidenta, tragué á la noya del ensimismament en que l’havia
sotmesa l’interés y novedat de la sessió á que acabava de assistir.

Atansantse á la taula pogué veure d’aprop á la persona que anava á

saludar. Era aquesta una senyora d’uns cuaranta anys, de distingidas
maneras, d’atractiva fesomía, de cabell castany graciosament
ondejat, de mirada dolsa y penetrant á la vegada, de escayenta y
baixeta figura, que encara que sensillament vestida ab lo trajo negre,
que pareixía ésser lo preferit per la Associació, deixava veure la
elegancia de la dama de societat.
Donya Balbina li feu la presentació de la Montserrat y la Presidenta li
allargá la má dihentli afectuosament:

—¿No tindrém lo plaher d’haverli fet entrar desitj d’ésser germana

nostra?

—¡Ay! senyora —feu la Montserrat ab la vehemencia de la impresió

de lo que acabava de presenciar— los desitjos no’m mancan, pero vist
lo que vostés fan, no’m reconech ab suficients qualitats pera tenir
aquesta honra. Jo coneixía de nom las Conferencias de Sant Vicens
de Paul, pero li confesso francament, que no tenia idea de lo que son.
Me creya, per haverho sentit explicar, que era una Associació que
ajuntava las almoynas que recullía pera comprar comestibles que
donava á las familias pobres y… res més. Cregui que no sé tornar en
mí de l’admiració que m’ha causat lo que he sentit… Aixó es una cosa
tan grandiosa com nova; una Associació de Caritat, ahont apar que’ls
diners son lo de menos… perque verdaderament al pobre que se li
col·locan los fills, que en sas malaltías se li cercan ausilis, que se li
busca feyna ó medis pera guanyarse la vida, se li fá un bé cent
vegadas més gran que donantli un, ni tres, ni quatre duros…

—¡Oh filla, filla, aixó no ho alcansém sempre ni molt menos! —

interrumpí somrihent la Presidenta.— ¡Tant de bó que ho logréssim
tan sols la meytat de las vegadas que ho solicitém!

—Pero vostés ho intentan, ho treballan y’s veu que moltas voltas

l’éxit corona los seus esforsos. Cregui que tot aixó m’ha cautivat
sobre manera, pero reconech que per pertanyer á aquesta Associació
es precís á més de poguer disposar de medis pecuniaris, un talent, un
tacte…
—¡Cá! No ho cregui. Per ésser de las Conferencias no’s necessitan
més que las tres cosas que recomana Sant Vicens de Paul. Caritat,
Caritat y Caritat.

Com vosté pot compendre, entre quaranta duas sócias que avuy
compta la nostra Conferencia, n’hi ha de moltas intel·ligencias y
posicions, y no n’hi ha una sola que deixi de ferhi lo seu bon servey.
Es com un ram de flors en lo que aixís hi dona la seva fragancia la
aristocrática gardenia, com la humil maría-lluísa; aixó deixant de
banda que la forsa de la caritat es prodigiosa: senyora hi há, que si
vosté hi enrahonava, li semblaría que es una intel·ligencia que no
arriva á mitjana, y si jo li comptava las cosas que ha lograt per los
seus pobres y la sutilitat de la seua diplomacia, per reconciliar lo
marit ab la muller, los fills ab los pares y fins lo fadrí despedit ab
l’amo enutjat, se’n faria creus. Caritat de cor, d’ánima ¡res més que
Caritat! Miri, hi há sócias que la Conferencia se’n refía pe’ls diners,
altras per las influencias, altras pe’l temps que poden dedicarshi,
altras per la bona voluntat; y de tots aquestos elements que
disgregats se pot assegurar que foran molt poca cosa,
cooperativament, gracias á la ajuda de Deu, á la emulació y á la forsa
imitativa del exemple, naix aquest tot que á vosté li apar tan
admirable. Y vaig á dirli una cosa de la que’n tinch plena convicció:
un dels elements que més bé podrian fer á la nostra obra, es lo de las
senyoretas solteras que passan dels trenta anys y las viudas sense
fills. La dona deslligada de las obligacions més íntimas de la familia,
que arrossega entre la efervescencia del mon la buydor y lo aislament
del seu estat, seria una adquisició per las Conferencias, á las que hi
podrian fer un gran bé, consagranthi la forsa de la seua joventut, de
la seua inteligencia y dels seus sentiments, fent de pas la felicitat de
son cor ab una hermosa manera d’omplir la buydor de la seua vida.

