page_title: José Roca y Ponsa
section_title: Reception and legacy
hierarchical_section_title: José Roca y Ponsa / Reception and legacy
caption_attribution_description: Español: José Roca y Ponsa, magistral de Sevilla
context_page_description: José Roca y Ponsa, 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 and Seville, 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.
context_section_description: Until the late 1890s Roca y Ponsa was known locally and appreciated in Catholic circles of Las Palmas and Sevilla for his unyielding, well-delivered sermons. It was the 1899 Sancha–Spínola controversy which catapulted him to nationwide notoriety; Traditionalist dailies saluted him as righteous Christian, while progressist papers ridiculed him as reactionary relic. The issue was formally brought before the Vatican; the pronouncement of the Extraordinary Congregation for Ecclesiastic Affairs, which somewhat ambiguously sided with Sancha, was welcomed with relief in governmental circles; also the regent Maria Christina spoke out. The debate demonstrated that Roca was not isolated among the Spanish clergy, and at one point it seemed that the episcopate was uncertain about the way forward. However, in the following decades the Church opted for a moderate political strategy; Roca’s defeat was sealed by another official Vatican pronouncement of 1911; it stated that though doctrinally correct, his writings were not official political recommendations for Catholics. Since the 1910s Roca remained a champion of Catholic virtues only for extreme right-wing groupings like Integrists or Carlists. 
  Save for a single article written during early Francoism, after death Roca y Ponsa generally fell into oblivion. He has been only marginally present in the Carlist discourse. A 1961 collective work listed him among all-time masters of Traditionalism. It seems that in the 1970s in Seville there was an organisation named Fundación Roca y Ponsa, yet there is nothing known about its activity. In the 1990s the Canarian Carlists attempted to revive his memory; they set up Círculo Tradicionalista Roca y Ponsa in Las Palmas, launched a project on Catholic counter-revolutionary thought on the islands and operated a dedicated web page. The initiative died out; there is only one minor biographic article on Roca and another one on his early writings from the 1870s. Currently he is mentioned – rather marginally – on some Traditionalism-flavored websites. Occasional religious publications dedicated to Las Palmas or Seville note his contributions, though usually only in passing. 
  In present-day historiography Roca features almost exclusively as a protagonist of the Sancha–Spínola affair. He is typically presented as representative of reactionary, sectarian currents, who advanced intolerant fanaticism and provoked a grave crisis between the archbishops of Toledo and Seville. He might also be noted as author of primitive, run-of-the-mill, anti-Darwinian tirades, failed contender in early discussions on Spanish political Catholicism, or a sample of ultramontanism. More favorably disposed scholars list him among theorists like Manterola, Mateos Gago and Sardá y Salvany or position him as a classical example of Integrism. In wide public discourse Roca is almost absent; if noted, he is mentioned as the one who triggered a conflict between two hierarchs. In 2012 he was unexpectedly elevated to protagonist of an urban legend in-the-making. A podcast series Milenio 3, focused on paranormal activity, suggested that a house in Villanueva de Ariscal, Roca’s home during his Seville tenure, was haunted; the authors floated gossip speculations about his private life. There is a street commemorating Roca in Las Palmas.
caption: Roca y Ponsa, 1910s
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