José Roca y Ponsa (1852–1938), known also as "Magistral de Sevilla", was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest. In historiography he is known mostly for his role in the 1899 conflict between the archbishops of Toledo and Seville. Catapulted to nationwide notoriety, in the early 1900s he was a point of reference for heated debates on religion and politics; today he is considered a representative of intransigent religious fundamentalism. Roca served as lecturing canon by the cathedrals of Las Palmas (1876-1892) and Seville (1892-1917), animated some diocesan periodicals, and published numerous booklets. He was one of very few nationally recognizable personalities of the Spanish Church who openly and systematically supported the Carlist cause, though he remained sympathetic also towards the Integrist breed of Traditionalism.
Family and youth
The ancient Catalan family of Roca became very branched throughout the centuries, with its representatives scattered across all of the region. It is not clear what particular line the ancestors of Roca y Ponsa followed; none of the sources consulted provides any information on his distant forefathers. It is established that his father, Cayetano Roca Subirachs (1828-1918),in some sources his segundo apellido is spelled as "Subirat", see e.g. La Gaceta de Tenerife 09.04.18, available here. However, the official death certificate of José Roca y Ponsa adheres to the "Subirachs" spelling, Partida de defunción de José Roca y Ponsa, [in:] Registro Civil de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 97-1 (95): 49 was a native of Vich; he formed part of the local bourgeoisie and in the mid-19th century either owned or otherwise operated a corset factory, manufacture or workshop.Coses del Vic vell (13 setembre 1863), [in:] Diari de Vic 05.05.1933, available here At an unspecified time he married Engracia Ponsa; nothing is known either about her or about her family. The couple settled at Calle de la Riera. It is not clear how many children they had; among José's siblings there was at least one brother CayetanoCayetano died in 1912, La Prensa 17.06.12, available here and two sisters, Dolores and Margarita.Dolores married Manuel González Martín, descendant to a bourgeoisie Las Palmas family. She died shortly afterwards and the widower married her sister, Margarita. The two commenced a prestigious Canarian branch of González Roca, José Miguel Alzola, Don José Roca y Ponsa, [in:] José Miguel Alzola, La Real Cofradia del Santísimo Cristo del Buen Fin y la Ermita del Espíritu Santo, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 1992, , p. 38. The niece of Roca y Ponsa, Carmen González Roca, was founder of Las Catequistas del Pino, Julio Sánchez Rodríguez, Curas Catalanes en Canarias, [in:] La Provincia. Diario de Las Palmas 05.12.17, pp. 8-9, available here
The children were brought up in a pious and religious home,Roca Subirachs was noted in 1871 as donating money to jubileo pontificio of Pio X, El Pensamiento Español 07.06.71, available here though there is no available information on José's childhood. A few sources claim that he “commenced ecclesiastic education” upon entering the local diocesan Vich seminary in 1861;B. de Artagan [Reinaldo Brea], Políticos del Carlismo, Barcelona 1903, p. 278, Juan María Roma (ed.), Album histórico del Carlismo, Barcelona 1933, p. 223 it is not clear whether at the age of 9 he was indeed admitted to the seminary or was rather attending a school run by local Church structures. Roca y Ponsa spent teenage years in his native town as a seminarian preparing for religious service. His education in Seminario de Vich was terminated in unclear circumstances, related to the fall of the Isabelline monarchy and the Glorious Revolution. Later, vague accounts suggest that in the early 1870s he was engaged either in the Carlist conspiracy or Carlist propaganda,“su adhesión al tradicionalismo catalán le crearon grandes dificultades con la Autoridad civil, viéndose obligado a abandonar aquella diócesis y a acogerse a la hospitalidad brindada por la de Canarias”, Alzola 1992, p. 38 and that “in times of political agitation, persecutions, deportations” Roca y Ponsa was “declared undesirable and expelled from the peninsula in order not to interfere in consolidation of revolutionary work”.Tradición 01.02.33, available here
Either in late 1872 or in early 1873 Roca y Ponsa and 3 other Vich seminarians were transferred to the seminary in Las Palmas; it is there he completed bachillerato in teología in 1873.José Miguel Barreto Romano, Manifestaciones de la división de los católicos durante el obispado de José Pozuelo y Herrero (1879-1890), [in:] Almogaren 22 (1998), p. 67 He became a deacon in 1874 and was ordained a priest in 1875;Roma 1933, p. 223, José Fermín Garralda Arizcun, José Roca y Ponsa, [in:] Real Academia de Historia service, available here he held his first Mass on 27 March 1875.La Gaceta de Tenerife 07.04.25, available here Between June and September Roca y Ponsa served as ecónomo in the Canarian village of Artenara, where in 1876 he ascended to párroco castrense. The same year, and following a brief spell on the peninsula, he obtained bachillerato, licenciatura and doctorado of canon law in Granada.Roma 1933, p. 223, Barreto Romano 1998, p. 67, Brea 1903; p. 278 Back on the Canary Islands he assumed teaching at the Las Palmas seminary, first as catedrático of Hermenéutica y Oratoria SagradaSánchez Rodríguez 2017, p. 8 but over the years having classes also in Latin, philosophy, Hebrew and dogmatics.Brea 1903, p. 278 Still in 1876 he passed exams for prebenda de Canónigo Lectoral by the Las Palmas cathedral.Sánchez Rodríguez 2017, p. 8
Ecclesiastic career