—Vosté te molt talent y molta amabilitat, senyora —interrumpí la

Montserrat— y tinch por de que no li costaria de convéncem…

—Pero jo tampoch desitjo catequisarla de moment. M’ estimo més

que primer ho vegi sobre’l terreno, que fassi la práctica de lo que
acaba de sentir —digué la Presidenta; y girantse envers la germana
del doctor Valls li preguntá:

—Vosté Balbina ¿ab quí visita?

—Ab la senyora Agulló.

—Perfectament. Fassin las visitas juntas, y si en lo camp práctich li

agrada tant la nostra obra, com en la sessió que ha presenciat avuy,
tindré molt gust en proposarla la vinenta setmana.

Pochs minuts després la Montserrat caminava carrer d’Aragó amunt,

entre donya Balbina Valls y la senyora Agulló, que apesar de las
escusas de la neófita s’empenyaren en portarla al mitg de totas duas.
Al arribar al carrer del Bruch la senyora Agulló, preguntá á la sua
companya.— ¿Visitém á la Treno primer, ó á la Roca?

—Casi si á vosté li venia be, preferia anar primer á la meua —digué

donya Balbina,— perque dins del manguito porto una camiseta de
llana del meu germá pe’l noy de la Roca y no’m deixa ficar be las
mans; y com lo fret se deixa sentir…
—Com vulgui; com vulgui —repetí la senyora Agulló. Ho deya, per
dirigirnos cap á la dreta ó cap á l’esquerra; donchs crech que la seua
pobre está molt per munt.

—¿Vosté no l’ha visitada may?

—No; sols la conech per lo que he sentit parlar d’ella en la

Conferencia á vosté y á la senyora Santmartí.

—¡Y tant que convé que vosté la vegi á aquesta familia! —feu la
senyora Valls.

—¡Jo!

—Vosté, vosté. Es una pobre que interessa sobre manera y jo estich

segura, que una volta l’hagi visitada, vosté fará lo que ha fet per
tantas altres.

La senyora Agulló semblá compendre perfectament lo que’s volia

d’ella y digué:

—Per lo mateix que ho he fet per tantas, ja no sé com lograrho per

cap més. Tinch por d’abusar massa… y més que tot, me consta que lo
que aquestos senyors, comensaren per una cantitat ja molt crescuda,
ha arribat á triplicarse y quintuplicarse, y que per lo tant costa
moltíssim de que acceptin cap pobre nou.

—Ja’n sé alguna cosa d’aixó; pero en fí vosté veurá á aquesta pobre

viuda y estich certa que hi fará lo que pugui y Nostre Senyor se
cuydará de lo demés. Miri, ja hi havém arribat —feu donya Balbina,
dirigintse á una casa de pobre apariencia de las últimas edificadas en
lo carrer del Bruch.

—¿Saben que mirant l’ensanxe de pas, ningú diria que hi visquessin

pobres tant necessitats, ni que entre mitj de tanta llum y de tanta
esplendidesa, hi hagin aquestas escalas tan foscas, tan encofornadas
y brutas? —saltá la Montserrat fixantse que després del primer tram
d’esgrahons, la escala que pujavan á més d’anarse estrenyent fins á
uns vuytanta centímetres, estava plena de pols, papers, encenalls y
altres immundicias per l’estil.

