By The site was subsequently retaken by Nationalist forces on November 6, 1936. Troops under the command of General José Enrique Varela attended a Mass of reparation officiated by a military chaplain.
Aug. 7 marks the 90th anniversary of the day when militiamen from the Popular Front, one of the factions in the Spanish Civil War, fired upon the monument to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, before which King Alfonso XIII in 1919 had consecrated Spain.
The original monument, the work of architect Carlos Maura and sculptor Aniceto Marinas, was built on the Cerro de los Ángeles, the geographical center of Spain, and was funded through public subscription, although the statue itself was donated by the count of Guaqui, Juan Marino de Goyeneche.
The monumental complex, standing 92 feet tall, consisted not only of the central figure of Jesus Christ but also of two sculptural groups representing, respectively, sanctified humanity and humanity journeying toward holiness.
The first group featured St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, St. Augustine, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Teresa of Jesus, Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos, and St. John the Evangelist, among others. The second group comprised figures representing the path of charity, virtue, and the love essential for conversion and sanctification.
Its inauguration, originally scheduled for 1918, was postponed due to the Spanish flu pandemic until May 30, 1919. It was then that, in the presence of the government, the apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Francesco Ragonesi, and a large group of bishops and cardinals, Alfonso XIII pronounced the formula for the consecration of Spain to the Sacred Heart: “Spain, the people of your heritage and predilection, bows reverently today before that throne of goodness raised for you in the heart of the peninsula. Reign in the hearts of men, in the bosom of our homes, in the minds of the wise, in the halls of science and letters, and in our laws and national institutions.”
Tried, shot by firing squad, and blown up with dynamite
The Spanish Civil War broke out on July 18, 1936. Just five days later, five young men who had remained near the monument to defend it against potential desecration were killed.
On Aug. 7, the first Friday of the month, Popular Front militiamen staged a mock summary trial of Jesus; after passing sentence, they fired upon the monument while shouting, “Aim with hatred! Fire with rage!”
They subsequently attempted to topple and demolish the monument using various tools, including cables and sledgehammers, but failed. They then decided to blow it up with dynamite. They subsequently dragged the head of the Christ figure behind a horse to further humiliate the image.
The site, renamed Cerro Rojo (Red Hill), was retaken by Nationalist forces on Nov. 6, 1936, which was another first Friday of the month. Troops under the command of Gen. José Enrique Varela attended a Mass of reparation officiated by a military chaplain.
New monument
Following the end of the Civil War in 1939, reconstruction of the site began in 1944. This coincided with the 25th anniversary of the consecration of Spain, an occasion for which the Holy See had granted a jubilee year.
The sculptor of the original work was engaged for the 38-foot-tall statue of the Sacred Heart, which stands atop an 85-foot pedestal.
Four sculptural groups by Fernando Cruz were placed around the base. The first group, representing “Missionary Spain,” features Isabella the Catholic, Christopher Columbus, Hernán Cortés, and St. Junípero Serra.
The second group, representing “Spain: Defender of the Faith,” includes Bishop Osio of Córdoba, Don Pelayo, Diego Laínez, John of Austria, and Blessed Anselmo Polanco, a bishop martyred during the war.
The third group, dedicated to the Church militant, consists of figures representing charity, virtue, and love. The final sculptural ensemble, representing the Church triumphant, reproduces the saints from the original monument.
The new monument, inaugurated in 1965, is located on the site of the original, the ruins of which are preserved on the other side of the complexʼs large esplanade. Ten years later, a sanctuary was inaugurated featuring a temple carved into the rock.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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Wow. Dynamite article. Never thought I would see the truth told about the Spanish Civil War origins on a major Catholic publication given the timidity of today’s CC. Still today, that the National (not the dismissive “nationalist”; as historian Arnaud Imatz reminds us, they called themselves Los Nacionales, the Nationals) forces were fighting to save Spain from communist atheism is dismissed by a “consensus” of academics, with some brave dissenters, of course. Thank you for this. See some of the brave ones:
• Pío Moa: A former leftist guerrilla turned journalist. In bestsellers like The Myths of the Spanish Civil War (2003), he argues that the Republic had already collapsed into a totalitarian communist regime before the coup. He contends that Franco’s uprising was a legitimate act of self-defense to save Spain from “Bolshevik terror,” minimizing the premeditated nature of the military rebellion.
• César Vidal Manzanares: A prolific author and radio host, Vidal supports the view that Republican violence was systematic and state-sponsored, whereas Nationalist violence was a justified, albeit harsh, restoration of order.
• Stanley G. Payne: An American historian (University of Wisconsin–Madison, emeritus), Payne is a respected scholar whose work is often cited by defenders of the Nationalist cause. While he does not offer a full apology for Franco, he argues that the Popular Front government was drifting toward a communist dictatorship and that the military uprising was a reactive, albeit tragic, consequence of leftist aggression. He distinguishes Franco’s regime from Hitler’s and Mussolini’s, describing it as a conservative authoritarian dictatorship rather than a fascist one.
——Arnaud Imatz is a Basque-French historian and political scientist who specializes in the Spanish Civil War, often challenging mainstream narratives and focusing on the Francoist repression and the role of Marxist socialism. His writings aim to debunk what he terms the “Spanish Black Legend” and address myths surrounding the conflict’s causes and conduct.
Key Works and Themes
• Francoist Repression: In Cahiers de Conflits (2024), Imatz published a serious and complete study on Francoist repression in the post-war period, engaging with works like Miguel Platón’s La répression de l’après-guerre.
• José Antonio Primo de Rivera: He has extensively written on the founder of the Falange, including books such as José Antonio: entre odio y amor (José Antonio: Between Hate and Love) and José Antonio et la Phalange Espagnole, arguing for the distinction between Joseantonian Falangism and Italian Fascism or German Nazism.
• Political Analysis: Imatz critiques the brutal record of Marxist socialism during the war and discusses how anti-Francoism has been used to revise history. His recent book, Resistir a lo políticamente correcto en la historia (Resisting Political Correctness in History, 2024), reflects on the historical-political situation of Spain and France through this lens.
• P.S. Franco was a conservative traditionalist and a Catholic, not a fascist. He never followed the ideas of the main philosopher of fascism, Giovanni Gentile.