In Las Palmas Roca y Ponsa kept serving as lecturing canon by the cathedral and as catedrático by the local seminary. Another role he assumed was managing newly launched diocesan reviews.Roma 1933, p. 223, Jaime del Burgo, Bibliografia del siglo XIX. Guerras carlistas. Luchas políticas, Pamplona 1978, p. 438 He was gradually gaining recognition; in 1877 the Canary bishop José María Urquinaona nominated him head of the diocesan pilgrimage to Rome.Roma 1933, p. 223 Roca was also assuming prestigious roles during local ceremonies.e.g. in 1878 Roca spoke during the Las Palmas ceremony marking the death of Pius IX, Jesús Perez Plasencia, El pontificado de Pio IX visto por un cura ultramontano desde Canarias, [in:] Almogaren 22 (1998), p. 77 His position in the Las Palmas hierarchy was enhanced with the 1879 arrival of the new bishop, José Proceso Pozuelo;Proceso Pozuelo served in 1863-1865 as the canon in Vich; he knew Roca since his childhood and later turned into his promoter, Barreto Romano 1998, p. 67 in 1881 Pozuelo nominated him to sort out the politically sensitive question of the local cemetery.the Las Palmas bishop contested “usurpación del cementerio catolico” of 1868 by the then Junta Revolucionaria, Del Burgo 1978, p. 345 At the turn of the decades Roca launched a short-lived diocesan dailyDel Burgo 1978, p. 345 and then a bi-weekly,Del Burgo 1978, p. 846 which he managed until 1888.Agustín Millares Cantero, Anticlericales, masones y librepensadores en Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (1868-1931), [in:] Almogaren 22 (1998), p. 113 His militant articles aimed against the liberal regime cost him trial; in 1885 he was sentenced to living 3,5 years 25 km away from Las Palmas,the 1885 sentence was a follow-up of an 1883 article, published by Roca in La Revista de Las Palmas and titled El despotismo liberal; in very militant tone it protested official measures aimed against religious orders, Barreto Romano 1998, p. 69. Oddly enough, also in 1885 Roca was nominated by the official administration a Fiscal de la Subdelegación Castrense de Canarias, Brea 1903, p. 270 but it is not sure whether the sentence was enforced.the Las Palmas bishop tended to side with Roca, Barreto Romano 1998, p. 69 In 1890 Roca ascended to rectorship of Seminario de Canarias.Roma 1933, p. 223, Brea 1903, p. 279
In the early 1890s Roca was already basking in local prestige as a great preacher.Roca used to give 3 sermons per day; the last one was usually the most improvised one and was considered the best, Tradición 01.02.33, available here. His Las Palmas sermons have allegedly inspired Domingo Tejera de Quesada, then an 8-year-old boy later turned a Carlist propagandist, Tradición 01.02.35, available here However, for reasons which remain unclearit is not known whether Roca’s decision to leave Canarias was related to departure of bishop Urquinona, who in 1890 left the islands to assume the bishopry of Segovia he decided to leave the islands and applied for the position of canon at the Seville Cathedral. In 1892 he was nominated canonigo penitenciario,Roma 1933, p. 223 and in 1893 he took over Canongía Magistral.Roma 1933, pp. 223-224 His first years in Andalusia were uneventful, as in the mid-1890s he was noted merely for regular sermons.apart from the cathedral Roca preached also to various local institutions and organisations, e.g. in 1897 he was noted as speaking to Hermandad de Monserrate in Seville, ABC 26.03.94, available here Things changed in 1899 when Roca gained nationwide recognition following publication of his pamphlet directed against teachings of the primate, cardinal Sancha.in 1899 the archbishop of Toledo and the primate, cardenal Sancha, published an article which called the clergy and the Catholics to remain faithful and trust in the government of Sagasta. Roca responded with an anonymous booklet Observaciones que al capitulo XIII del opúsculo del cardenal Sancha ha inspirado a un ciudadano español, which claimed that the primate went off limits and that Catholics were free to follow their own political preferences, for details see e.g. Cristóbal Robles Muñoz, Maura, un político liberal, Madrid 1995, , pp. 92-100 Because it was wrongly assumed that the criticism was authorised by the Seville archbishop Spínolasince Roca’s Observaciones was published with the official “licencia ecclesiástica”, issued by the Seville archbishopry, Sancha assumed that Roca voiced on behalf of the Seville archbishop Marcelo Spínola, who was probably either unaware or vaguely aware of the content of the booklet. Later Sancha and Spínola got to know each other better, and in 1904, during coronation of Vírgen de los Reyes, a great Seville feast engineered by Spínola, it was Sancha who performed the act. This conciliatory gesture might be interpreted as some sort of apology on part of Spínola, ABC 04.12.2004, available here it caused a scandal and widespread debate.during the conflict, lasting for few months between 1899 and 1900, Roca’s “name reverberated across all Spain”, ABC 04.05.43, available here As a well-known personality he was then active in Catholic congresses staged in the early 1900s. Though he gained recognition bordering notoriety, Roca did not progress in terms of his ecclesiastical career, especially since in 1911 his new booklets triggered a negative response from the Vatican.Cristóbal Robles, Cristóbal Robles Muñoz, José María de Urquijo e Ybarra: opinión, religión y poder, Madrid 1997, , p. 288 Apart from his role of lecturing canon he assumed only some new teaching jobs in the local seminary,La Gaceta de Tenerife 07.04.25, available here at Hispalense,José-Leonardo Ruiz Sánchez, Catolicismo y comunicación en la historia contemporánea, Sevilla 2005, , p. 135 and at various private establishments.like Escuela de Comercio, Nicolás Salas, Sevilla, crónicas del siglo XX, Sevilla 1991, , p. 170