—Vaja, ja conech que será bona observadora —digué donya Balbina

que á causa de patir d’ofech, tenia que reposar una estoneta á cada
replá— sens que ningú’n fassi esment, sembla estrany com lo visitar
pobres predisposa á la observació y á fer filosofías. Apesar de que la
nostra feyna es sempre pe’ls voltans de las Salesas, com també nos
donan lo seu que fer las porterías y quints pisos dels extréms del
carrer de Lauria, Bruch, Girona, Concell de Cent y Valencia, y entre
ells hi há també las seuas casas de luxo y fins los seus palaus, quan
un baixa de veure tantas miserias, involuntariament se li ocorren
ideas, que estich segura es impossible las concebeixi qui no s’hagi
dedicat á la tasca de visitar pobres. ¡Quants miracles se podrian
realisar ab lo concurs de tots los que tenen cor y possibles per
ferho!… En fí ja li he dit que aquest terreno —feu la senyora Valls
arrivant al replá del quint pis y trucant en la última de las quatre
portas que hi havia arrengleradas— fá acudir á la imaginació moltas
ideas que la gent que no veuhen més pobres, que’ls que corran pe’ls
carrers ne diuhen utópias ó follías…
Ab lo mohiment de trucar, la porta que sols estava ajustada se mitj
obrí, y una noyeta d’uns quatre anys flaca y esgroguehida, tragué’l
cap per la escletja y després de deixarla oberta de bat á bat, se ficá
endintre cridant ab tó d’alegria.

—¡Mare! ¡Mare! ¡Las senyoras de la setmana entrant!

—Aquesta criatura com que al despedirnos dihem sempre: “Fins á la

setmana entrant” nos ho ha deixat per nom —feu donya Balbina tot
ficantse per un estret corredor que acabava ab una petita sala ab
arcoba.

Unas cortinas de indiana ratlladas de blanch y vermell que tapavan

lo llit; una taula de fusta pintada, sis ó set cadiras, de diferentas
formas y edats, segons se veya per ésser unas bastant més vellas que
las altres; un bagul y un mitj armari, que’s coneixia devia haver
tingut en son temps lo seu corresponent sócol y al que á més
d’aquest, hi mancava mitja porta, constituhía lo moblatje del quarto,
que rebia llum per un petit balcó, obstruhit en aquells moments, per
una corda plena de roba á mitg assecar, que una dona d’uns trenta
set á trenta vuyt anys, anava girant á fí d’aixugarla més prompte.

Tan aviat entraren las senyoras, la dona tancá com pogué’l balcó y
s’apressá á donarlos cadiras, cercant las més novas y reforsadas.

—No s’amohini, Juliana; en qualsevulla estarém be —digué

carinyosament donya Balbina, deixant á las seuas companyas que
feyan festas á la criatura, las duas més bonas, y assentantse ella en
una de mitjaneta, foradada del assiento.
—Pero ¡Si hi estará malament! —feu la dona.

—¿Qué creu que s’hi pot caure?

—¡Tant com aixó!…

—Donchs no s’amohini, y díguins com está desde dilluns passat…

—Tant malament com vulgui —respongué secament la dona,

assentantse entre mitj de las senyoras y creuhant las mans sobre la
falda.

—¿Y aixó? ¿Qué hi ha de nou?

—Desde’l dimecres que tinch lo noy al llit…

—¡En Quimet! y donchs ¿qué té? ¿Qué no ha anat á cercar al metje?

—Lo divendres veyent que li havia donat sal de Madrit y que encara
estava de la mateixa manera, vaig anar á cercar al metje de la
Conferencia.

—Ben fet ¿Y qué li ha dit?

—Li va receptar una medicina, la prengué y’l dijous lo trobá més

aliviat y me va dir que li fes caldo, y que li donés com més bó mellor.
¡Figuris quin caldo li puch donar jo! Vosté sab com estich de diners y
del dolor reuma, que la major part dels dias me té ab un crit etern,
sens deixarme bellugar… La setmana passada, de tres pessetas que’m
guanya’l noy, com que estigué malalt y no hi aná més que al principi,
l’amo no me’n doná més que una… Jo ab los dias que m’he trobat
menos malament, entre la setmana passada y aquesta, he guanyat
cinch rals al safreig ¡y ab tot aixó compri quan menos pa!… ¡Y’l
procurador ha vingut avuy, dihent que l’amo no vol esperar un dia
més! ¡que si no pago me treurá al carrer!… ¡Y jo casi voldria que ho
fes! Si á la nit nos troban al mitj de la via, pot esser que’ns recullin
y’ns portin á un lloch ó altre… Dech tres mesos de lloguer de casa ¡y
jo no sé pas de que pagar, ni aquets, ni’ls altres que vingan!…

—Vaja, vaja, Juliana, ja veig que estém fins al cap de amunt…

Paciencia! ¡paciencia y Deu provehirá!

