Claro Abánades López (12 August 1879 – 16 December 1973) was a Spanish journalist, publisher, historian and a Carlist activist. His career of a journalist lasted over 70 years (1897–1969), though he is rather known as author of studies on history of Alcarria and as editor of monumental multi-volume series of Juan Vázquez de Mella works.
Family and youth
Claro Abánades López was born to a working class family from Alcarria, a natural region covering mostly what is now the province of Guadalajara. His father, Pedro Abánades Jiménez (1847–1907), was a construction contractor."master de obras", La Torre de Aragón 15.01.07, available here Little is known about his mother, Antonia López del Rey.she was born in Anchuela del Pedregal to Mauricio López and María del Rey, see Claro Abánades' certificate of birth, available here The couple had 5 children, Claro born as the second oldest son; all were raised in a profoundly Catholic ambience. He was first educated in the local molinese Colegio de Santa Clara, a primary school ran by the Poor Clares order, later to join Colegio Molines de los Padres Escolapios (Escuelas Pias), a prestigious provincial secondary education establishment; it is there he gained the bachelor title.Juan Pablo Calero Delso, Claro Abánades López, [in:] Diccionario Biográfico de la Guadalajara Contemporánea online, 29.12.13, available here
Claro intended to pursue law in Madrid, but financial standing of his parents did not allow regular studies; in 1899 he entered Facultad de Derecho of Universidad Central (later to become Universidad Complutense) as an unenrolled student.Calero Delso 2013 Having graduated at an unspecified date he went on studying philosophy and letters, obtaining diploma in Sección de Historia in 1906.and later "doctorado" in philosophy in 1906, Gonzalo Díaz Díaz, Hombres y documentos de la filosofía española, vol. 1, Madrid 2003, , pp. 27-28 Some time afterwards he became a Doctor in both disciplines,Calero Delso 2013, Tomas Gismera Velasco, Claro Abánades Lopez, [in:] Biografias de gentes de Guadalajara 13.12.2013, available here in the Spanish education system of the time the title which enabled him to teach in primary or secondary schools.
Claro Abánades married Natalia Arpa, originating from Torrijos in the Toledo province. They initially lived in Molina de Aragón; in 1907 the family moved to Madrid, settling at calle Jesús del Valle in the university quarter.Calero Delso 2013 Claro was employed as professor at Colegio de la Concepción, a prestigious education institution for the privileged and the wealthy. The college remained his primary workplace for unspecified time; in the early 1930s he was already reported as headmaster of another Madrid secondary school, Colegio San Ildefonso, offering a complete Catholic curriculum from kindergarten to bachillerato,El Siglo Futuro 30.09.33, available here involved in education activities as late as in the early 1940s.in 1943 he was Director Técn. de la Sección de Bachillerato del Colegio de Terciarias Franciscanas de la Divina Pastora de Madrid, Claro Abánades López, La Madre Mogas: Bosquejo de una vida santa, Madrid 1943, front page, see here The couple had 3 children: Claro Pedro, Mariano and María de los Angeles. The older son, born already in Molina, worked as a journalist;Acción. Diario de Teruel y su provincia, 10.04.34, available here the younger one became a professor at another secondary school in Madrid.Juan Manuel Orozco, Don Mariano y la natación sincronizada, [in:] Colegia Infanta Maria Teresa service, available here; he graduated in 1926, see ABC 02.10.26, available here and was later very well remembered by his pupils, see huerfanosinfanta service, available here
Career
Abánades started his journalist career in 1897,in 1897 in the local La Cronica de Guadalajara he published a series of articles titled Geografia descriptiva del Señorio de Molina, Calero Delso 2013 gradually commencing co-operation with many provincial periodicals regardless of their political outlook.like a republican El Molinés, a liberal La Crónica, a Catholic Flores y Abejas and many others, though contributing most frequently to La Ilustración Diocesana Seguntina, the first periodical he joined as member of the editorial board, Calero Delso 2013 His contributions ranged from history to politics, literature and customs; touring the province he also kept sending local correspondence.at one point he had to flee one of the locations, Maranchón, whose inhabitants found his correspondence on the town, published in La Crónica, offending, Calero Delso 2013 In 1906 he co-foundedAngel Monterde Navarro a petty new journal, La Torre de Aragón;an 8-page weekly edited from his house at Calle del Chorro, Calero Delso 2013 though not defined politically,the authors defined themselves as "católicos sinceros" holding the banner of "patria y honor', La Torre de Aragón entry at emerotecadigital service, available here it pursued a social-Catholic line.e.g. promoting the campaign to set up Cajas Rurales in the comarca, Calero Delso 2013 Following differences with his partnerthe periodical ceased to exist in 1907, La Torre de Aragón entry at Hemerotecadigital service in 1908 he launched an own weekly, El Vigia de la Torre.though managed together with a local Carlist entrepreneur Clodoaldo Mielgo Castel, Calero Delso 2013 It assumed more militant tone, claiming to have been the unique genuinely Catholic periodical in the province.and having been allegedly published "con la aprobación y censura ecclesiástica", Calero Delso 2013 One work described it as Catholic, though formatted along the Integrist pattern;Calero Delso 2013 another one claims that both weeklies revealed a clear Carlist leaning.Juan Pablo Calero Delso, Los curas trabucaires. Iglesia y carlismo en Guadalajara (1868–1876), [in:] Iglesia y religiosidad en España: historia y archivos : actas de las V Jornadas de Castilla-La Mancha sobre investigación en archivos, Guadalajara 2001-2, , p. 375. Once he moved to the capital, Abánades was gradually losing control over El Vigia, which he ceased to support some time afterwards
