diced b Jos e S. Arc a, - non

cans in a much more direct manner, in Coria's thinking, who relates with, evident pride of caste the adventures of his brothers in the cloth:. . the events in Spain of that epoch alarm part of the army, the conspiracy isplanned, it spreads, and the revolution is about to break out. But the FranciscanGuardian had knowledge of it, and on the wings of his patriotism appears beforeCaptain General Salazar, confers with him, and they agree to follow a plan whichwould save the Islands. Thanks to this plan carried out by the Governor, therevolution was cut short and there were no consequences to regret. It gave himtime to rid himself of the main leaders and abort it at the start. He moves on to thebarracks, harangues the soldiers, following the advice of the Franciscan friar''But the Franciscan role that aborts revolutionary plans acquires epicproportions in the mind of our author above all in 1841, on the occasion of thecase of Apolinario de la Cruz in Tayabas province: ". . . Apolinarioimprisoned by-the Franciscans M, the latter are against executing him beforehe reveals his accomplices?'"Another grand obssession of Coria is the risk to the political stability(moral and even religious stability seem to interest him less) which theteaching of Spanish entails, for which reason he writes with great aplomb:44 . . . hence, one of the strongest reasons the friars have for refusing to teachthem the Spanish language."' The independence of Hispanic America waspossible or at least was much easier, thanks to the possession of a commontongue.The last words of the preceding two paragraphs recall for us Fray Salvi'seuphoric phrases when revealing to the constable the false rebellion of SanDiego: "What is most important is that we get them alive and we, I mean, you,make them sing . I only ask that you attest that it was I who warned you."And shortly before:you'll see once again how important we religious are the lowliest lay brother isworth a regiment, so that a parish priest . . .After reading these paragraphs from Coria (paragraphs I have not foundin any other Franciscan writer of the nineteenth century, either verbatim orcontaining the same thoughts) Rizal's answer to the friars through his novelsbecome more comprehensible, and his defense of his own clearly hard andextreme anti-friar attitude before Blumentritt in a comment on Fr. Faura'sremarks to Pardo de Tavera about the publication of the Noli:144. I wanted to hit the friars, but since the friars use religion not only as a shield,but also as a weapon, a defense, castle, fortification, an armor, etc., I was forced