—Ja fa molt temps, que Deu no se’n recorda de mí…

—Vaja que aixó no es pas veritat —feu afectuosament donya Balbina.

Y girantse envers las seuas duas companyas, que no s’havian atrevit á
bestreure en la conversa, la senyora Agulló per desconeixer la
situació de la pobre, que per primera volta visitava, y la Montserrat
perque la emoció la tenia corpresa, las digué:

—Ab la pobra Juliana, fa molt temps que Nostre Senyor hi pensa; y

ella es molt bona, y s’ho pren ab resignació; pero de tant en tant,
s’exalta y ella mateixa s’engrandeix las cosas, y encara es pitjor.
Perque vaja, ab quatre anys que fá que es viuda y quatre anys que la
Conferencia l’ajuda, es veritat que ha passat moltas penas, perque
una pobra dona ab tres fills, (dos y un que se li morí l’any passat),
pera pujarlos no més que ab lo seu guany, li costa molts fatichs, pero
lo cert es que’l noy que tenia nou anys, ja’n te tretse; y ja es aprenent
y guanya alguna coseta y cada dia guanyará més; y com Deu l’ha
protegida per passar aquestos quatre anys, la protegirá d’aquí
endavant si ella no’s desespera…
—Jo ja ho voldria no desesperarme —feu la dona, bon xich aplacada,
per las rahons de la senyora Valls,— pero quan me veig que á sobre
de totas las meuas penas, ara se m’hi afegeix la poca salut del noy,
me desespero y’m surto de tino y no sé lo que’m dich ni lo que’m
passa pe’l enteniment. ¿Cóm vol que ho pensi, que’l noy guanyará
més, si’l veig tan poca cosa y que’ls remeys que’l metje’m diu que
necessita per reforsarse, jo no’ls hi puch comprar? ¡Tenir un fill
malalt, y no poguerli donar lo que necessita per curarse, per viure, es
horrorós! —afegí la pobra dona, rompent en un mar de plors.

—En los grans mals Deu ajuda —digué la senyora Agulló prenent per
primera volta la paraula, tot aixugant duas llágrimas que li
humitejavan los ulls.

—¡Ay, á mí no m’ajuda ningú! —feu altra volta la dona plorant

sempre— jo ja sé de molts pobres que tenen uns senyors que los hi
pagan lo lloguer del pis. ¡Ay Deu meu! ¡Lo lloguer, que es lo que mata
als pobres! pero á mí ja ho sab donya Balbina, llevat de vostés y la
Beneficencia de la Parroquia, ¡ningú, ningú m’aussilia en res!

—L’ aussilia Nostre Senyor que no l’ha deixada, ni la deixará may:

que de totas aquestas llágrimas, n’hi fá en lo cel una corona, que tal
volta no tindrém nosaltres, y que vosté si sufreix las seuas penas ab
resignació, la disfrutará al costat del fill que ja hi té y d’aquestos dos
si sap criarlos com Deu mana. ¡Vaja, no s’afligeixi més! que d’aixó
sols se’n treu ferse malbé’ls ulls y esverar aquestas pobras criaturas,
que necessitan que vosté las animi.

—¡Ay Deu meu! ¿Cóm volen que m’animi si ara á falta de penas, se
m’hi ha afegit la d’aquesta criatura que está morta de necessitat, que
li tinch de fer caldo? y ¡mirin! ¡mirin! —repetí la Juliana altra volta
bon tros exaltada, girant dessobre de sa falda la butxaca de las
faldillas de la que’n caygueren vuyt ó deu céntims.— ¡Es tot lo que
tinch á casa!

—Aixó ray, aixó ray —feu donya Balbina tot aixecantse. Y dirigintse á
una porta del costat de l’arcoba preguntá:— ¿Es aquí en Quimet?

