Manuel Ignacio Santa Cruz Loidi (1842–1926) was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest. For some 35 years he served on apostolic mission in Colombia, where he was heading a parish in rural interior of the Pasto province; for some 15 years he held also various minor posts in Jamaica. He is best known, however, for his activity in 1872-1873, when he commanded a Carlist guerilla unit during the civil war in Spain. As "cura Santa Cruz" (priest Santa Cruz) or simply as "El Cura" (The Priest) he gained notoriety for cruelty and in the Spanish public discourse of the late 19th century he became a symbol of savage brutality. In this role – though also with a grade of ambiguity - he featured as a protagonist in a few great works of Spanish Modernist literature of the early 20th century and became a mythical figure long before his own death.
Family and youth
Manuel Santa Cruz Loidi was descendant to Basque rural working-class families; generations of his ancestors were farmers living in the Oria river valley, in the Gipuzkoan county of Tolosa. His paternal grandfather Pascual de Santa Cruz was a native of Andoain yet he settled in Elduain, probably on the economy of his wife María Bautista Sarove. Their son and the father of Manuel Ignacio, Francisco Antonio Santa Cruz Sarove (1784-1842), in 1824 married Juana Josefa Loidi Urrestarazu (1803–1871); she was the daughter of Miguel Ignacio Loidi, a native of Amezketa, and María Ignacia Urrestarazu, who originated from Orendain.Juan de Olazabal y Ramery, El Cura Santa Cruz Guerrillero, San Sebastián 1979, p. 71, referred after Iñigo Pérez de Rada Cavanilles, La Partida del Cura Santa Cruz y su Bandera, [in:] Noticias Carlistas service, 16.06.2011, available here The couple lived in Elduain; their caserio, known as Zamonea, was among the poorer ones in the village.Gaëtan Bernoville, La cruz sangrienta. Historia del cura Santa Cruz, Tafalla 2000, , p. 18 It is not clear how many children they had, though according to some sources Manuel Ignacio was not their only child and he had at least one sister.unknown by name, a sister of Manuel Santa Cruz was reportedly a protagonist of one of his wartime episodes, exchanged for a Liberal official Following the death of her husband María Ignacia remarried with a widower Juan Ignacio Betelu Muñagorri (1795–1861); it is not clear whether they had any offspring.Pérez de Rada Cavanilles 2011
Manuel was raised by his mother and step-father and initially did not differ from other village boys. It is not clear where he was first educated; at some stage he was taken care of by his much older paternal cousin, a local priest Francisco Antonio Sasiain Santa Cruz (1812–1898); he taught the teenager Latin and apparently directed him towards the religious career.according to some sources Francisco Antonio Sasiain Santa Cruz was the uncle of Manuel Santa Cruz, Bernoville 2000, p. 18 Indeed, in 1861 Manuel entered the seminary in Vitoria; during the first 3 years he was obtaining high grades and was rewarded with the meritissimus title; later his performance worsened, reportedly due to health problems.Bernoville 2000, p. 20 He was ordained as a priest in 1866 and posted to Hernialde, a village a few miles from his native one. According to some sources he was first nominated a coadjutor;Pérez de Rada Cavanilles 2011 other authors claim he initially acted as a vicar.Bernoville 2000, p. 20 Following the death of the parish priest it was Santa Cruz who became his successor at an unspecified time in the late 1860s; he allegedly assumed his duties with frenetic energy and as a spiritual shepherd he tended to rigidity, himself adhering to an austere living pattern.
