The Movement of Cursillo evolved in Spain, from where it originated, in the 1940’s. It began with a group of men dedicated to bringing the young men of the city of Majorca, Spain, to gain a better knowledge of Christ. The Cursillo was born among the renewal movements that preceded the Second Vatican Council. The first stirrings of what would later come to be the Cursillo Movement began on the Island of Majorca during World War II. The Spanish Civil War had ended in 1939, and the years after the Civil War were a time of turmoil in the Church in Spain. Before the war, a pilgrimage to the sanctuary of Santiago had been planned at Compostela. This spiritual day to the great Spanish center of pilgrimage of the Middle Ages would provide a time for young men and women of Spain to renew and dedicate their selves to apostolic work. Having been postponed several times by the interruption of the war, it was finally planned to take place in 1948.
In Spain, the Catholic Action movement was divided into 4 groups: men, women, young men, and young women. The leaders of the young men’s group in the island of Majorca were the founders of the Cursillo Movement. At the beginning, the retreats were only "Cursillos" (the word Cursillo literally means a short course) that were given by the diocesan council of the Catholic Action young men’s group. The cursillos were presented to Catholic Action group members as a way to prepare them to be effective apostles. |
