“El Criterio Espiritista – Revista quincenal del Espiritismo”[1]This journal that had been published for a year in Madrid with the title “
El criterio, revista quincenal cientifica,”
[2] has just taken back its first title that had been banned in the previous
Spanish government. In a supplement to the #17 issue, the director announces it in the following terms:
“With the immense joy of triumph, deserved not by our weak strengths, but by the goodness of our cause, today we address our constant protectors, the friends who have encouraged and supported us in disgrace."The intolerance of the previous government had forbidden us the exercise of the most fruitful of freedoms: that of study, when one day, sad by disappointment and happy because it was the first in the struggle, we wanted to publish the “Criterio espiritista.” See the answer given to us by the secretary of the ministry.Provincial government; press section - After having examined the first number of the journal of which you are the editor and director, I saw that, by its special character, its tendencies and the philosophical school that it seeks to develop, it must be included among those included in the second paragraph of article 52 of the current law, about the press; I warn you that it is not possible for me to authorize the said number nor the following ones, if they were not examined and approved by the ecclesiastical censorship, beforehand. God protect you, etc.Madrid, July 17th, 1867On the following August 10th we received a telegram whose copy is given below.Ecclesiastical Secretariat of Madrid - Given the unfavorable censorship of the first issue of the Review “Critério espiritista” that you direct, it is my duty to tell you that I cannot, in any way, allow the publication of the said Review. God protect you, etc.Madrid, August 6th, 1867. These documents will not favor the greater glory of their authors, whose names we refrain from turning public, for convenience; Today we can come out, and the “Critério cientifica” is replaced by the “Criterio espiritista.” The office is located at Calle del Arco de Santa-Maria, # 25, cuarto 2e; this is where followers who would like to can join the Spanish Spiritist Society, founded in 1865, that had to suspend its sessions for the same reasons that prevented the publication of the journal."The rules of the society, that we have in hands, are conceived in an excellent spirit, and we can only applaud the provisions contained therein. It is placed under the patronage of the Spirit of Socrates, and its purpose is clearly defined in the first two articles:
“1 - A private circle is established with the name of the Spanish Spiritist Society, with the objective of studying Spiritism, mainly in what relates to morality and to the knowledge of the invisible world or the Spirits. 2 - the society will not be able, in any case, to get involved with political matters, nor with discussions or religious controversies that would tend to give it the character of a sect."These provisions are such as to reassure those who suspect disruptive trends in the society. At the time of a revolution that has just broken the barriers placed on the freedom of thought, speech, and writing, when the emancipated masses are generally tempted to overstep the bounds of moderation, neither the Society nor its office are thinking of taking advantage of that, to deviate from the exclusively moral and philosophical goal of the doctrine. It does not forbid politics only, but also religious controversies, out of a spirit of tolerance and respect for the conscience of everyone. The director of the journal even refrains from stigmatizing, by advertising the names of the signatories of the decrees that banned his journal, so as not to deliver them to public repudiation. This is for the fact that a well understood Spiritism is the same everywhere: it is a guarantee of order and moderation. It does not live on scandals; it has the feeling of dignity at the highest level, and sees things from an elevated point of view, to stoop before personalities that always show petty spirits, never associating themselves with the nobility of heart.
The first issue of “
Criterio espiritista” contains the following articles:
Introduction, by Alverico Peron. - The Day of the Dead, communication signed by Socrates, obtained in the society of Seville. - The mediumistic faculty. - The Bible, communication signed by Socrates. – Session of Magnetism. - The eternal halves, communication from Socrates. - Letter from a Spiritist. - Letter to Mr. Alverico Peron, by Allan Kardec, and communication from Saint Louis on the new situation of Spiritism in Spain. – Spiritist Review of Paris.
We urge our Spiritist brothers in Spain to support with all their power this organization on their belief. By the wisdom and prudence of its editorial, it cannot fail to serve our cause usefully. It will be a link that will establish the relationships between the followers scattered around the various points of Spain. The director, Mr. Alverico Peron, is not a newcomer to our ranks; his efforts for the propagation of the doctrine date from the year 1858, and we remember with pleasure the “
Formula del espiritismo,” that he was kind enough to dedicate to us.
[1] The Spiritist Criterion, bi-weekly review of Spiritism (T.N.)
[2] The criterion, scientifically bi-weekly review (T.N.)