—No senyora —respongué la pobra, seguint darrera d’ella y apartant

las cortinas de indiana.— He tingut de posarlo en lo meu llit, perque
á lo menos, aquí hi tinch márfega, que en lo seu catre no hi ha més
que la tela…

—Pero dona, dona, ¿perqué no m’havia dit qu’en Quimet no tenia

márfega? —esclamá donya Balbina, atansantse al capsal del llit del
noy.— De la mateixa manera que la Conferencia li doná la de vosté, li
hauria donat la d’en Quimet…

—Com sempre tinch de demanar tantas cosas, ¡me fá pena, amohinar

tant!… Y ja sap que la meua, si no hagués estat per la malaltia de la
noya tampoch l’hauria demanada…

—Mal fet; mal fet; —digué la senyora Agulló, que junt ab la nevoda de
mossen Jaume, s’havian atansat als peus del llit— vosté, tot lo que
necessiti ho demana; nosaltres, no’ns amohinem, sino de no poguer
donar tot lo que voldriam. Pero si no’s pot fer tot, á voltas se fa una
mica… y val més una mica, que res. Márfegas, llensols, flassadas, la
Conferencia no’n te tantas com ne voldria; pero per una necessitat
forta, ¡sempre n’hi ha alguna de mal desada!…
—Y donchs, Quimet ¿cóm te trobas? —preguntá donya Balbina al
noy, qui al veure á las senyoras s’havia enfonsat en lo llit, cubrintse
ab la manta, fins més amunt dels ulls.

—¡Home! ¡Quimet! Respon —feu la mare, apurada, al veure que’l seu

fill, en lloch de respondre, havia acabat per taparse tot lo cap.

—¡Déixil estar, que deu dormir! Un altre dia, quan estará més bo, ja
coneixerá que lo que está fent, quan hi ha senyoras que l’estiman y
que s’interessan per ell, no está gayre be ¡y no ho fará més! —digué
somrihent donya Balbina. Y sortint de la arcoba y girantse envers á
sa mare afegí:

—Avuy nosaltres anirém á avisar á la Caritat Cristiana, que li donará

bonos de carn y gallina; mes com aixó ja no ho tindrá fins demá y al
noy li convé’l caldo, d’aquí á una hora, arribis fins á casa ab una olla
mitjaneta y n’hi donaré per avuy. Demá ¡Deu provehirá! Y quan
aquest noy estiga bo, s’haurá de veure si’l pot seguir ó no l’ofici de
manyá… A mi’m sembla que te poca robustesa per aquest treball; y
allavors n’hi haurém de cercar un altre…

—¡Ay! ¡prou fa temps que’l metje m’ho diu aixó! ¿Pero com ho haig
de fer pobra de mí? Si ab las tres pessetas que’m porta cada setmana,
me trobo ab aquestos apuros ¿cóm ho faré sense cap? Perque d’aquí
á que ab un altre ofici me las guanyi… ¿y’l lloguer? ¿Y’l pá, que se
me’n menjan un y mitj cada dia? ¡No hi ha remey, ha de fer com jo
que estich plena de dolor y haig de rentar! Ell ha de seguir ab l’ofici
¡no hi ha més! y encara que’l vegi que se’m mor ¡jo, jo mateixa tinch
que caragolarli’l dogal! —esclamá la dona tornant ab major forsa á
abandonarse al seu sentiment.
—Vaja ¡que Nostre Senyor, no vol que la gent se desesperi d’aquest
modo! —feu la senyora Agulló bon tros afectada, passant
carinyosament la má per la espatlla de la pobre. Demanin al Sagrat
Cor de Jesús y á Sant Joseph que es lo protector dels pobres y tinga
confiansa, que quan Deu tanca una porta, diu que Maria Santíssima
n’obra una altra. Y ¡també la obrirá per vosté! Entretant digui al
procurador, que una volta que tants dias s’ha esperat, que prenga
paciencia fins á la setmana entrant, que nosaltres demanarém á la
Conferencia que li pagui algún lloguer atrassat; y després se fará lo
que’s puga per veure si’s pot alcansar per via del bon Almoyner
d’aquestos senyors, que vosté diu que sab que fan tant be als pobres,
que li donguin alguna coseta per ajudarli á pagar lo lloguer de la
casa…

—¡Ay, si Deu ho volia! ¡Si María Santissima me fes aquesta gracia!

¡Lo lloguer! ¡Lo lloguer que es lo que mata als pobres! —esclamá la
dona plena d’alegria ab aquell raig d’esperansa.

