When doing the will of God, we can accomplish great things!
By J. T. Moran, C.SS.R.
Isabella of Spain
A great ruler was Isabella, as history admits, but also a great woman, a great wife and mother. Hers was not a long life-I451 to 1504 spans a mere 53 years.
The daughter of Isabella of Portugal and John II of Castille, Isabella absorbed the chivalry, the patriotism, religion and proud sense of independence of the Castilians.
Her pious mother’s first care was to train her daughter in practical piety, to fill her with that spirit of religion which was the most evident characteristic of her later reign as queen. Uninfluenced by the licentious and frivolous court, the maturity and balance the growing girl displayed was remarkable in one so young-the direct result of her early training.
Described by one of her household as ‘the handsomest lady whom I. ever beheld and the most gracious in her manners,’ it was little wonder Isabella had many suitors. Factions sought to use her in the political game, but Isabella knew her own mind. Marriages were arranged for her for reasons of State. She rejected them. Confederates sought to proclaim her queen of Castille. She refused. The crown belonged to her brother.
She was proclaimed queen against her wish. Surely now a young girl would acquiesce- fancy refusing a kingdom! Refuse she did, but agreed, as was her right, to be recognized as heiress to the crown, only on condition that she would not be forced to marry against her wish.
At 19 she married Prince Ferdinand of Aragon, eloping to him at Valladolid. At the time of marriage the couple were so poor that they had to borrow money to defray the expenses of the ceremony. When Isabella was 23, her brother Henry died, and she succeeded to the throne. Castille was dismembered by factions, the treasury bankrupt, and public and private morals were a byword.
This Augean stable, Isabella set herself to clean. Crowned, her first act was to go with a great procession to the Cathedral to sing the solemn Te Deum. She then prostrated before the High Altar to invoke God’s blessing for the future. And blessed she was, for in her rule one has little difficulty in discovering the Providence of God.
Trouble came quickly. Portugal declared war on the weakened Castille. Isabella met this first great care of State with the decision that characterized her. Long and tedious journeys on horseback were her daily lot. She saw to everything. Spanish chivalry warmed to this valiant woman, and in six months the whole kingdom acknowledged the supremacy of Isabella and Ferdinand. Castille and Aragon, separated for more than four centuries, were united.
Justice characterized Isabella’s reign, abuses were reformed. She herself sat in judgment. Robbers and bandits who had been terrorizing the country were quickly suppressed.
In a few years the country was transformed. The Moslem power in Granada was destroyed forever. It had lasted over seven centuries. In the wars, Isabella pioneered military hospitals and supported them from her own purse. The Moslem wars were a veritable crusade; and the inspiration was Isabella, who was determined to replace the Crescent with the Cross.
Isabella had one son and four daughters. She, personally, saw to their education and they all inherited her own virtues.
One daughter was that Catherine of Aragon, shamefully repudiated by Henry VIII of England in favour of Anne Boleyn. Sorrow marked Isabella’s reign. Prince John, her only son, died at the age of twenty; the eldest daughter, Isabella, Queen of Portugal, soon afterwards. Joanna, wife of Emperor Maximilian’s son, Philip, became mentally deranged.
If John’s death was a mighty blow, Isabella’s crushed her heart. But her truly religious spirit, resigned to God’s Will, made her realize that the sorrows of this life, like its joys, are but passing. Nevertheless, the combined sorrows must have contributed to her early death in 1504.
Isabella’s last will has been called a famous will. Her funeral was to be as simple as possible (the money saved to be used for the poor). She gave money to charities; marriage portions for the daughters of poor parents; money for the redemption of Christian captives in Barbary; and for the conversion of the Indians; her jewels to Ferdinand, that seeing them, he may be reminded of ‘the singular love I always bore him.’
Her last words were typical of Isabella, the Catholic. ‘Do not weep for me, but pray rather for the salvation of my immortal soul.’
Even hostile critics regard Isabella, the Catholic, as one of the greatest rulers of all time. An historian, Irving, has summed it up: ‘Contemporary writers have been enthusiastic in their descriptions of Isabella, but time has sanctioned their eulogies. She is one of the purest and most beautiful characters in the pages of history.’
Donna Anna Cavalieri
At least five biographers have written of St. Alphonsus Liguori. The first of these, and the most competent to speak, was Father Tannoia, a contemporary of the Saint.
It is from Father Tannoia that we learn some intimate details of Donna Anna, the Saint’s mother. In his biography, Father Tannoia introduces Donna Anna by saying that she was venerated by all who knew her in Naples, for her spirit of prayer, her many penances, her detachment from worldly amusements, and, above all, her love for the poor.
