From Glory to Santa María (Temple Editions) is the title of the book that Muriel Feiner, New York writer and photographer, has dedicated to the bullfighter Ángel Luis Bienvenida as a tribute of respect and admiration to one of the members of the Bienvenida dynasty, son of the Black Pope and brother of Antonio.
“Many fans and critics recognized that Ángel was the most artistic of the family, and as such the most irregular,” says Feiner, Spanish by adoption, widow of the deceased bullfighter Pedro Giraldo, and in love with bullfighting, who published her twelfth book on bullfighting themes.
This last text is an “incomplete biography,” according to the author herself, of one of the Bienvenida brothers, who died in 2007 when the two were still meeting at the bullfighter’s home to relive the career of the matador and his family while contemplating the albums made by the father of the dynasty.
“This book represents my humble attempt to settle the score with my admired friend,” adds Feiner. “He agreed to write the prologue to my first book, The woman in the world of the bull (Alianza Editorial) in 1995. I was a new writer and on top of that it was a topic as controversial as women, whose presence and direct participation in any aspect of the world of bullfighting was prohibited and viewed with quite a bit of disdain. For this reason, I was very clear that I needed to have the support of a person who was more than recognized—I would say revered—in the world of bullfighting, and Ángel Luis Bienvenida agreed to do it immediately, with his usual smile.”
When Muriel Feiner proposed to the bullfighter to write his memoirs, Bienvenida was very clear about the title from the beginning: From Glory to Santa Maríafrom the Sevillian estate where he had spent his first years of life, to the Sacramental de Santa María, in Madrid, where the mortal remains of the entire family rest.
Ángel Luis Bienvenida was born in Seville on August 2, 1924, and took the alternative in Madrid on May 11, 1944 from the hands of his brothers Pepe, as godfather, and Antonio, as witness.
In 1950, after a short career as a bullfighter and a small number of celebrations, he made a decision that surprised the world and, especially, his family: he went to the Colombian jungle to cut down trees and sell mahogany.
“Ángel was two years younger than his brother Antonio, whom he adored, and he became convinced that he could not live up to him nor was he willing to make the necessary sacrifices to be a figure; so he decided to travel to the jungle to earn money,” says the author.
The bullfighter himself tells the reasons for his decision in the book: “At that moment I felt that I was living in the shadow of my brother (Antonio), and the truth is, I admit, I lacked at that moment the vocation, the dedication and the sacrifice that are required to step into the ring as a true Bienvenida.”
Upon his return to Spain he was hired by bullfighters of the stature of Curro Girón, Manolo Cortés, Antonio Ordóñez, Curro Rivera, Curro Vázquez, Julio Robles and Manolo Vázquez.
On February 3, 2007, he died from prostate cancer.
“I fell in love with the elegance and bullfighting of Ángel Luis, and what the Bienvenida dynasty represented in the history of bullfighting,” Feiner continues.
The death of the bullfighter broke Muriel Feiner’s plans and she abandoned the project; He resumed it during the pandemic, and with the help of Miguel, son of Ángel, and Juan Lamarca, founder of the Circle of Friends of the Welcome Dynasty, the shelved biography has seen the light.
“I am a romantic convinced that what is not written is forgotten. I value books a lot, and my dear and admired Ángel Luis Bienvenida deserved this one,” concludes the author.