A Throne Rejected
From time to time over the past four centuries, the more fervent Spanish
Catholics have mounted a certain amount of agitation to have the Vatican
canonize Queen Isabela, under whose rule Spain spread Catholicism from
the Americas to the Philippines in the Pacific.
Perhaps these fervent Spanish Catholics believe it would be nice to have
a sovereign of Spain as a saint -- the way the French have their St. Louis,
the Portuguese their St. Elizabeth, and the Hungarians their St. Stephen.
If so, they do not think that St. Hermigild qualifies. Hermigild, whose
feast is celebrated today, was never king of Spain, but he was heir-apparent
to the throne.
Hermigild, who lived more than eight centuries before Isabela, did not
become king because he was martyred before he could claim the throne. Spaniards
do not boast of Hermigild the way they sing te glories of St. Dominic,
St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis Xavier, St. John of the Cross or St.
Teresa of Avila. Perhaps this is because Hermigild is not as Spanish (in
the sense of being Latin) as these other Spanish saints are. Hermigild
was a German -- specifically a Visigoth.
While many of us remember that the Roman empire fell before advancing Germanic
peoples, few of us remember that the Visigoths conquered Spain and ruled
there until 711, when they were beaten by the Moors at the Battle of Xerez
de Frontera. It was not until nearly 800 years later, in 1492, that Granada,
the last Moorish bastion, fell to the Catholic sovereigns Ferdinand and
Isabella.
Eight centuries of fighting between Christians and Moors had a major impact
on the Spanish character. One major result is the tendency of Spaniards
to identify their being Spanish with their being Catholic. This tendency
was reinforced during the religious wars that came in the wake of the Reformation.
During the Thirty Years' War and after, the Hapsburgs of Spain and the
Holy Roman Empire championed the cause of the pope against the various
Protestant kings and princes. Hence, any suggestion that Spain was not
always Catholic is offensive to the more fervent Spanish Catholics.
Perhaps this is another reason for tendency to forget Hermigild: the story
of his martyrdom drives home the point that there was a time in the Christian
era that Spain was not Catholic. Visigothic Spain was a heretical kingdom.
The Visigoths were Arians -- followers of the monk Arius, who proclaimed
the doctrine that Jesus Christ was a perfect man, but not God.
Hermigild was born an Arian, but was converted to the orthodox belief that
Christ was both God and man. For this, he was exiled from the court of
the king, his father, and later on, was hunted down like a common criminal.
In the end, he was put to death by his own relatives and fellow-nobles,
who did not want to be ruled by a king who believed that Jesus Christ was
true God and true man. It is said that Hermigild's martyrdom inspired many
Visigoths to give up Arianism and return to the true faith.
Today, Hermigild is all but forgotten. He is only a name on the church
calendar -- and he shares his feastday with St. Martin, whom clerics are
far more likely to remember because Martin was a pope, the last pope to
be martyred.
Still, Hermigild does retain a certain amount of relevance for today. Faced
with the choice between his faith and the crown of Spain, Hermigild made
the right choice. In contrast, most of us are perfectly willing to give
up our principles for things far less valuable than a kingdom.
Hermigild's life and death are a reminder of how we must respond to Jesus'
question, ``For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world,
but suffers the loss of his soul?''