He gives us, too, a perfect picture of Donna Anna, themother, by recording her relation to her children. ‘I was privileged to know this noble lady and to speak with her. Her memory, as I look back now, calls up before me the image of the great Queen Blanche of Castille. I learned from Don Cajetan, the brother of Alphonsus, that every morning the good mother, after blessing her children, had them kneel down and say their prayers. Every evening she would gather them around her and teach them the truths of Faith with her own lips. She would always say the Rosary with them and taught them exercises of devotion to many saints. She was watchful of their companionships and would not let them mix freely with children of their own age, preferring to forestall sin by sanctifying grace rather than run any risk of their falling. She taught them to hate sin by every means in her power. For this reason, she took them to confession each week to her own spiritual director and kinsman, Father Pagano.’
Alphonsus himself, in later life, gave ample testimony to the goodness ofhis mother. ‘I must confess,’ he said, ‘that if I was good at all during my childhood, if I was preserved from evil, I owe it entirely to my mother’s care. Most of the time my father was away at sea and could not devote himself as he might wish to the education and training of his children. Thus the whole burden fell on my mother.’
Donna Anna Cavalieri was the wife of Don Joseph Liguori, a distinguished nobleman and captain of one of the royal galleys. She was the mother of eight children, of whom Alphonsus, the eldest, was to become priest, bishop, founder of the Redemptorist Congregation and Doctor of the Church.
If it is true that opposites attract opposites, we have an illustration in the characters of Don Joseph and Donna Anna. Their temperaments were diametrically opposed. Don Joseph was choleric and severe, and, by his naval training, a strict disciplinarian. A product of his age, he saw nothing contrary to religious principles in fostering great worldly ambitions for his first-born son. In contrast to Don Joseph, Anna’s one ambition was that the children should all do the Holy Will of God. The effect of her influence and early training on the children is seen from the subsequent history of the members of the family.
Of her eight children, Magdalene died in infancy; Antonio became a Benedictine monk at Monte Casino; Cajetan was a diocesan priest, known for his holiness; Hercules married, and the affection of Alphonsus for his brother and his children shows the strength of the family ties. Of the girls, Mary Louise and Mary Anna entered the Convent. Teresa married the Duke of Presengano. The life of each one of them paid some tribute to the sterling character and qualities of their mother.
Donna Anna cherished the hope that her first-born might one day be a priest.
But when Alphonsus became the brilliant lawyer, her dream seemed to fade. When God did call Alphonsus to the priesthood, Don Joseph strenuously resisted his son’s vocation. Anna sought the advice of her kinsman, Bishop Cavalieri. He counselled a continuance of her wise silence. Finally, Don Joseph requested the bishop to dissuade Alphonsus from giving up his brilliant legal career. The bishop’s answer sounded the death knell to Don Joseph’s ambition. ‘I myself renounced my rights as eldest son in order to save my soul. Would you have me advise your son to do the opposite at the risk of losing my soul with his?’
Time, God’s great healer, and Donna Anna’s evident joy softened the blow of Don Joseph’s disappointment. In the evening of his life he bitterly regretted his opposition to his son’s vocation.
Anna lived to see her dreams realized. Alphonsus was ordained in 1726. He founded the Redemptorists in 1732. Her long life of 85 years came to a close in 1755, seven years before Alphonsus was consecrated bishop. Alphonsus was at her side to bring her comfort in her last days, but was forced to leave two days before her death. He went on God’s work, as so often before, with Donna Anna’s blessing ringing in his ears.
“God has thus put into the hand of the parents at their own hearthstone, a power greater than that which kings and queens wield, and which must issue in either the weal or the woe of their children. It would surely seem to be worth while to make any sacrifice of personal comfort or pleasure—to transmit a legacy of holy memories which shall be through all the years, like a host of pure angels hovering over those we love, to guard and guide them.” J.R. Miller
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Called by her people Isabella la Catolica, she was by any standard one of the greatest women of all history. A saint in her own right, she married Ferdinand of Aragon, and they forged modern Spain, cast out the Moslems, discovered the New World by backing Columbus, and established a powerful central government in Spain. This story is so thrilling it reads like a novel. Makes history really come alive. Highly readable and truly great in every respect!
Thank you for sharing two amazing models of the faith. Beautifully written.
I have a little grand daughter named Isabella, named after this very same Isabella queen of Spain! Her mother has Spanish heritage and Queen Isabella is someone she admires.