During the time in which the sun had not
as yet set on the vast Spanish empire –
that covered the Americas and extended
throughout the Pacific – the city where
Amalia was born, Seville, was the seaport
accessible to all the territories beyond
the seas. Wealth from every corner of the
planet flowed into its warehouses, and
from there was distributed to finance the
countless wars that were schemed up by the
kings.
It was precisely after the crumbling of
that empire, mortally wounded by the
Napoleonic wars and by the loss of most of
its American colonies, that Amalia was
born. The day was November 10, 1835. On
the throne of Spain sat a young girl,
Isabel II, with her mother Maria Cristina,
as the regent. This reign was becoming an
extremely perturbing period, noticeable by
ministries of short duration, the
religious crisis, epidemics and civil war
– the Carlist wars – whose side effects
were still to be felt in the following
century.
The direct results of so many difficulties
affected the economy. Poverty
characterized the life of the majority of
the population. It was in such a
problematic environment that Amalia Doming
Soler spent her childhood; a childhood
that could not be considered a happy one.
Even before she was born, she would be
facing a great loss. Her father departed
on a great trip and was never to return.
At the age of eight she became blind, but
three months later her sight improved
because of the treatment she received from
a pharmacist. Notwithstanding, she never
fully recovered and continued encountering
problems with her sight throughout her
entire life, with the constant threat of
complete blindness.
The following years of her life were spent
relatively peaceful in the company of her
mother.
“In my eyes, which had become very
imperfect, I do not understand what my
mother saw, as she consecrated herself
entirely to me, and had no other desire,
except that of seeking to make me happy
and to procure my education. When I became
two years of age, she commenced the
difficult task of teaching me to read. As
a reward for her dedication, at the age of
five I could already read perfectly well,
and everyday, for two hours, I was
required to read out loud. Our spirits
were in such incredible unison, that
through a simple glance at one another we
could guess the other’s thoughts.” (Amalia
Domingo Soler – “My Life”)
Amalia wrote her first poems at the age of
ten, and at eighteen she published her
first verses.
Amalia never married, and at 25 tears of
age, upon her mother’s death, the most
difficult phase of her life commenced. The
sparse resources that her mother possessed
had been fully spent on Amalia’s medical
treatment and with the assistance to her
relatives. In this manner, in addition to
the solitude, days of severe poverty
commenced for Amalia. The alternatives
proposed by some of her relatives were
impossible for her to accept: either
to go to live in a convent, or to accept
an arranged marriage to a much older
gentleman, in a good financial situation.
She then decided to go to Madrid in the
hopes that she would find more
opportunities there to guarantee her
survival with her poems and with a modest
job.
Nonetheless, her struggles were
tremendous. She starved and had to beg for
assistance at houses of charity. It was
very difficult to find an honorable form
of work for a poor, abandoned woman.
During this time, because of the
loneliness and hunger, she even considered
the possibility of ending her life. On one
night, in which she had become overwhelmed
with bitterness, including thoughts of
doubting the existence of God, she was
wondering about her mother’s destiny, and
the latter, appeared to her in spirit,
causing a tremendous impression upon her.
Quite shaken with the amazing vision of
her mother, she remembered religion and
sought comfort in the temples of faith. It
was in the bosom of a Lutheran church that
she found the necessary support. The words
of the shepherds and the conviction
displayed by the followers renewed her
inner disposition, filling her heart with
renewed faith and comfort in her trust in
Jesus.
Her continuous efforts to write poetry, in
addition to some work at sewing that she
did, along with her life’s difficult
struggles, significantly worsened and
impaired her eyesight. It was only thanks
to a homeopathic treatment she received
from a doctor that she was able to escape
complete blindness. It was also this same
doctor, who informs her about the
so-called “crazy”, followers of a new
doctrine, called Spiritism. He loaned her
a copy of a Spiritist Periodical “The
Criteria.” The most curious aspect about
this fact is that the doctor was a
materialist, but he mentioned Spiritism to
her in order to offer her some comfort for
her afflictions.
It is through reading an article of this
periodical that she becomes convinced of
the truths presented by Spiritism, thereby
seeking out additional information. She
commenced the study of Spiritism through
whatever channel that reached her hands,
and she commenced to write some articles
for the Spiritist Reviews, so that she
could have access to them. Her first
spiritist work, a poem that she had sent
to “The Criteria,” was not published; but
the editor, Visconde de Torres Solanot,
wrote her a letter and sent it along with
a book that he had written (“Preliminary
of Spiritism”).
