The new rulers were determined to eliminate all vestiges of the previous republican rule, and so there was strict censorship of the mail and the press. Accordingly, when Sisters Natividad Bargueño and Clara Buendía decided to write to the Watch Tower Society in Brooklyn to obtain literature, their correspondence was mailed in vain. Their letters never left Spain, but were intercepted by the censor. A few days later the police called at the homes of these sisters and, after questioning them, and in one case searching the house, they warned them to drop their interest in these “lies.”

At that time it was required that all letters sent should have patriotic phrases written on the envelope. Otherwise, the mail would not be delivered. Therefore, in order to preserve their neutrality, God’s people did not write to the Society.

With the Catholic Church back in power, complications also arose for the children of Jehovah’s Witnesses, especially with regard to schooling. To receive an education at a State school it was necessary to produce a baptism certificate proving that the child was a baptized Catholic. Natividad Bargueño had not baptized her daughters in the Church, and when they became of school age she really had to search before finding a school that did not insist on the baptism certificate.

Even then there was a problem because the local parish priest insisted that all the pupils should attend his church on Sunday morning. To make sure that they did so, each one was given a blue card that was marked as they entered the church. Then every Monday morning these cards were checked at school to see if anyone had failed to attend. Recalling this, one of Nati’s daughters remarks: “Of course, my card never was marked, and every Monday I had to face up to this situation with the teacher. Finally, on one of these Mondays the teacher said: ‘This situation cannot go on like this. Either you will go to Mass or I will present the case to my superiors.’” Nati’s daughter went home and explained the problem to her mother, who took the simple step of teaching her daughter Acts 17:24 where it says that God does not dwell in handmade temples. The young girl repeated that scripture to the teacher in explaining why she did not attend the Mass. This succeeded, for the teacher no longer bothered her with the Monday interrogation. In fact, when the priest came on Mondays to check the blue cards the teacher deliberately held back the card of Nati’s daughter in order to avoid complications.