In 1910–1914 in Madrid Abánades three times unsuccessfully attempted to launch a local weekly of the Carlist youth: Juventud Tradicionalista,as a private enterprise, Calero Delso 2013, Gismera Velasco 2013 El Combateofficial weekly of the Carlist youth organisation; only one number was issued, José Navarro Cabanes, Apuntes bibliográficos de la prensa carlista, Valencia 1917, pp. 276-7 and El Cruzado.Navarro Cabanes 1917, pp. 280-1 His career in full-blown national newspaper commenced in 1914, when he was invited to contribute to El Correo Español,Gismera Velasco 2013 the official Carlist daily.in terms of circulation it was laggining behind most popular national newspapers, but enjoyed some sort of prestige as having been in print for 28 years already Becoming member of its editorial board,Revista general de enseñanza y bellas artes 01.04.16, available here in 1919 Abánades left El Correo during the Mellista breakup in the party. The same year he became editor-in-chief of El Pensamiento Español,Gismera Velasco 2013 a journal intended to be the piecemouth of the new Mellist party, and kept managing the paper until it ceased to exist in 1923.Calero Delso 2013
During the dictatorship Abánades co-operated with a vast array of dailies, be it national ones like El Día and La NaciónCalero Delso 2013 or local ones, like the Gipuzkoan La ConstanciaLa Constancia 30.11.23, available here or the Toledan El Castellano,El Castellano 06.12.22 contributing also to weeklies like La Ilustración Española y Americana or Le Touriste and unsuccessfully renewing attempts to manage own periodicals.La Tribuna and Orden, Calero Delso 2013 During the Republic he contributed initially to La Correspondencia Militar, in 1932 emerging as its top commentator,La Correspondencia Militar 20.01.32, available here though starting 1933 he switched mostly to El Siglo Futuro, formally entering its editorial board.El Siglo Futuro 29.11.35, available here He kept publishing also in other Catholic papers, be it local dailies like Navarrese Diario de Navarra and even Canarian Gaceta de TenerifeGaceta de Tenerife 08.03.35, available here or weeklies like La Hormiga de oro.La Hormiga de Oro 25.08.32, available here He is not known to have published in two leading national newspapers, the monarchist ABC and the Catholic El Debate.
After the Civil War Abánades was active mostly in Prensa Asociata, the agency he formed part of already before the war and where he remained during the early Francoist years.Calero Delso 2013 He also briefly managed an unidentified periodical named "Lúmen"Calero Delso 2013 and collaborated with a number of other titles,e.g. in 1963 with Nueva Alcarria promoting tourism in the area, ABC 14.02.63, available here above all with El Alcázar,ABC 03.10.43, available here one of key dailies in the Falangist propaganda machinery.Calero Delso 2013, though he does not appear as engaged until at least 1948, see Jordi Rodriguez Virgili, La cooperativa del diario "El Alcázar", [in:] Historia y comunicación social 5 (2000), pp. 171-187 In the 1940s he became one of the seniors of the Spanish press corps; in 1947, 50 years after commencing his newspaper career, he was awarded the order of Alfonso X the Wise as "veterano periodista"ABC 22.04.47, available here and was later named Periodista de Honor by Asociación de la Prensa de Madrid,Gismera Velasco 2013 becoming its oldest member.ABC 18.07.75, available here His latest newspaper piece identified comes from 1969.Claro Abánades, Mella, cantor der Catolicismo, [in:] Portavoz del Circulo Vazquez de Mella 3 (1969), p. 10, available here
Journalist profile
Apart from privately owned, small and ephemeral newspapers, Abánades was heading a major periodical only during his 1919–1923 tenure at El Pensamiento Español; he is also known as forming part of editorial board of El Correo Español and El Siglo Futuro. None of the sources consulted claims he headed a section or held jobs in middle management editorial structures; in case of the remaining 30-odd titles he seems to have contributed as a correspondent. Though his juvenile pieces covered a wide range of topics, later on Abánades specialised in three areas.apart from purely editorial work and unsigned pieces; none of the sources consulted provides any information on his would-be pen-names He supplied weeklies and in some cases dailies with articles focusing on history of Spain and Castile in particular, often a byproduct of his own research.see e.g. La Hormiga de Oro 25.08.32 As editor-in-chief of El Pensamiento Español he took part in ongoing political debates, advocating political cause of the Mellistas; later on, during the 1920s and especially the 1930s, this thread was transformed as writings on history and doctrine of Traditionalism,see e.g. El Siglo Futuro 29.01.35, available here usually formatted as more or less direct homages to Vazquez de Mella.El Siglo Futuro 08.08.35, available here or El Siglo Futuro 26.02.34, available here However, he made his name mostly as foreign affairs commentator.even fairly distant ones, like the Chinese-Japanese war, see La Correspondencia Militar 02.02.32, available here