In 1932 the Spanish Catholic Action group, a group of single men ranging in age from sixteen to thirty years old, began planning a pilgrimage to the Shrine of St. James the Apostle in Spain for the year 1937. Their goal at that time was to evangelize the Spanish speaking world.
Because of the Spanish Civil War and World War II, the pilgrimage was repeatedly postponed until August of 1948. From 1932 to 1948 these young men continued met weekly to study and plan for the pilgrimage. They studied scripture, church history and social action. This constituted the first School of Leaders.
In order to train more pilgrim leaders, known as 'scouts' as well as parish leaders, they developed and presented "short courses" in Christianity. Fifteen of these were held between 1937 and 1948.
By the mid 1940's, young men who were not members of Catholic Action began attending the Cursillos. Because they did not attend Catholic Action's weekly meetings, a means helping them faithfully live out their apostolate was needed. The concept of forming groups within one's environment was developed in response to this need by Eduardo Bonnin. So after making their own Cursillo weekend, these men looked for and developed Christian friends among their coworkers with whom to meet weekly. These weekly meetings formed the basis for Group Reunions.
During this time of development the bishop of the diocese decided not to allow any more Cursillos due to some conflicts with Catholic Action. Later during the same year a new bishop was appointed, Bishop Juan Hervas.
Bishop Hervas had prayed all his life that a way might be found to interest more men in religion. Attending mass with his mother as a young child it seemed to him that many women but very few men attended mass.
Eduardo Bonnin, who is known for his vibrant, quick and excited manner of speaking, met the new bishop upon his arrival at a train station and wouldn't stop talking until he had been granted a meeting.
At this meeting, as Eduardo Bonnin told of his activities, Bishop Hervas saw Cursillo as an answer to his prayer, gave his blessing, and joined one of the groups that had continued to meet weekly. They studied and prayed together for another year.
I would like to share this story from the early years of the Cursillo Movement with you:
The Prison Story
Prison is an unlikely place to impact world church renewal ... In the summer of 1992, one of the original founders of Cursillo , recognizably the single most influential movement in the renewal of the church, traveled from Spain to attend the National Cursillo Encounter in Detroit. There he revealed that Cursillo was given its crucial push in its birth experience by two prison inmates. This is his story; it takes place in Palma, Majorca in 1949.
A group of young men, of the Spanish Action Movement, were attempting to renew the church, to get people, especially men, more involved, and to counter the unchristian world they were living in, with its rise of secular values.
They had worked long and hard, but all their efforts floundered. Each attempt seemed worse than the last. They were on the point of giving up the whole idea. Then one evening one of the laymen, who had been working to develop the program, received an unexpected call. It was the chaplain of the local prison, asking for a couple of volunteers to come to the prison and help him with a difficult problem. Two young men were scheduled to be executed the next day and they would have nothing to do with the chaplain. The chaplain thought perhaps a layman could reach them.
The man who received the call was frightened of the prospect of entering a prison, and after considerable prayer, he called a friend to join him in responding to the chaplain's call. Neither had ever been in a prison, but they agreed to come.
As the two men entered the cell, they encountered the condemned pair playing cards and gambling with their guards. Prison rules declared that two guards must stay in the cell with condemned men on the last night before an execution. Their cell was littered with pornographic magazines, and the walls plastered with salacious pinups. The condemned men seemed bent only on swapping dirty stories and gambling the night away.
One of the two laymen the chaplain had called was Eduardo Bonnin. He asked the governor for permission to let them take the place of the guards. When this had been granted, they began talking to the prisoners, listening to their stories. Gradually they won the prisoners' confidence and eventually, Eduardo said to them, "We came here to ask a favor of you."
At this the two men laughed loud and long. "A favor?! Don't you realize that later this morning we . . ., " and he made a gesture of being garroted.
"But there is something you can do," said Bonnin. "We only want you to recommend something to the Lord for us. You are the only people we have met who know when they will meet the Lord face-to-face. We want you to say something to Him. We feel it is so urgent. Neither the Pope nor rulers nor rich nor poor know when they will meet God, yet you do. We have this wonderful project, from which we expect great fruits-but we have failed miserably, so far, to get it going. We want you to ask the Lord to help us." And Bonnin proceeded to explain their hopes and anxieties concerning the program. As the night wore on, they spoke of Christ, of His love and mercy. They spoke of how the Good Thief had "stolen heaven," and they talked about forgiveness.
In the early hours of the morning, the chaplain heard their confessions, and held a private mass. The two inmates, Bonnin, and his friend, all received the Eucharist.
A short while later they were led to the garroting post. One of them cried out for Eduardo Bonnin, and that man died holding Eduardo's crucifix in one hand, and clasping Eduardo's hand with the other, as he knelt beside him, praying for him.
One of those men wrote to his family that night, and this is a translation from the Spanish:
Dearest Parents and Brothers, so close to my heart.
These lines I am writing are the last you will receive from your son and brother. I am writing them, more with my heart than my pen ...
I am in the condemned cell, and only a few hours remain before I leave this life. After my life of ill-luck..., God has granted me the extraordinary grace of enabling me to recognize my past faults, and of making my peace with Him - He has given me this opportunity ... (for) a sincere confession, which has opened, little by little, the Gates of Heaven.
It only remains for me to ask your pardon for all the heartaches I gave you during my life, with my straying and to recommend to my brothers, whom I love with all my heart, never to stray from the path of duty which you, my parents, taught us to follow with your good advice.
I never remembered you with such affection as at this moment
...
Praise be to God, who gave me these moments to ransom my life, and to die as do those men who have faith ... Be sure I am going to Heaven to pray for you ... My last thoughts on earth are with you.
Adios! 'Till eternity,
Your Son and Brother who awaits you in heaven
s/s
These two lads were executed on the morning of January 28, 1949. The project which Eduardo Bonnin and his companions had been unsuccessful in launching, despite all their trials and efforts, was the "Cursillo in Christianity."
The first Cursillo, as we know it, took place in January of 1949 and faced an uncertain future. It was after the death of those two poor men that the Cursillo movement exploded with the presence of the Holy Spirit, expanding to reach virtually every corner of the earth. During his commentary on the story, Bonnin mentioned that he still wears the cross the young condemned man held at his execution.
From ULTREYA MAGAZINE
Aug/Sep 1995
The first weekend as we know it was held January 7th , 1949. The first weekend that married men could attend was held in 1953.
No date for the first women's weekend is currently available but there is a story of how it came about. A women went to her friend, who was a cardinal, and explained that she had always been the one who took the children to church and lead them in their prayers but since her husband came back from his Cursillo he now wanted to do these things. She wanted to experience what he had experienced, to find out what had happened to him to cause such a change. When the cardinal explained there were no Cursillos for women she responded, "Either make it possible for me to go to a Cursillo or grant me a divorce!"
The first Weekend in US was held by Spanish-speaking airmen in 1957 at an air base in Waco, Texas. The first English weekend was held in 1961 at San Angelo, Texas.
The original goal remains the same, only now its broader. The original goal was to evangelize the Spanish speaking world, now it is to evangelize the entire world from within, in other words, to Christianize each environment.
From a talk given by JoAnn Schlachter
at a New Cursillistas Workshop
in Evansville, Indiana, 1995HOME