Since his father had served as a Carlist volunteer during the last civil warPérez de Rada Cavanilles 2011 and since legitimist sympathies prevailed among the rural Gipuzkoan folk,compare e.g. the Basque folk rhymes, gathered in Antoni Zavala (ed.), Karlisten Bigarren Gerrateko bertsoak, Oiartzun 1997, it is likely that Manuel from his youth was growing in an ambience strongly flavored with Carlism.Bernoville 2000, pp. 17–20 His position was probably strengthened during the seminary years, as Carlism was popular also among the lower and regular clergy of the province.Basque and Navarrese seminars and religious orders of the time are considered "foco de integrismo religioso", Iñaki Anasagasti, El cura Santa Cruz, [in:] Ianasagasti blog service, available here, see also Juan Cruz Labeaga Mendiola, Memorias de exilio de un clérigo carlista (1858-1869), [in:] Príncipe de Viana 59 (1998), p.829 In line with the Traditionalist outlook Santa Cruz assumed a decisively hostile stand towards the 1868 revolution, from behind the pulpit lambasting the new regime as an ungodly, depraved system.Bernoville 2000, p. 27 His inflammatory sermons gained him attention of the authorities; in October 1870 a Guardia Civil patroldetails of the episode differ; some authors claim there were just two civiles, see e.g. Bernoville 2000, p. 27; other maintain there were some 20–30 officials deployed to detain Santa Cruz, Roman Oyarzun, La historia del carlismo, Madrid 1969, p. 331 showed up in Hernialde to detain him after a Sunday Mass. Santa Cruz took advantage of a somewhat loose approach of his captors and fled, in a few days crossing to France.the escape served as the first in a long string of anecdotes which used to build the later Santa Cruz’ legend. When approached by the civiles by the end of the mass Santa Cruz asked whether he could have breakfast and suggested that they have some chocolate with him. As they declined Santa Cruz led them to the clergy house and left both at the ground floor, going upstair allegedly to change. He then jumped out of the first floor window, Bernoville 2000, pp. 27–28
Guerilla leader
Following some 18 months of exile in Bayonne,Juantxo Egaña, Las imágenes de Ladislas Konarzewski, [in:] juantxoegaña service 31.12.09, available here in 1872–73 Santa Cruz was taking part in the guerilla warfare prior and during the Third Carlist War. His record falls into 4 separate strings: from April till May 1872,when the unit of his commander Recondo surrendered in May 1872 Santa Cruzed refused to follow suit and fled from June till August 1872,in August 1872 he was captured by governmental troops; he managed to escape from a building in Aramaio he was held at from the balcony and then spent many hours (numbers given vary up to "the whole day") under a bridge in the ice-cold river, for long periods all under water and breathing with a straw; he then made it to the French border. Except the Enderlaza carnage, the Aramaio episode is probably the best-known chapter of Santa Cruz' wartime history and the key one building his myth. For one of the accounts see Bernoville 2000, pp. 45–49 from December 1872 till July 1873,the first half of 1873 was the climax of Santa Cruz' activity, with some 20 belligerent episodes noted between January and June; he decided to abandon arms under pressure from the Carlist high command and in December 1873,following few idle months in the French Pyrenees Santa Cruz gave in to the pressure of his men and returned to arms, but December 1873 was pretty uneventful and following another showdown with Lizarraga ended with the last and ultimate withdrawal into France all separated by periods of taking refuge in France. Initially, he joined a unit led by a Carlist veteran Pedro Recondo; serving as a chaplain, Santa Cruz was gaining experience in rural irregular tactics. Since the summer of 1872 he was leading his own troops; initially the group consisted of some 15–25 men, but later it grew and in literature is estimated at 200,Narración militar de la guerra carlista de 1869 à 1876, Madrid 1883, p. 370 500, or even 1,000, with an informal, in-between command structure built up. The detachment was rather loosely incorporated into the Carlist war effort; at early stages it was assigned a vague task of "guarding the Northern borderline" by the legitimist general staff, yet it seems that the unit retained great autonomy and operated independently.
In military terms the activity of Santa Cruz’ unit consisted of harassing the enemy logistics network and raiding minor garrisons.according to a contemporary historian the unit of Santa Cruz "was among the most efficient ones" when it comes to sabotage actions, Jose Andres-Gallego (ed.), Historia general de España y América vol. XVI/2, Madrid 1981, , p. 253 The former included disrupting postal service,by ambushes against postal stagecoaches or destroying postal stations arms transports,e.g. on August 6, 1872 Santa Cruz and his unit ambushed an arms transport from Mondragón, seizing some 50 Berdan and Remington rifles, see Narración militar de la guerra carlista de 1869 à 1876, Madrid 1883, p. 202 or railway connections;the unit of Santa Cruz was derailing trains and demolishing railway terminals, e.g. on January 18, 1873 the Santa Cruz unit attacked the railway station in Hernani and burnt it down the latter included descending upon smaller locationse.g. in June 1872 he took control of Azcoitia or in February 1873 he raided Deva and destroying archives, pillaging Guardia Civil or Carabineros posts, abducting local officials, and staging shows of prowess. The Liberal high command was forced to diminish their frontline strength and to assign more troops to vigilance and patrol duties. However, in line with his guerilla strategy Santa Cruz avoided open confrontation against enemy forces; cases of accepting a battle usually resulted in defeat, e.g. in Aia.for detailed though apparently biased acoount, which portrays the Aia episode as a treason on part of Lizarraga, see Bernovilla 2000, pp. 69–79 When facing enemy roundup Santa Cruz used to disband his group and to set re-assembly terms; taking advantage of perfect familiarity with the mountainous Gipuzkoan countryside and support of the local population, he kept evading the governmental chase. Santa Cruz operated across all the province of Gipuzkoa, though he was noted also in neighboring areas of Biscay,e.g. in August 1872 Santa Cruz operated in the region of Arrazola, Iñaki Anasagasti, Algunas peripecias del cura Santa Cruz, [in:] Ianasagasti blog service, available here Álava, and particularly Navarre.in the Navarrese town of Vera de Bidasoa he set up one of his headquarters