101
What purports to be Flórez's recalled rendering is in fact a transcription by Galdós of passages from the translation by P. Pedro de Ribadeneyra of a supposititious work of St. Augustine entitled: Meditaciones, Soliloquios y Manual. Berkowitz: La biblioteca de Benito Pérez Galdós, Las Palmas, El Museo Canario, 1951, p. 69, lists as item 588, Meditaciones del glorioso doctor de la iglesia San Agustín (traducción de Pedro de Rivadeneira), Barcelona, s. a. -no date supplied-; but I am informed that this work is no longer present in Don Benito's library in Las Palmas. Most probably the work formerly in Galdós's possession was the edition published by the Impr. de los consortes Sierra y Martí, Barcelona, 178? -the only edition listed by Palau y Dulcet which uses the particular spelling Rivadeneira as opposed to the more usual Ribadeneyra, Rivadeneyra, or Ribadeneira. I have been unable to see a copy so that I do nos know whether it contains the Soliloquios and Manual as well as the Meditaciones. (Tantalisingly, some editions under the short title of Meditaciones contain the remaining two tratados; others do not.) It is possible that Galdós transcribed the passages in Halma directly from the one supposititious work of St. Augustine that he is known once to have had in his library. All this, though intriguing, is however a side issue. Galdós did not draw upon the Meditaciones, Soliloquios y Manual as sources for Halma except for the passages from the Soliloquios reproduced in Flórez's deathbed scene. These passages are respectively taken from Chapters 32 «Confesión de la verdadera fe» and 33 «Confesión de la propia vileza». q. v. Meditaciones, Soliloquios y Manual, traducidas por Pedro de Ribadeneyra, León de Francia, Jaime Certa, 1747, Cap. XXXII p. 291 and Cap. XXXIII p. 299. (n. b. The Soliloquios contained in this work have nothing to do with the authentic Soliloquia of St. Augustine which were written at Cassiacum shortly after his conversion. These false soliloquies seem to be a compendium of modified reflective passages from St. Augustine's various works intended as a vademecum for the faithful. The particular extracts used by Galdós are very close in spirit and phrasing to sections of Book X of the Confessions).
102
We are told (Halma, 604) that whenever Manuel Flórez comes to visit Halma she is to be found with... la Ciudad de Dios, de San Agustín, o alguna otra obra mística... open on her lap. On the strength of this Gustavo Correa op. cit. p. 175 asserts that Halma is... una lectora asidua de la Ciudad de Dios de San Agustín...
103
q. v. Feramor to Halma (Halma, 588-9) and to Flórez (593-4). c.f. Nazarín to Halma (675-6). St. Augustine comments on the problems of distinguishing the message from the medium in I Confessions: V, 6, 255-6: «Ya pues había aprendido de Vos, que ni debía parecer y tenerse por verdadera una cosa sólo porque se decía con elegancia; ni tampoco se había de tener por falsa sólo porque se dijese con estilo desaliñado y sin adorno». et. seq.
104
It is my view that the story of Benina in Misericordia is also heavily influenced by the Augustinian concept of sanctity as outlined in The City of God and elsewhere. This is to be the subject of a future article.
105
It is interesting to consider the possibility that Galdós is here raising the general question: What is a saint? The term itself may be a misnomer since the calender of Saints is of human devising whereas the Saints in Heaven are chosen by God and known to Him alone. Is Halma a «failed» saint? Only by her own yardstick possibly in thinking she could achieve canonisation through ascetic contemplation. Despite her abandonment of a nominal route to sanctity, who knows if in her new role as a family woman she might not achieve it in God's judgement if not Man's? Nazarín certainly implies (Halma, 675-6) that in relinquishing a pseudo-mysticism Halma has not lost all claim to a sanctity which others wish for her. Galdós in turn may imply that the majority of saints will never be recognised as such in human eyes.
106
El Siglo Ilustrado, February 9th, 1868 carried this item:
107
Obras completas de Galdós, Tomo 3, Madrid, Aguilar, 1971. Viaje a Italia, pp. 1392-3.
108
And partly on the basis of Pierre Lanfrey: Histoire Politique des Papes, Paris, Charles Hingray, 1860. Berkowitz: op. cit. p. 68, item 565 lists: Lanfrey, P. -Historia política de los papas (traducción de José Ferrándiz), Valencia, s. a. (undated -but a copy in the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid is dated 1904), as being in Galdós's library -its pages uncut. While this unread 1904 translation into Spanish of Lanfrey's work could not conceivably be relevant for Halma (1895), Galdós may well have had access so the French original. What is indisputable is that many sentiments expressed in Lanfrey's work have a close affinity to those under discussion in Galdós' parable Lanfrey begins his book thus:
«Le christianisme naissant fut une république spirituelle. Il n'avait ni chef suprême, ni bras séculier, ni pouvoir temporel. Tel est peut-être de tous ses principes celui qui contribua le plus puissament a cette fortune si rapide qu'on a longtemps cru ne pouvoir expliquer que par les miracles. Il offrit dans une société livrée à la force matérielle l'image d'une autorité toute morale; il se déclara indépendant de tout système politique, a une époque où les nations étouffaient dans le cercle inflexible de l'organization romaine; sa cause était gagnée d'avance par ce seul contraste.» (p. 3) Later he adds (p. 7): «C'est donc par sa nature même que l'Église chrétienne des deux premiers siècles exclut toute idée d'une autorité politique. Dans cet âge d'inspiration, de spontanéité et de désintéressement, elle n'a encore ni gouvernement, ni temples, ni rites, et on distingue à peine en elle les premiers éléments de sa hiérarchie.» And more specifically (pp. 7-8): «La notion d'une autorité spirituelle personnifiée dans un seul homme, c'est-à-dire de la papauté elle-même, n'en est pas moins absente. On n'en trouve aucune trace dans l'oeuvre des premiers apologistes. Le nom de pape s'y rencontre, il est vrai, mais il se donne indifféremment à tous les évêques. Après la mort des apôtres, l'autorité spirituelle appartient tout entière aux évêques élus par l'assemblée des fidèles, aux prêtres, aux diacres, aux interprètes des Écritures qui ont pu connaître les premiers pasteurs et conserver leurs traditions. Les liens entre les diverses Églises sont entretenus par des instructions votées et redigées en commun sous forme d'épîtres. Elles traitent le plus souvent des questions de morale.» (c.f. pp. 26-38 infra; and especially pp. 28-30, 34-35, and p. 37.)
109
As was the case with the Confessions, there is no copy of The City of God in Galdós' personal library; but Spanish translations of the work would have been available to him. All references so the text of The City of God are taken from one such translation: La Ciudad de Dios, trad. por Antonio Roys y Roças, Amberes, Gerónimo Verdussen, 1676. (This translation was reprinted in 1871, but I was unable to consult the later edition.) In quoting from the 1676 translation I have not reproduced the long 'ƒ'; and have generally altered letter-forms, spellings, and accentuation to conform to modern usage. No alteration has been made to the wording or punctuation of the original.
110
First Halma herself, and later Urrea, construe Nazarín's remarks in this way (q. v. Halma, 677 and 680). The suggestion here that their religious community or 'island' will be but one of many is strengthened at the end of the novel. Nazarín, having presided over the establishment of one autonomous community, leaves for Alcalá de Henares «donde pensaba que sería de grande utilidad su presencia» (Halma, 681), This process evokes the establishment of the original Churches in accordance with the will of Our Lord by the Apostles, notably St. Paul.