Since January 1873 the press reported misdeeds of Santa Cruz, dubbed assassin, criminal or barbarian.
In 1874-1876 newspapers speculated about his re-entry into war.
In the late 1870s media lost track of him until he was located in Jamaica in the mid-1880s, and his name reverberated as a memory of past atrocities.
In 1880 he became one of the key protagonists of Vida, hechos y hazañas del famoso bandido y cabecilla Rosa Samaniego, a short novel written by an unidentified author.
The book portrayed Santa Cruz as a bloody ringleader; with many fictitious episodes it became very popular and was re-published until the early 1890s.
In the press Santa Cruz was not infrequently mentioned also as a sample of treacherous clergy.
From time to time he was reported back in Europe; as speculations about another Carlist insurgency were on the rise in the late 1890s Santa Cruz was even reported seen in Spain.
The wildest rumor had it that his son was to command a new Carlist unit.
A monument was erected in Enderlaza to honor the executed carabineros.

In 1897 Santa Cruz appeared in Paz en la guerra by Miguel de Unamuno and for some 20 years he kept featuring in greatest works of Spanish literary Modernism.
In 1906 he was treated somewhat more extensively in Sonata de invierno by Ramón Valle-Inclán, in 1908 in Zalacaín el aventurero by Pio Baroja, and in 1909 in two subsequent novels of Valle-Inclán, El resplandor de la hoguera and Gerifaltes de antaño; in the latter he was one of the two key protagonists.
Finally, in 1918 Baroja dedicated to him a set of essays El cura Santa Cruz y su partida.

The role assigned to Santa Cruz by all 3 giants of Spanish literature differed.
Baroja from his Nietzschean perspective portrayed Santa Cruz as a little man who disguised his inferiority with cruelty and epitomized "double barbarity of being a Catholic and a Carlist".
In the case of Unamuno it is believed that Santa Cruz stood for an inflexible model of orthodoxy, be it religious, political or otherwise, a model which was valid only within a set of parameters; Unamuno rejected it and presented the Spanish self as a result of dialectic interaction.
Even more complex is the vision of Valle-Inclán.
Some claim that Valle-Inclán presented dominant and at times even monstrous personalities of the past to confront them with meager men populating contemporary Spain.
Others maintain that Valle-Inclán intended to evoke the atmosphere of ominous drama with satanic personalities.
Whatever their intentions were, the noventayochistas and especially Baroja transformed a somewhat crude newspaper version of Santa Cruz into a powerful literary image enriched with diabolic and demonic features.
This image persisted well into the 1930s, at times enhanced with new threads, e.g. this of "cura fascista".
In the Francoist Spain the anti-Liberal stand of El Cura rendered cultivation of the black legend hardly feasible.
After transición it was already a forgotten past which hardly elicited emotions; if so, they were much more ambiguous.
Since January 1873 the press reported misdeeds of Santa Cruz, dubbed assassin, criminal or barbarian. In 1874-1876 newspapers speculated about his re-entry into war. In the late 1870s media lost track of him until he was located in Jamaica in the mid-1880s, and his name reverberated as a memory of past atrocities. In 1880 he became one of the key protagonists of Vida, hechos y hazañas del famoso bandido y cabecilla Rosa Samaniego, a short novel written by an unidentified author. The book portrayed Santa Cruz as a bloody ringleader; with many fictitious episodes it became very popular and was re-published until the early 1890s. In the press Santa Cruz was not infrequently mentioned also as a sample of treacherous clergy. From time to time he was reported back in Europe; as speculations about another Carlist insurgency were on the rise in the late 1890s Santa Cruz was even reported seen in Spain. The wildest rumor had it that his son was to command a new Carlist unit. A monument was erected in Enderlaza to honor the executed carabineros.
In 1897 Santa Cruz appeared in Paz en la guerra by Miguel de Unamuno and for some 20 years he kept featuring in greatest works of Spanish literary Modernism. In 1906 he was treated somewhat more extensively in Sonata de invierno by Ramón Valle-Inclán, in 1908 in Zalacaín el aventurero by Pio Baroja, and in 1909 in two subsequent novels of Valle-Inclán, El resplandor de la hoguera and Gerifaltes de antaño; in the latter he was one of the two key protagonists. Finally, in 1918 Baroja dedicated to him a set of essays El cura Santa Cruz y su partida.
The role assigned to Santa Cruz by all 3 giants of Spanish literature differed. Baroja from his Nietzschean perspective portrayed Santa Cruz as a little man who disguised his inferiority with cruelty and epitomized "double barbarity of being a Catholic and a Carlist". In the case of Unamuno it is believed that Santa Cruz stood for an inflexible model of orthodoxy, be it religious, political or otherwise, a model which was valid only within a set of parameters; Unamuno rejected it and presented the Spanish self as a result of dialectic interaction. Even more complex is the vision of Valle-Inclán. Some claim that Valle-Inclán presented dominant and at times even monstrous personalities of the past to confront them with meager men populating contemporary Spain. Others maintain that Valle-Inclán intended to evoke the atmosphere of ominous drama with satanic personalities. Whatever their intentions were, the noventayochistas and especially Baroja transformed a somewhat crude newspaper version of Santa Cruz into a powerful literary image enriched with diabolic and demonic features. This image persisted well into the 1930s, at times enhanced with new threads, e.g. this of "cura fascista". In the Francoist Spain the anti-Liberal stand of El Cura rendered cultivation of the black legend hardly feasible. After transición it was already a forgotten past which hardly elicited emotions; if so, they were much more ambiguous.
Manuel Santa Cruz Loidi