Christian faith: Calvinism is back

[raumzeitmc2]

Just a bit more by William Thomas Walsh. This seemed to me an important supplement to what had already been said about Walsh in my previous couple of posts.

At the beginning of his book, Philip II (1987 ed., Tan Books) opposite the copyright page, Walsh writes:

To the memory of a valiant woman, Mary Walsh (McMahon) Healey, who taught me to love truth.

On the following page we read:

I wish to express my gratitude to the Columbia University Library for the use of a fine collection of State Papers and countless other books, as well as for the unfailing courtesy and efficiency of the librarians and staff; to the Library of Congress, for the loan of rare works; to Mother Grace C. Dammann, R.S.C.J., President and Mother E. M. O’Byrne, R.S.C.J., Dean, of the Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart, and to the faculty in general, for much cooperation and encouragement; especially to Miss Mercédes de Arango for invaluable help in translating the most gongoristic passages of Cabrera’s* História de Felipe el Segundo* and some of the Italian correspondence; and to my daughter Betsy for a priceless suggestion.

W.T.W. New York City, November 10, 1937

This last little bit I thought especially important, as it hints at the kind of man Walsh was, and to his methods and motives for writing history:

Note 14 to chapter 2 (The Childhood of Philip, 1532) reads in part:

In the present work I have relied upon Jewish sources as much as possible, where Jew are concerned, hoping that, by bringing together Jewish and Christian accounts (which for some mysterious reasons have been kept in separate historical compartments, although the story is all one) I may in some way contribute to a better understanding among Jews Protestants and Catholics and in no way add to the hatred which afflicts the world. This hatred and its perpetuation derive partly from the falsification of history through the neglect or misinterpretation of source material. (Notes and Bibliography, pp. 728-729)