It is in the periodical “The Revelation”
at the city of Alicante that for the first
time a poem written by Amalia Domingo
Soler was published. Her first doctrinaire
article, “The Spiritist Faith” is
published by “The Criteria,” number 9, of
1872. Her articles began to arouse the
attention of the readers and shortly
thereafter she joined the Spanish
Spiritist Movement, participating in their
meetings.
It was in March, of 1875 – the celebration
of Kardec’s discarnation – that in the
room of the Spanish Spiritist Society, in
the presence of its members, Amalia reads
her poem, “To the memory of Allan Kardec.”
From that moment on, she joins the lines
of the disseminators of the Spiritist
Doctrine.
She was a great writer; her work touched
both heart and reason, and her
extraordinary spirit conquered once and
for all the sympathies of the Spanish
spiritists.
Fernandez Colavida, sent her, as a
present, the collection of books of Allan
Kardec. The spiritists of Alicante invited
her to remain with them, under their
protection so that she could dedicate
herself entirely to the dissemination of
Spiritism.
Amalia, believing it to be wrong to be
surviving at the expenses of Spiritism,
continues to work during the day and to
write at the night. She remains in Madrid,
until her departure to Barcelona, in
August 10, 1876. Invited by the “Center
Glad Tidings,” she moved to Barcelona in
the hope of finding better working
conditions in the Catalan capital, which
was known to be an entrepreneurial city,
of great economic activity.
Three months later, her eyesight
difficulties aggravated; thus, almost
blind, she found shelter in the family of
Luis Lach, the president of the “Center
Glad Tidings,” They took care of her,
giving her the conditions to exclusively
dedicate to Spiritism. In one of the
meetings of the center, she met an
extraordinary medium, Miguel Vive, through
whom she received a communication from her
mother. Also, among the spiritists of
Barcelona, she met the somnambulist
medium, Eudaldo, who began to collaborate
with her, and through whom she received a
great number of messages, including the
ones that were later united in the book,
“Memoirs of Father German.” Father German,
Amalia’s spiritual guide, introduced
himself to her, for the first time, in May
9, 1879. The publication of his Memoirs
was made public in parts, from April 29,
1880 on.
May 22, 1879 is the date that marks the
first issue of the periodical “The Light
of the Future,” directed by Amalia Domingo
Soler. In its first issue the article “The
idea of God,” strongly criticized by the
local authorities, was published. This
instigated the suspension of the newspaper
for 42 consecutive weeks. (Later it
resumed publication again by a decree of
King Alfonso XII).
The Memoirs of Amalia Domingo Soler were
written in 1891, under the supervision and
guidance of Father German. By then, she
had previously written 1286 articles that
were published by newspapers in Spain and
also abroad. “The Criteria,” and “The
Revelation” in Madrid; “The Gazette,” in
Catalan; “The Light of the Future,” and
“The Review of Psychological Studies,; in
Barcelona; “The Revelation,” in Alicante;
“Spiritism,” in Seville; “The Spiritist
Illustration,” In Mexico; “The Law of
Love;” in Merida, Yucatan; “The Spiritist
Review,” in Montevideo-Uruguay; “The
Perseverance,” in Buenos Ayres, Argentina;
“Annali dello Spiritismo,” in Italy; “The
Good Sense,” of Lerida, and many others
from which there are no more registered.
In April 29, 1909, in Barcelona, Amalia
returns to the spiritual plane. But this
does not mean that she would be moved away
from her work benefiting Spiritism. In
July 10, 1912, through the medium Maria –
who has been a collaborator of Amalia, in
life, replacing Eudaldo – her memoirs were
completed. The Brazilian medium, Divaldo
Pereira Franco, during his trips to Spain,
has been the receptor of her messages of
guidance and encouragement to the Spanish
spiritists.
It is difficult to have a full accounting
of the precise number of Amalia’s works,
but its benefits are spread throughout the
world. The Spanish Spiritist Movement at
the termination of the 19th century, as a
result of the work of Amalia and other
great pioneers, hosted the First
International Spiritist Congress, in 1888.
They have influenced the rising movements
in the Spanish speaking countries of Latin
America, and – as a historical precedent –
it is the base for the current rebirth of
the Hispanic Spiritism.
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