Donya Balbina contentíssima interiorment, de las paraulas de la seua

companya, en las que hi veya realisarse lo seu generós intent, doná’ls
bonos á la pobre, dos borregos á la criatura y’s despedí tot fentlos la
promesa de tornar l’endemá á veure’l noy.

La Montserrat que havia sortit de casa, no portant més que duas

pessetas que havia tirat á la bossa, al ferse la col·lecta de la
Conferencia, visiblement emocionada per la escena que acabava de
presenciar y per haberse vist en la impossibilitat de socórrela, al
tornar á pendre lloch en lo carrer entre sas duas companyas
d’escursió esclamá ab la habitual impetuositat de son carácter:
—Conech que jo ¡no serviria pas per sócia de las Conferencias! Aixó
tant sols se pot fer portant una butxaca ben plena, per remediar
aquestos horrors socials…

—Lo mateix vaig dir jo la primera vegada que vaig fer visitas de
Conferencia —feu calmosament donya Balbina.

—Y jo —afegí ab lo mateix ayre la senyora Agulló.

—A totas las senyoras que visitan per primera vegada se’ls hi acut lo
que acaba de dir vosté; pero quan se convencen que aixó, com la
major part de las cosas d’aquest mon, qui las fá casi sempre es qui
menos condicions materials té per ferlas, cambian de pensament.

—Perque estarán en altres condicions que jo; perque á falta de diners

sabrán trobar com vostés mateixas paraulas de consol, que á mi
encara que se m’haguessen acudit, no hauria pogut dirlas, perque jo
á n’aquesta dona com una tonta, no li he sapigut obrir la boca. Crega
que lo únich que hauria pogut fer era plorar ab ella.

—Lo que proba que vosté está en possessió de la primera qualitat

que’s necessita pera visitar pobres, que te cor; y que per lo tant,
pensaria que val més fer bonament lo que’s pot que no fer res;
perque, veu, nosaltres en aquesta visita de primer moment sembla
que havem fet molt poca cosa, pero anantho reflexionant ja’s troba
que no es tan poch; puig que la caritat com te sempre l’ajuda de Deu,
molt sovint fa miracles. Aqueixa dona demá tindrá carn y gallina y la
senyora Agulló que ha presenciat l’apremiant necessitat d’aquesta
infelis mare, jo ja sé que posará tota la seua influencia per alcansarli
una de las almoynas que mensualment reparteix la caritativa familia
de qui ella nos ha parlat; y si lo que no es probable, no li fos possible
lograrho, ella y jo y vosté també, cercariam manera de obtenirla de
qualsevulla persona, de las que la experiencia en l’exercici de la
caritat nos diu que se las troba quan se las té de menester; y en ultim
cás l’assistiríam nosaltres; si no podia ésser ab vuyt, fora en cinch ó
en tres, pero sempre ab la seguretat de que la nostra conciencia nos
diría que havém obrat molt mellor ajudantla ab la nostra petitísima
cooperació, que abandonantla en lo seu desespero. Perque aixó que
diuhen molts, de que no volen visitar pobres, perque no están en
condicions de tréurels de la miseria, es posarse al nivell del metje que
deixés morir al malalt pera no véurel patir. ¡Ah Montserrat!, cregui
que es molt diferent sapiguer una necessitat ó véurela ab los propis
ulls y estiga certa de que no hi há res tant ingeniós com la caritat, ni
cosa tant súptil en escusas com l’egoisme ó l’indiferencia…

Enfront de la realitat y de la claríssima manera d’expressarla, la noya

Gil bon xich més reposada de la seua emoció, trobá que donya
Balbina parlava maravellosament, y deixantse portar d’aquella falda
de cabells blanchs y mantellina de manto, l’acompanyá la tarde del
mateix dia á la casa del encarregat de la Caritat Cristiana del barri y á
la visita d’altras duas familias de pobres de la Conferencia, deixant
pera l’endemá l’anar á cercar una fé de baptisme á la parroquia de
Santa Madrona y gestionar ab una bona senyora la manera de
desempenyar un farcell de roba d’abrich al Montepío de la Mare de
Deu de la Esperansa.

A dos quarts de nou del vespre la Montserrat, plé’l cor de la impresió

de las visitas que havia fet aquell dia, y de la idea de que la seua
existencia, anava desde aquell moment á tenir també sa noble utilitat
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