The guerrilla priest, Manuel Santa Cruz Loidi, died in exile in Colombia in August of 1926, after nearly fifty years of silence and after having been one of the most controversial and persecuted people of his time. Several years after his disappearance Gaëtan Bernoville wrote this book, rescued from the past, in which he narrates the life of this Basque priest and his farewell during the Second Carlist War and, especially, the events that led him to be condemned by both Carlists and Liberals. The success and controversy surrounding Bernovilles work came immediately, to the point where it was rapidly translated into Spanish. The catholic and Carlist sympathizer Bernoville was attacked in many different forums because they considered his work to be an apology of someone who had stood out for his violence and radicalism. Azorín, Baroja, Valle Inclán, Lekuona, Urquijo, Lamarque and other intellectuals of the age participated passionately in a debate that Bernoville himself refused to join: Santa Cruz defends itself well with the example of its life.
