Basilio Álvarez (1877–1943) was a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

, journalist and politician related to the Galician agrarianist movement. He was deputy by

Ourense Ourense (; es, Orense ) is a city and capital of the province of Ourense, located in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, northwestern Spain. It is on the Camino Sanabrés path of the Way of St ...

during the

Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of Alfonso XIII, King Alfonso XIII, and was di ...

, as a member of the

Radical Republican Party The Radical Republican Party ( es, Partido Republicano Radical), sometimes shortened to the Radical Party, was a Spanish Radical party in existence between 1908 and 1936. Beginning as a splinter from earlier Radical parties, it initially played a ...

Biography

Born in

in 1877, was ordained priest in 1902. On 1907 he settled in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, although by 1912 would return to Beiro, Galicia. His career as a religious was characterized by an unorthodox interpretation of the rules of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, where there is no choice of celibacy —but in fact came to have two children. These circumstances, among others, were the reason that between 1914 and 1928 was suspended by the Church. He has been described as a "picturesque" personality. On his journalistic work he collaborated in publications such as ''La Nueva Época'', ''El Eco'', ''Galicia'', ''Acción Gallega'', ''El Parlamentario'' or ''La Zarpa''. He was also director of the Catholic newspaper ''

El Debate ''El Debate'' is a defunct Spanish Catholic daily newspaper, published in Madrid between 1910 and 1936. It was the most important Catholic newspaper of its time in Spain. History and profile ''El Debate'' was founded in 1910 by Guillermo de Rivas ...

'' and author of works such as ''El cural rural'' (1904), ''Por los agros celtas'' (1907), ''El libro del periodista'' (1912), ''Abriendo el surco'' (1913), among others. His works and his meetings were in

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...

. He was one of the founders of the movement

Acción Gallega Acción Gallega (AG, ''Galician Action'' in English language) was one of the most important agrarianist, antiturnista and anti-client politics ( anticaciquismo) political movements in Galicia in the 20th century. With a decidedly antiforal and r ...

, linked to the Galician agrarianist movement. He was known for his criticism of the caciquismo as an agricultural agreement that dominated medieval Galicia known as "

foro Foro ( ar, فورو, ti, ፎሮ) is a town in the Northern Red Sea region (Zoba Semienawi Keyih Bahri) of Eritrea. Overview A small city located near the coast, Foro was built at the confluence of the Haddas, Aligide and Comaile rivers. In t ...

". After 1913 he began to closer his speech to the workers movement and around 1915 Basilio Álvarez proposed collaboration with socialists and republicans. Opposite to

centralism Centralisation or centralization (see spelling differences) is the process by which the activities of an organisation, particularly those regarding planning and decision-making, framing strategy and policies become concentrated within a particu ...

, advocated a federal structure in Spain. Some have drawn parallelism s between the rhetorical style and language of Álvarez —which has come to be described as "incendiary", "cult", passionate or "Baroque"— with those of

Alejandro Lerroux Alejandro Lerroux García (4 March 1864, in La Rambla, Córdoba – 25 June 1949, in Madrid) was a Spanish politician who was the leader of the Radical Republican Party. He served as Prime Minister three times from 1933 to 1935 and held severa ...

. Basilio Álvarez was a "charismatic orator". In the early 1930s he joined the

, with which it secured the 1931 deputy act for the circumscription of Ourense. He however left the group in 1935, for to be a member of a party the ephemeral

Manuel Portela Valladares Manuel Portela y Valladares (Pontevedra, 31 January 1867 – Bandol, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France 29 April 1952) was a Spanish political figure during the Second Spanish Republic. He served as the 43rd Attorney General of Spain betw ...

' Party of Democratic Center in 1936. Following the outbreak of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

he went into exile. He died in 1943 in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * 1877 births 1943 deaths People from Ourense Spanish Roman Catholic priests Radical Republican Party politicians Members of the Congress of Deputies of the Second Spanish Republic Politicians from Galicia (Spain) Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in the United States {{Galicia-politician-stub