José María Blanco White: de la ortodoxia a la disidencia. Historia de una conciencia

Abstract

José María Blanco White (Sevilla, 11 de julio de 1775-Liverpool, 20 de mayo de 1841), de nombre real José María Blanco Crespo, fue un escritor, pensador, polemista religioso, periodista y sacerdote católico español, de ascendencia irlandesa. Ordenado sacerdote en diciembre de 1799, pronto perdió la fe, y abandonó su ministerio sacerdotal, buscando futuro en la Corte, en Madrid. Allí comienza su aproximación a la política de la mano de Manuel José Quintana. Años de vida frívola. Vuelve a su Sevilla natal empujado por el avance de las tropas napoleónicas. Se autoexilia a Inglaterra a principios de 1810. Desde su nuevo país verterá numerosas críticas hacia la clase dirigente española, las instituciones religiosas, y el modo de tratar el asunto de las colonias españolas de ultramar, de manera especial a través del periódico El Español. Es admitido como ministro en la Iglesia anglicana. Profesor en Oriel college, Oxford, como premio por su lucha anticatólica. Destaca su amistad con John Henry Newman. Sus obras más conocidas en Inglaterra son poéticas, costumbristas y, sobre todo, de crítica hacia la Iglesia Católica. Su pensamiento apunta a una deriva hacia el deísmo. Abandonará la confesión anglicana y acabará sus días como miembro de una comunidad de unitarios en Liverpool. En España, desde la década de los 70 del pasado siglo, es presentado como adalid de progresismo y mártir de la lucha por la tolerancia y la libertad de conciencia.

Writer, philosopher, religious scholar, journalist and Spanish Catholic priest of Irish ancestry, José María Blanco White, was born José María Blanco Crespo in Seville on July 11th, 1775, and died in Liverpool on May 20th, 1841). He was ordained priest in December 1799, but he soon lost his faith and dropped out of priesthood, seeking his fortune in the Court, in Madrid. Thats when it began his approach to politics guided by Manuel José Quintana. For some years, he had a very sligth life. Then he returned to his native Seville, forced by the advance of the Napoleonic troops. At the beginning of 1870, he decided to exile in England. From his new country he made many accusations against the Spanish ruling class, against the Spanish religious institutions and against the way Spanish managed the overseas territories, and he voiced his opinions particularly through the newspaper El Español. As a reward for his fight against the Catholic Church, he was admitted as a minister of the Anglican Church, and as a fellow at Oriel College in Oxford. His friendship with John Henry Newman deserves special mention. His poetry works are well known in England as well as his works about local customs and manners but above all his works criticising the Catholic Church. His thought indicates a trend towards the deism. He dropped out of English Church and he ended his days as a member of an Unitarian community in Liverpool. In Spain, since the seventies of the last century, he is considered, as the leader of the progressivism and as a martyr of the fight for toleration and freedom of conscience.